This article is by guest contributor Jeffrey Kanode The land is gentle and the road is narrow which leads up to the little town of Greenville, on state road 122, off of US 219. In the center of town, beside the Greenville Post Office and across from a redbrick building which used to house the […]
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 – […]
“You don’t see people raising turkeys now. When I grew up, everyone had turkeys,” recalls Layuna Rapp, who grew up on a family Dairy Farm outside of Frankford, W.Va. This photo is dated 1900 in Lewisburg. The turkeys were probably being driven down the road from a farm in Greenbrier or Monroe County to be […]
On a an overcast, October day a crowd of 600 people gather in the little town of Webster Springs. Twenty cooks and 20 Burgoos. Helping judge the best of these Burgoos is Tim Urbanic, chef and owner of Cafe Cimino. “You got to love Burgoo. I really love the rattlesnake. And the snapping turtle. They’re […]
In a public performance on Wednesday, Romanian artists joined the Appalachian Ensemble, a Davis & Elkins College student string band and dance group. The Romanian students are participating in a year-long project exploring the connections between Appalachian and Romanian folk music. Teacher Emanuela Tulpam says there are geographical similarities between Romania and West Virginia too. […]
Also, check out the Charleston Gazette article on the Traveling 219 project from September 21, 2014: ‘Traveling 219’ shares highlands highway heritage ! The Traveling 219 Project Wins 2014 AASLH Award of Merit NASHVILLE, TN—June 2014—The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) proudly announces that the Traveling 219 Project is the recipient of an Award […]
If you’ve already listened to the Traveling 219 Mill Point Prison story you’re familiar with Ed and Agnes Friel, who spent time around the prison camp as kids while their parents worked there. Ed recently sent us these photos from a visit Agnes’ parents took to the prison camp a few years after it had […]
Down in Greenbrier County, West Virginia the American Heritage Music Hall in Ronceverte has a devoted following. The venue started as a small informal living room jam among friends and soon grew into a non-profit organization with its own venue. Now the Music Hall hosts weekly jams and monthly concerts. Dan Schultz of Traveling 219 […]
“In its day a fashionable spa, one of the oldest in the South, now drowses by the roadside, lost in dreams of a glamorous past. Renowned as Old Sweet, it opened as a watering place in 1792.”- West Virginia Writers’ Project, 1941.
Listen to a 102 year old resident of Sweet Springs, Pauline Baker, who learned to swim in the pure, blue water at the once famous resort.
For one week each June, Marlinton, West Virginia lights up with the sound of fiddles and banjos. The weeklong workshop, Allegheny Echoes, attracts nearly 150 students each year to the mountains of Pocahontas County to play and learn traditional West Virginia old-time music. The epicenter of Allegheny Echoes is the Marlinton Motor Inn, where classes […]
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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