A grapevine clipping from the home of Pearl S. Buck, a world renowned author with West Virginia roots, just arrived in Michigan and soon will be planted at a high school literary garden. It began as an idea last summer. Jennifer McQuillan teaches literature at West Bloomfield High School in Michigan, and she wanted to […]
There are 100,000 less sheep in the state of West Virginia today than during the 1970’s. Now, there are 36,000 sheep in the state. The demand for synthetic fibers over wool for our clothes and blankets is one reason for the sharp decline. One man from Upshur County is about to hang up his shears. […]
“For the People: New Deal Art Along Highway 219” highlights works of art created under New Deal era programs and agencies, particularly the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, that are housed in federal buildings in towns situated on U.S. Highway 219. The online exhibit examines murals housed in U.S. post offices. Dozens of small towns […]
Pocahontas County artist Molly Must created the Over Bonnie mural in downtown Marlinton, an ode to the West Virginia poet laureate and Buckeye, W. Va.-born Louise McNeill. The mural illustrates the transformation of Appalachia in the 19th and 20th century from the writings of local G.D. McNeill and the poems of his daughter, Louise. Click […]
By Gibbs Kinderman Local weekly papers are a continuing tradition in many small WV counties – almost 50 of them still survive in this era of mass media and on-line news. Monroe County is one of the most tradition-oriented in West Virginia, and its paper, the Monroe Watchman, has come out each week for over […]
By Sheila Bowyer Kline. It was a hot, humid, lazy kind of summer day….you know the kind when it is so dang hot you can fry an egg on a concrete sidewalk? Yeah, that hot. “Hot as blazes!” the old timers would say. But I reckon since we were living on our farm in the hills of Southern West […]
By Gibbs Kinderman Country general stores were the center of community life a hundred years ago along what is now US 219 in West Virginia. They often housed the local post office and provided an informal meeting place for discussion of local affairs and the great issues of the day. These stores sold staples – […]
Traditions are a big part of Appalachian culture. And for the people of Marlinton, W.Va. that means that not even a fire could keep them from a Christmas celebration. A fire devastated one block of Main Street Marlinton, West Virginia in November of last year. Kelly Taber with Allegheny Mountain Radio reports that the town […]
Now here’s something you don’t hear about everyday: A chicken that lays wooden eggs. It’s a tall tale told by a man named Johnny Hill, in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Gibbs Kinderman brings us this archived recording of Johnny Hill’s magical story about some very peculiar hens. The above photo of the chickens was taken […]
Woodford Harmon “Woody” Simmons was born on Becky’s Creek, a rural community near Mill Creek in Randolph County WV, on November 13, 1911. His first instrument was a banjo made by his father in the blacksmith shop on their farm, and the first tune he learned to play was Silent Night. He was eight years […]
Click the map to download a high-resolution copy of the Traveling 219 map, or pick up a hard copy at one of many locations along U.S. Route 219. You may also view our interactive map of Traveling 219 stories [HERE].
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