WV Living Summer 2016

JUICE BARS | SCULPTOR BURL JONES | SMALL LAKES summer 16

WASHINGTON FAMILY HOMES

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KID-FRIENDLY ESCAPES

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WEST VIRGINIA’S NATIONAL PARKS

�avor SUMMER

VOLUME 9

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ISSUE 2

Summer 2016 NIKKI BOWMAN

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features

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90

102

106

Go West (and East)

Kid-Friendly Escapes

Washingtons Slept Here

This travel guide will help you fill your summer weekends with family fun.

The original first family still has deep connections to the Mountain State.

These destinations lay beyond West Virginia’s borders but maintain strong ties to home.

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VOLUME 9

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ISSUE 2

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87 live 58 Local Glascock Produce works hard to bring fresh fruits, vegetables, and baked goods to market in Berkeley Springs.

61 Out Loud Charleston bar owner Paul

Greco made his city a friendlier place with his “All Kinds Welcome” campaign.

50

63 Creatively Burl Jones combined his

knowledge of dentistry, love of the outdoors, and artistic bent to become one of the country’s finest bronze sculptors.

discover 15 Sound Wheeling’s own Joseph Sisters are

68 Off the Grid Celebrate the 100th

making waves on the country music charts.

birthday of “the best idea we ever had” by visiting West Virginia’s four National Parks Service properties.

17 ABCs of Summer Fun Discover

26 ways to take advantage of the summer sun in West Virginia.

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20 This The agriculture department’s bug

museum is full of West Virginia’s indigenous creepy crawlers.

22 Folks Meet the Northern Panhandle naturalist, columnist and, radio host Scott Shalaway.

23 Made in West Virginia Wild

Mountain Soap Company makes products in a variety of fun scents and shapes.

24 Lessons Jefferson County’s John

taste 38 Maker First Lady Joanne Jaeger-Tomblin

shares family favorites in her new cookbook.

41 Libations Tasty, nutrient-rich nectars

flow from these juice bars.

Theater draws big acts and big crowds to rural Webster County.

83 Away How a 200-year-old family home

became one Ronceverte woman’s dream come true.

47 Vittles A couple moves back home to

in every issue

30 Technology Crafty engineers have

open a butcher shop focused on fresh, locally grown foods.

48 Local Flavor Cicadas look weird but

keeps antique clocks ticking.

8 Editor’s Letter 10 Letters to the Editor 112 The Parting Shot

some people think they make a tasty treat.

surrogate families for players hoping to join the big leagues.

49 Town Clarksburg is a town of culinary

32 Hangout

50 This Summer peaches are almost ripe

New York Times book reviewer Dwight Garner divulges his favorite Charleston haunts.

79 On the Edge Jerry Run Summer

87 Vintage Curiosity Clockworks in Fairmont

Riesenweber shares what he’s learned about attracting new businesses—and people—to his part of the state.

31 Sports Big-hearted baseball fans become

author George Evans’ picturesque retreat, Old Hemlock.

45 Restaurant Beverly Bistro wins

admirers with a locally sourced, stick-to-your ribs menu.

figured out a way to bring cell phone service to Snowshoe.

74 History Tour hunter, illustrator, and

treasures. Here’s your guide.

and we’ve got plenty of ways to enjoy that sweet bounty.

JUICE BARS | SCULPTOR BURL JONES | SMALL LAKES

ON THE COVER Juicy Romney peaches grace this delectable cover. We feature them in the recipes on page 50.

Photo by Carla Witt Ford

6 wvl • summer 2016

summer 16

WASHINGTON FAMILY HOMES

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KID-FRIENDLY ESCAPES

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WEST VIRGINIA’S NATIONAL PARKS

�avor SUMMER

EDITOR’S LET TER My mother, Sharon Holcomb, is a great travel companion.

We visited Gateway Canyons Resort together

and experienced all types of “ horsepower.” I seriously wanted to drive this Bentley back to West

Virginia.

Our hiking guide, Zebulon Miracle, is the resort’s curator of curiosity.

As

I rush into the sweltering days of June, I’m trying to plan my summer.

I definitely will reference our story on “Kid-Friendly Escapes” (page 102) for places that are family-friendly.

I know I want to go to Summersville Lake and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the dam in August. High on my must-do list is ACE Adventure Resort’s Wonderland Waterpark (page 105), and my children love to visit Heritage Farm Museum and Village in Huntington (page 103). I’d also like to travel to all of West Virginia’s national parks in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the National Park Service (page 68), and I hope I get the chance to test my mettle by climbing Via Ferrata at NROCKS (page 22).

There are so many things to do and not enough weekends to do them.

My daughter is traveling to Switzerland this summer with her dad, and we’ve been to the post office six times in the last month trying to renew her passport. It has been a comedy of errors—although there hasn’t been much laughing going on. Travel is not what it used to be, and the older I get the more content I am with staying close to home. I have to remind myself it’s important for us to travel outside our state, to see different places, meet new people, and experience unusual adventures. It allows us to come home with a new perspective and look at our own state with fresh eyes. Although West Virginia offers a plethora of destinations and activities that will keep you busy all summer long, sometimes we just need a change of scenery.

On page 90, in my article “Go West (and East),” I introduce you to three places where you can still support West Virginians outside our state’s borders. I really like this idea, and I don’t feel as guilty about going.

I’ve enjoyed getting to know some pretty

8 wvl • summer 2016

successful and innovative West Virginians.

I just adore Kate and John Loeffler, owners of The Inn at Gristmill Square in Warm Springs, and loved talking with them and discovering mutual friends and interests.

Although they are in Virginia, they proudly sell West Virginian artist-made products in their store. And it’s pretty cool to walk into a chic restaurant in Washington, D.C., and see Logan and Mingo counties referenced on the menu. Speaking of Mingo County, did you know that John Hendricks, the founder of the Discovery Channel, was born and spent his early childhood in Matewan? I’m excited to share with you the resort he created, Gateway Canyons Resort, in western Colorado. This place is unlike any other, not only in its vision and amenities, but the surrounding landscape is awe-inspiring to say the least.

If you do find yourself heading out of state this summer, look for fellow West

Virginians to support. I guarantee it will make for a more memorable trip. And if you have suggestions of other places owned and operated by fellow West Virginians, let me know. I’d really like to find an ancient castle in Ireland or romantic villa in Italy, if you catch my drift.

nikki bowman, Editor Follow us on

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facebook.com/wvliving twitter.com/wvliving pinterest.com/wvliving instagram @wvliving #wvliving

,

, and

.

LET TER S to the EDITOR ARTISANAL GLASS | MEET CHARLESTON’S MAYOR | RHUBARB RECIPES spring 16

Rail Town

Rebirth ABCs OF APPALACHIAN FOOD

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WEST VIRGINIA GETS REAL

“Thank you for the wonderful images of our hometown and a place I never tire of visiting. I have a Summers County-shaped heart!” sarah sharp mabry, via wvliving.com all my friends could experience this beautiful place just once! Thank you Ken for all you’ve done to bring Hinton back to life and a place on the map of Historic places! frankie polidoro, via wvliving.com Wonderful article. Thank you, Ken, for all the hard work, time and money you have put in to the improvement of Hinton. Reading this makes me homesick for a visit. patricia gill, via wvliving.com

Hometown Hinton

I’m very impressed with all the improvements and the preservation of historic Hinton buildings.

Makes me proud to say Hinton is my hometown!

It is nature’s paradise with the convergence of three rivers, surrounding hills, clean air and water! Wish

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We started vacationing here in a vintage trailer on Camp Lightfoot Road 15 years ago and loved the area so much we built our dream log home in 2011. We are from Huntington, but I consider Hinton my little slice of heaven. nancy leslie cobb, via wvliving.com

Hoping to Come Home

I just arrived home after a long day of teaching high school history and, there was my latest copy of WV Living Magazine. I especially loved your story/tweets on #TheStruggleToStay. I had to make the difficult decision to leave 30 years ago to pursue my teaching career in Northern Virginia. My husband left 32 years ago to pursue his engineering career. We both would love to return home someday. tammy chincheck, Alexandria, VA, via email

From a Homesick Mountaineer

I’m a transplanted West Virginian living in northern Virginia. How I miss my Wild and Wonderful state. I look forward always for

LET TER S to the EDITOR

the arrival of my magazine. I love the magazine’s new approach that promotes our state. I’ve long thought that there should be a lot more promotion of our beautiful state. I’m so glad the magazine has taken that approach. mary lee scalf, Herndon, VA, via email

Cheers from the Capital City

A JOB YOU

W EA R Danny Jones has a long résumé, but it’s being mayor that suits him best. written by Zack Harold photographed by Carla

I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful coverage of Charleston in the spring issue of WV Living. The CVB loves it, our partner loves it—I love it. The mayor’s article (“A Job You Wear,” Spring 2016) is my favorite. Thank you for your support. jama jarrett, via mail

Witt Ford

On

June 15, 2015, elected officials, members of the public, and journa lists crammed into the dark wood-paneled council chambers at Charleston City Hall to watch Kanawha Circuit Judge Todd Kaufman administer the oath of office to Mayor Danny Jones. He had been reelected just a few weeks earlier, carrying 62 percent of the vote over Democrat candidate Paul Monroe and independent challenger William Carpen ter.

A Mayor for All Seasons

(Charleston Mayor Danny Jones’) common sense approach to solving problems is a result of his wide and varied employment positions he has had the held in his life. Danny may not want to but I feel he would make an excellent governor. So let’s start the rallying cry, Danny Jones for Governor 2020! wesley holden, via wvliving.com

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Let us hear from you. We want to know what you think about the magazine, and we’d love to hear your suggestions.

Email: info@newsouthmediainc.com Call: 304.413.0104 Mail: 709 Beechurst Avenue, Suite 14A, Morgantown, WV 26505 Take WV Living with you:

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VOLUME 9, ISSUE 2

Published by

New South Media, Inc. 709 Beechurst Ave., Suite 14A Morgantown, WV 26505

304.413.0104

wvliving.com

EDITOR

Nikki Bowman, nikki@newsouthmediainc.com

ART DIRECTOR

Carla Witt Ford, carla@newsouthmediainc.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Zack Harold, zack@newsouthmediainc.com

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Katie Griffith, katie@newsouthmediainc.com Pam Kasey, pam@newsouthmediainc.com

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Sarah Shaffer, sarah@newsouthmediainc.com

WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Kassi Roberts, kassi@newsouthmediainc.com

CONTRIBUTOR

Shay Maunz

PHOTOGRAPHERS Nikki Bowman, Carla Witt Ford, Katie Griffith, Zack Harold, Elizabeth Roth

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SUBSCRIPTIONS

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Frequency: Quarterly. Copyright: New South Media, Inc. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the publisher. © New South Media, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

12 wvl • summer 2016

Discover WEST VIRGINIA IS A PL ACE OF BOUNDLESS DISCOVERY. HERE'S YOUR GUIDE

Listen Up

NIKKI BOWMAN

Good tunes, comfy sandals, baseball games—we’ve found the things you need to make summertime special.

PICTURED: ADMIRAL ANALOG’S AUDIO ASSORTMENT (AND ODDITIES) IN SHEPHERDSTOWN IS ONE OF SEVERAL THRIVING RECORD STORES IN THE STATE, PAGE 26.

discover ››

AR T I S T

charly hamilton’s art isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen.

He works in a wide variety of mediums—everything from acrylic on canvas to sculpture to carved and painted wood reliefs—but you can never mistake his work. It’s all bright and expressive, filled with quirky characters and larger-than-life imagery. Hamilton’s work has been exhibited everywhere from Boston to Los Angeles and used for many a cause, campaign, book, and album cover. He lives and works in Charleston. jupiter33.com

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COURTESY OF CHARLY HAMILTON

Charly Hamilton

‹‹ discover

MARYBETH BIRTH ORDER The oldest CONTRIBUTION A smooth, soulful voice, behind-thescenes hustle LOVES Patsy Cline, cats

JAMIE BIRTH ORDER Middle child CONTRIBUTION High harmony and lead vocals, crowd control from onstage LOVES Animals, being in love

SHALYN BIRTH ORDER Baby sister CONTRIBUTION A sweet singing voice, quirky sense of humor LOVES Laughing, Taylor Swift S OU ND

Sister Act

This musical trio of sisters is making a name for itself on the country music scene. the joseph sisters got their start in music young—really young. Marybeth, the eldest, sang before she talked. “Mom says she would sit in her crib and just sing and sing,” says Shalyn, the youngest. Their first gig as a group was in the grade-school talent show; their dad built wooden boxes for the younger sisters to stand on to reach the microphone.

From there they moved on to performing at church services and school functions and eventually got hired as the backup singers for a local band in Wheeling—the first time Shalyn set foot in a bar was as a middle schooler, when they were doing a gig on a floating bar on a barge.

When the girls got older, it looked like they might give up the band and quietly start working ordinary jobs. “But when it came to the time when we were supposed to be doing

our careers we were just like, ‘No. We like music way better, and we can do this,’” Shalyn says.

“And it’s working out awesome.”

The sisters’ debut single, “Crazy in Love,” was released in February, and the track has been getting radio play all over the country. The song, like a lot of the sisters’ music, is an upbeat, pop-country love song. “It’s about that first three or four months when you’re falling in love and it’s just a whirlwind—you want to do everything with the person, you are crazy in love with them, you’ll do crazy things for them,” Shalyn says.

“We love love.”

The Joseph Sisters’ shows are high-energy and fun, and the girls know how to work a crowd. It’s hard to avoid Dixie Chicks comparisons—that group was also formed by sisters, after all—and the girls think that’s apt. They want to do the kind of family-friendly, fun pop-country music that was popular a generation ago, and they don’t want to veer into the territory of over-sexed pop stars. “That’s just not who we are,” Shalyn says. “We’re all about woman power because it’s us three women, and we think we can get far on that and our vocals.” thejosephsisters.com written by shay maunz photo courtesy of the joseph sisters wvliving.com 15

discover ››

EVENT

Keepin’ It Odd

oddfest—berkeley county’s two-day, countywide festival—bills itself as “Weird, Wild, and Wonderful.” This event on June 25 and 26 lives up to that reputation. “It’s all in someone’s perception. If I think it’s weird, you might think it’s wonderful,” says Laura Gassler, executive director of the county’s convention and visitors bureau. This year’s festival will include ghost tours, coffin rides, survival skills workshops, wine tastings, art shows, food specials, and more. And best of all, many of the events are free. oddfestwv.com, facebook.com/ oddfestwv

WILD KIDS

Amber Elmore grew up in a state park in West Milford with the park superintendent for a father. She mined her childhood to create Betsy Beansprout, a six-year-old nature expert and the hero of Elmore’s book series. Betsy loves to share her nature knowledge, making the books a great way to teach kids about science.

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COURTESY OF MARTINSBURG-BERKELEY COUNTY CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

BOOK

‹‹ discover

ABC s OF

SUMMER

Zipping Along A DV E N T U RE

NIKKI BOWMAN; ACE ADVENTURE RESORT

At Timberline Four Seasons Resort you can zip with friends. ziplining got its start in tropical regions as a way to access remote villages and travel through rough terrain. These days it’s made its way to the Mountain State as an adrenalinepacked way to explore the landscape. The zipline at Timberline Four Seasons Resort opened in 2014, and it’s the only line in the state where four people can zip side by side—so you can take in the sights with up to three friends. Adventurers are strapped into harnesses, tethered to the ziplines, and launched from a 50-foot tower. They glide—zip, really—for over 1,000 feet, reaching speeds of up to 25 miles per hour, with a bird’s eye view of the lodge and ski slopes.

HANGING OUT The zipline opens for the season on Memorial Day and is open to anyone between 70 and 250 pounds.

Cost $25 per person for as many rides as you can fit into a 90-minute session.

What to Bring Athletic shoes are recommended. Helmets, harnesses, and other zipline gear is supplied

by Timberline.

Getting There 254 Four Seasons Drive Davis, WV 304.866.4801

FUN

Longer days mean more time for adventures. Here are some ideas.

ACE Adventure Resort's new Wonderland Waterpark is the epitome of summer family fun.

Spend the day or an entire week— there’s something for everyone.

Experience the New River Gorge Bridge in a new way. Bridge Walk takes you on the catwalk beneath the bridge, with 850-foot views down to the gorge below.

There’s no shortage of awesome campsites in wild and wonderful West Virginia. continued on page 18 ➻ wvliving.com 17

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Beat the heat with a summer hike through Dolly Sods.

DRI V E -TO - DI V E S

Put your kayak in at Sutton Dam and cruise down the Elk River Water Trail.

This mom and pop convenience store, located along West Virginia Route 3 in Boone County, is home to one of the best pepperoni rolls in the state. The pizza dough-like bread provides a perfect delivery mechanism for what feels like an entire package of pepperoni slices. The dish is served on Styrofoam trays, which is a prudent decision since mere paper plates could not withstand the greasy puddles of goodness this pepperoni roll leaves behind. Be sure to grab some extra napkins. 21233 Coal River Road, Comfort

V-Mart

Take a trip to Charleston for the Fourth of July fireworks.

Grab your clubs and play a round of golf at the Resort at Glade Springs.

Who doesn’t enjoy ice cream? Try Ellen’s in Charleston, Austin’s in Ceredo, or the Poky Dot Diner in Fairmont.

Jackson’s Mill is more than just a special spot for 4-Hers.

Stop by and tour the scenic farmstead, and visit the general store to peruse folk art and West Virginia-made products.

Fly kites at Canaan during Windfest, held during the Fourth of July weekend.

Lewisburg is home to one of only four Carnegie Halls.

Pack a picnic and enjoy free 18 wvl • summer 2016

T HI S

History in Your Pocket

Before you spend your pocket change at a rest area vending machine this summer, take a closer look at the coins in your hand—you might be holding a piece of West Virginia history. On June 6, 2016, the United States Mint introduced a new quarter featuring Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

The quarter is the newest addition to the mint’s America the Beautiful Quarters Program.

Launched in 2010, the program is issuing a series of 56 coins featuring national lands. Previous coins have featured Yellowstone National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Mount Rushmore National Monument, and Gettysburg National Military Park.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park was designated a national site in 1944. It earned that designation as an early railroad hub and industrial center, manufacturing munitions in the run-up to the Civil War at the United States Armory and Arsenal. The town changed hands multiple times during the course of the war and was the site of the largest surrender of Union troops. But Harpers Ferry is most known, of course, for John Brown’s infamous raid on the armory, an event widely considered a precursor to the War Between the States.

Designed by master engraver Thomas Hipschen, the reverse of the new Harpers Ferry quarter features John Brown’s Fort, the guardhouse where the abolitionist made his last stand against federal troops. The design is one of five to be released in 2016. The “America the Beautiful” series is set to end in 2021. Harpers Ferry will be the only national land in West Virginia to be featured on a quarter. written by zack

harold

ZACK HAROLD

Enjoy views of the New River while eating hotdogs at the beloved Dairy Queen in Hinton.

‹‹ discover

KING FOR A DAY

RANDALL REID-SMITH A Barboursville native who once traveled the world as an opera singer, Randall Reid-Smith has served as commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History since 2006. Since coming to the division he’s worked to open the West Virginia State Museum, introduced events like the West Virginia State History Bowl and the First Lady’s Festival of Songs, and brought free musical instruments to schools around the state through the VH1 Save The Music Foundation.

If I were king of West Virginia for a day, I would: Fund all our K-12 schools with $35,000 of musical instruments.

Make the Village of Barboursville the capitol for the day.

Encourage all West Virginians to learn more about our state’s history.

Make the half-time shows longer than the football games.

Introduce our legislators to people whose arts, culture, and heritage projects are economic engines for our state.

Celebrate our state’s diversity with parades in every town. wvliving.com 19

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music on the lawn of Carnegie during The Ivy Terrace Concert Series.

Owners of Mystery Hole claim they have found a cavity in the ground where the law of gravity doesn’t apply.

It may be known as the place to host a family reunion, but that’s not all North Bend State Park has to offer.

Organ Cave belongs to the largest cave system in the state. Known for its use in the Civil War to manufacture gunpowder, it is now a historic landmark and tourist attraction.

Philippi is perhaps best known for its covered bridge and as the site of the first land battle of the Civil War. Each year hundreds of people travel to relive the “War Between the States” during the Blue and Gray Reunion.

Looking for peace and quiet?

The United States National Quiet Zone is a large swath of land centered between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank and Sugar Grove Station in Sugar Grove, where radio transmissions are restricted to protect scientific and military intelligence.

No summer is complete without a rafting trip through the New River Gorge.

20 wvl • summer 2016

T HI S

A Welcome Infestation This little-known museum features West Virginia’s tiniest residents. you could say the West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s Building 9 is crawling with bugs. Except, they don’t really crawl anymore.

This nondescript white rectangle of a building—located at the agency’s hilltop compound in Guthrie, 10 minutes outside Charleston—is home to the Agriculture Department’s insect collection. It’s not open to the public, and the whole thing fits inside a single room, but the rows of wood-veneered cabinets contain more than a quarter-million individual specimens. “I like to call it a museum, but that’s not the official name,” says curator Laura Miller, a taxonomic entomologist with the department’s plant industries division. She also compares the collection to a library. “It’s a library with insects instead of books."

Agriculture Department entomologists often collect bugs for the museum while doing fieldwork. Other specimens are caught during trapping surveys conducted by the department.

Once the bugs are caught, killed, and pinned, Miller has to identify and sort the bugs.

Since pieces of collection are often loaned to researchers around the state, Miller also relies on those experts to help identify the specimens.

The cabinets at the museum are organized by evolutionary families. Inside the cabinets, insects are separated by individual species.

There are rows upon rows of brightly colored butterflies, gossamer-winged moths, and shiny beetles—including the Desmocerus palliatus, a blue and gold bug that is the official mascot of the West Virginia Entomological Society. “Kids come here and say, ‘Are they all dead?!’” Miller says. Other species appear less impressive to the naked eye, but these are Miller’s favorites. “The small stuff, it’s intriguing. You put it under the microscope and … they have so much stuff going on.” On closer inspection, even the most boring-looking insects pop with brilliant coloring, intricate patterns, and impressive anatomies.

In that way, the bug museum is a lot like the creatures it collects. The space doesn’t appear very exciting, with its fluorescent lights and tile floors, but things get far more interesting the closer you look. And since experts are still combing through the collection, there’s no telling what they’ll discover next. written and photographed by zack

harold

discover ››

Seneca Rocks, a razorback ridge of Tuscarora quartzite, rises 900 feet above Seneca Creek and draws thousands of rock climbers each year.

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act with a trip to the tiny, picturesque town of Thurmond.

Enjoy underwater adventures with scuba diving lessons at Summersville Lake.

Via Ferrata at Nelson Rocks Outdoor Center will have you climbing up vertical cliffs, shimmying around ledges, and tiptoeing over a suspension bridge.

Take the ride of your lifetime in Wild Blue Adventure Company’s World War II Biplane over the New River Gorge.

X marks the spot. Check out geocaching in our state parks.

From Adventures on the Gorge to WVU Adventure Park to Harpers Ferry Adventure Center to Grand Vue, ziplining options abound in West Virginia.

22 wvl • summer 2016

FOLK S

Small Victories

like any naturalist living on 95 acres might do, Scott Shalaway feeds birds. He uses a variety of high-quality feed at 25 or 30 feeders all winter, and even raises his own mealworms.

But raiders have always been a problem. “I estimate that deer and raccoons have cost me at least $1,500 since 1985,” says the wildlife ecologist, syndicated columnist, and radio show host, who lives in the Northern Panhandle.

So in fall 2015, Shalaway built a six-by-eight-foot cage of wire mesh with openings just under three inches square and put his feeders inside it. He figures the $500 investment was worth it. “The deer and raccoons are all defeated,” he reported happily in April. “They haven’t bothered anything for months.”

Catch Shalaway’s weekly column in the Beckley, Clarksburg, Parkersburg, or Wheeling newspapers; hear his show “Birds and Nature” Sundays from 3 to 4 p.m. at khbradio.com; or visit drshalaway.com.

LINDA SHALAWAY

Stay in a yurt at Tomlinson State Park.

‹‹ discover

M A DE IN W V

Squeaky Clean

COURTESY OF WILD MOUNTAIN SOAP COMPANY

Think all soap is the same? Think again. soap. it might be the most utilitarian thing around—you can’t escape using it, and doing so isn’t usually a thrilling experience.

Unless, of course, you’re using soap made

by Phillip and Mary Peelish, the husbandwife duo behind the Wild Mountain Soap Company, based in Fayetteville. Wild Mountain soaps are different. They come in a wide variety of pleasing colors and textures and more than 30 scents—and that’s before we even talk about the custom-scent option.

For the company’s latest innovative project, they teamed up with the 3D printing lab at the Robert C. Byrd Institute to make a mold in the shape of West Virginia. That means you can now purchase soap in the shape of your favorite state. “We’re really creative with it,” Phillip says. “We make a few simple bars, but a lot of our stuff is really colorful and creative. We like to play with making different combinations and shapes and products.”

The couple’s soap-making started out as a weekend hobby. At first only Mary was interested in the project, but when the first batch didn’t work out—she didn’t realize that you needed to wait a few weeks to let the soap cure before using it—she started reading up about soap-making online and Phillip got involved. The second batch was perfect. “We were just blown away by how well it worked,” Mary says. They’d never used old-fashioned, cold-pressed glycerin soap before, so using it for the first time was shocking in the best possible way. It was softer, somehow, and more moisturizing. “Instead of getting that dry, itchy feeling you get with normal bars of soap, that glycerin draws moisture into your body,” Philip says. “We’ve had customers tell us they were able to stop using lotion after they started using our soap.”

Phillip and Mary started giving soap to friends as gifts, and eventually moved on to

selling soap at fairs, festivals, and craft shows.

Before long they started experimenting with ways to expand their selection, and now you can buy Wild Mountain lotion, lip balm, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, beard balm, and muscle rub—just to name a few of their many products. They also developed that custom-scent option. Customers can choose from an extensive palette of scents, and Phillip and Mary will turn it into soaps for them. “We have a little bit of everything,” Phillip says. These days, Wild Mountain Soaps are still sold at fairs and festivals around the state, at Tamarack, in the couple’s recently opened storefront in Fayetteville, and on their website. wild mountain soap company

523 Hinkle Road, Fayetteville, 304.574.1800, wildmountainsoaps.com written by shay

maunz wvliving.com 23

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What I’ve Learned

by John Reisenweber Earthmoving for new construction is something John Reisenweber sees a lot of as executive

director of the Jefferson County Development Authority.

the growth we hear

LE S S O N S

Accentuate the Positive Economic development isn’t easy, says Jefferson County’s John Reisenweber. But we can cooperate to eliminate the negatives.

24 wvl • summer 2016

about in Jefferson County isn’t just people—it’s companies, too. That’s due in part to a great location. It’s also due to the savvy of Jefferson County Development Authority Executive Director John Reisenweber.

Right now, Northern Ireland biotech company Randox Laboratories is building out its North American headquarters near Charles Town. “They have some unique technology that may significantly improve healthcare outcomes for patients across the globe,” Reisenweber says. Randox opened here in 2010 after seeking a good business location near D.C. and finding the Eastern Panhandle’s landscape pleasantly familiar. “They have 12 employees here now,” he says. “Their plan is to increase their employment to more than 100 in the next two years—and these are highlevel STEM jobs.”

Shotshell ammunition manufacturer Kent Cartridge is expanding and expects to hire. A northern Virginia civil engineering firm is relocating to the county. Refuse and recycling hauler Apple Valley Waste will soon build a new facility.

A panhandle native who brought experience in Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito’s local office and in regional banking to this job in 2012—read “networking” and “financing,” great for development— Reisenweber makes a strong advocate.

“We have a lot of assets: proximity to Interstate 81 and major markets, a good school system, higher education our businesses can take advantage of, and a very nice quality of life.” He touts West Virginia’s low costs of labor and of doing business.

At the same time, he doesn’t shy away from the challenges.

‹‹ discover

this job is harder than it might seem. You have to have

the assets a company needs: transportation, water, sewer, adequate electric power, natural gas. Here in the Eastern Panhandle, we don’t have the natural gas other parts of the state have, so we’ve had to think outside the box. The three counties here came together to work on it, and Mountaineer Gas recently announced they’re going to expand their distribution system here. We also still have pockets where broadband service is inadequate, and I realize that’s difficult in other parts of the state, too.

It’s a matter of getting the stakeholders involved, finding common ground, and working toward a cooperative solution.

It’s purposeful work—you feel like you’re making the place a little better.

here’s what businesses end up loving: our people. That’s not to say our

companies don’t have issues attracting good employees, and we have to be diligent in addressing that. But once companies get established here, their turnover rate is pretty low—they find that we have good, hard-working folks who are happy to have the job they have and willing to work.

what would help me sell the state? We need more

business-friendly policies like the “brunch bill” (relaxing Sunday alcohol sales, passed in 2016 and effective July 1). It’s absurd that you can’t order a bloody mary at 10 a.m. on Sunday. We know that’s impacted tourism. Also, the brain drain has been going on for a couple generations now, and education is the primary mechanism to stop it. We’ve got to invest in education, and it’s got to start in preschool. If we can produce talent, and if we can provide companies with business opportunities, our future will be bright.

interviewed by

pam kasey nikki bowman

photographed by

wvliving.com 25

discover ›› it’s become a staple for local audiophiles, beloved for its large, varied collection of records and its music-geek vibe. The shop mostly sticks to records and CDs so you don’t get distracted while digging for the perfect record. ➻ 1588-A Washington Street East 304.344.4355, facebook.com/ sullivansrecords

Solar Mountain Records, Keyser With some 30,000 records in the brick-andmortar store and thousands more for sale online, Solar Mountain has an impressively large and varied selection. Every genre and decade is represented, so if you’re searching for something weird, rare, or super specific, this is the place to go. ➻ 21 Armstrong Street, 304.788.1055

The Sound Exchange, Parkersburg The Sound Exchange has been supplying the Mid-Ohio Valley with new and used music for two decades. Can’t find what you’re looking for? They’ll order it for you for free and get it to you fast. Sick of all your CDs? Trade them in for store credit and pick out something new. ➻ 3417 Murdoch Avenue, 304.422.2323

S HOP

High Fidelity

What goes around comes around. After years of gathering dust, vinyl records are back in vogue—and West Virginia is teeming with record shops filled with vinyl, old and new.

Admiral Analog’s Audio Assortment (and Oddities), Shepherdstown When it opened in 2014, Admiral Analog’s became the first record store in Shepherdstown in nearly two decades. It features an eclectic vinyl selection, plus stereo equipment, vintage video games, and music shirts and posters. ➻ 133½ West German Street 301.491.6050

Now Hear This, Huntington Now Hear This caters to Huntington’s music lovers with a stockpile of some 50,000 records, plus CDs, DVDs, record players, and more. It’s less than two blocks from the campus of Marshall University, so you’re likely 26 wvl • summer 2016

to find yourself sifting through the stacks with an off-duty college student or two. ➻ 1454 4th Avenue, 304.522.0021

Budget Tapes and Records, Charleston Budget is a Charleston landmark. The store opened in 1972 and has been supplying Charlestonians with music—plus clothing, incense, and jewelry—ever since. Stepping inside is a little like stepping back into the 1970s, the perfect setting for browsing vinyl. ➻ 3708 MacCorkle Avenue Southeast 304.925.8273, budgettapeswv.com

Sullivan’s Records, Charleston Sullivan’s is the new kid on Charleston’s music scene. Since it opened in spring 2013

Words & Music, Wheeling More than two decades ago, Alan Lestini spotted an empty storefront and decided it was time to realize his longtime dream of opening a bookstore. The business eventually outgrew that original location, and the inventory has grown, too. The shop still has a top-notch selection of books, as well as art, CDs, and a sizeable selection of vinyl LPs. ➻ 4 Hyde Park Drive, 304.232.6539 facebook.com/whgwordsmusic

Assumption Records, Rivesville Owners Noelle and Patrick Kolb first started selling records online but in 2014 made the jump to a brick-and-mortar location, setting up their shop in a former church.

Assumption features a robust collection of rock, country, and hip-hop records. And they’re all priced to sell. ➻ 207 Clayton Street, 304.278.2408 needleknows.musicstack.com written by shay

maunz bowman

photographed by nikki

‹‹ discover W V WE DDING S

A Love Story

Share your special day in West Virginia’s top wedding magazine.

You’ve danced your first dances, sliced and served the cake, cleaned and boxed up the dress. The tuxes have been returned, and your photographer is putting the finishing touches on your photos.

What’s next?

In a WV Weddings register, all your memories come together as one cohesive keepsake: Your love story, the details of your big day, and your favorite photos create a magazine spread worth sharing with all your loved ones.

Even better—your story will go on to inspire couples across the state in planning their own big days. From the pages of our registers to the outstanding stories of our feature couples to our iconic covers, WV Weddings is the bridal “bible” of West Virginia. No one planning a wedding in the Mountain State would be caught without one.

Visit mywvwedding.com for more information on submitting your wedding. You can also submit the wedding of someone you love—a registry in WV Weddings makes for a unique, meaningful gift. written by katie griffith

Submit your register to appear in one of our issues.

➺

You and your honey could be chosen as a feature couple.

One lucky couple in each issue graces our cover.

➺

wvliving.com 27

discover ››

Ray Sickes’ Secrets of Success HOW WE DID I T

Treading New Ground

Gurkee’s finds international success after moving production to West Virginia. ray sickes is a natural entrepreneur.

He sold real estate for a while, worked as a wedding photographer, and then ran a web design business while the Internet was gaining popularity in the late ’90s. But his most successful venture literally walked through his door.

“One day my wife came home wearing a pair of these sandals and said everybody at her work wanted a pair,” he says. Sickes took a look at the shoes—they were biblical-looking sandals made from rope. They were called Gurkee’s. He found a distributor, ordered some inventory, and started selling the sandals to his wife’s friends.

He also set up a website and in just a few years became Gurkee’s top retailer.

In 2009, the sandal company's owner asked Sickes to buy Gurkee's. He jumped at the chance.

“All my life I wanted to be in manufacturing.

I always wanted to make things.” But when he flew to Tulsa to finalize the deal, the outgoing owner made a startling admission. “He told me, ‘There’s something I didn’t tell you about. These sandals are made in a jail in Mexico.’ I didn’t like that energy. My brain is going instantly, ‘How do I get them out of there and make them here?’”

28 wvl • summer 2016

He started cutting the shoes apart and reverse engineering them, inventing tools and machines to quickly manufacture the sandals.

In 2011, he opened a manufacturing facility near Cheat Lake. The company now employs anywhere from seven to 14 people, depending on the season.

Although moving production to West Virginia from Mexico could have been financially ruinous for the company, becoming a U.S.-made brand has only elevated the sandals' status. Gurkee’s have been featured in major publications including Vogue, Interview, GQ, The Chicago Tribune, Elle Girl, and Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, and have appeared in runway shows from New York City to Singapore. A few years ago, Saturday Night Live ordered 40 pairs of Gurkee’s for a skit parodying the movie 300. “That was pretty cool,” Sickes says. “We have a lot of good publicity going. They call us, we don’t call them.” gurkees.com written by zack

harold

photographed by carla

witt ford

Soon after moving his operations to West Virginia, Sickes decided to drop $50,000 on rope-making machinery.

The company previously bought rope from a manufacturer in North Carolina but Sickes felt that made his supply chain too vulnerable. “We’ve eliminated things that would be possible holdups for the business,” he says. The machinery also allowed the company to do short runs of special colors.

“We never had that ability before.”

Sickes often wondered why the company’s previous owner didn’t move manufacturing out of Mexico. “I always asked him, ‘Why can’t you make them in the U.S.?’ And he said, ‘You can’t afford to.’” It turns out, that wasn’t the case.

Moving manufacturing to West Virginia forced Sickes to raise his prices but it had positive effects, too. “You have a better product. You have better quality control.” That has helped build the company’s reputation. “I love dealing with international (customers). Japan, Romania, France, the Netherlands—they’re so happy to get a U.S.-made product.”

The biggest challenge for Gurkee’s, Sickes says, is finding good employees— people who are willing to work and take pride in their work. “A résumé doesn’t matter. The interview starts when they start working,” he says. “We look for people with good attitudes. You can’t do something that’s an artistic product with a bad attitude.”

discover ›› T EC HNO LO GY

Contact

Creative tech lets guests at Snowshoe communicate with life on this planet without keeping scientists from searching for life elsewhere.

The resort lies just inside the super-quiet zone, creating a major inconvenience for thousands of guests who are used to the connectedness of modern electronic life. In 2013, National Public Radio aired a story in which Showshoe IT Director George Murphy had just rigged a system of short-range receivers that brought cell service to the resort’s retail village for the first time. “This was huge,” he enthused about the limited service.

Now, working with NRAO, engineers at AT&T have come up with a way to let you text your friends and use social media from the slopes at Snowshoe. A radio frequency code automatically switches cellular devices to lowpower mode—from emitting 500 milliwatts down to 1 milliwatt. And a dense Distributed Antenna System of more than 200 antennas across the resort is able to work with those lowpower signals.

“To be able to do something that hasn’t been done before and to actually create something that can work and bring service to our customers,” says AT&T Senior Radio Access Engineer Steven Little, “it’s been really a privilege.” written by pam

kasey

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

we west virginians pride ourselves on the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The giant, iconic Robert C. Byrd Green Bank radio telescope dish in Pocahontas County gives us world-class status in research into the origins of the universe and extraterrestrial life.

But for people living in the National Radio Quiet Zone, the telescope is a source of pride that comes at a cost. Wireless service is heavily restricted by the federal government in the 13,000-square-mile zone: a square of 115 miles on each side that lies about half in West Virginia and half in Virginia. And inside the super-quiet 10-mile radius of the telescope, use of even wireless doorbells and garage door openers carries a state-mandated $50/day penalty.

It’s been a challenge for Snowshoe Mountain Resort and for cell service carriers.

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‹‹ discover

SP OR T S

The Home Team

COURTESY OF DALE SPARKS; COURTESY OF ROBIN BLACK

Devoted fans become surrogate families for baseball players. libby and randy durr already have four kids between them, but when they found themselves with an empty nest last year, they decided to adopt a few more. Temporarily, anyway.

In summer 2015 the West Virginia Black Bears, the city’s brand-new farm team for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was looking for local families to sponsor some of its players.

“As soon as we saw the signup list we both immediately said, ‘Let’s do this,’” Libby says. They had little idea what the program entailed and weren’t even baseball fans, but signed up to sponsor two players. “You have to have a little sense of adventure. And you have to care about people.”

Most Black Bears players stay in lodging arranged by the team, but players can also choose to spend the summer with sponsor families. The families become a support system for the young players, many of whom are still teenagers, away from home for the first time.

The Durrs took their players out to dinner a few times, and Libby prepared microwaveable meals for the guys to eat after

long days of practicing and playing. But the players mostly used the Durrs’ home to sleep and do their laundry. “I offered to do it for them, but they wouldn’t let me,” she says with a laugh. She also prepared treat bags for the bus trips to away games filled with bottles of water, cookies, pepperoni rolls, and other snacks. No arguments there. “We tried to make plenty so they could share,” she says.

But Libby says being a sponsor family is more than just being a maternal stand-in for the young men. “We truly got more out of it than the boys.” She still texts with former players and their families and plans to travel to see the boys with their new teams. “It’s like our own kids were out there playing. It was almost like we had a piece of the action.”

Although they were not baseball fans, Libby and Randy now have season tickets to Black Bears games. When players arrive in mid-June, they will be in the stands. And they'll still be there after the game, ready to help at least a few of the young players reach home. written by zack

harold

Join The Rotation« Each of West Virginia’s minor league teams has its own adopt-a-player program. Here’s some contact information if your family is interested in participating: WEST VIRGINIA BLACK BEARS Jackie Riggleman 304.293.7184 jriggleman@westvirginiablackbears.com BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS Karen Dehann 304.327.7184 karen@bluefieldchamber.com PRINCETON RAYS Carey Nichols 304.487.2000 princetonrays@frontier.com WEST VIRGINIA POWER Robin Black 304.344.2287 jblack1979@aol.com wvliving.com 31

discover ››

❶ ❷ ❸ ❷ THE RED CARPET LOUNGE “Cheap drinks, dim lights, gruff staff, wellstocked jukebox: This is my platonic ideal of a dive bar. The mix of clientele, though, is the real attraction. Because it’s the closest bar to the state Capitol, a lot of politicians and media types dwight garner, a book critic for The New come in, as well as barflies. In the summertime, York Times, was born in Fairmont but spent many you can sit outside and smoke on the patio. If of his early years in Charleston. He gets back you’re hungry, you can order up a hot dog. Inside whenever he can, so we caught up with Garner or outside, you’re sure to overhear some fine and to ask about his favorite hometown haunts. funny conversation.”

H ANGO U T

❶ TAYLOR BOOKS “This is one of America’s genuinely great independent bookstores. Taylor Books has a carefully curated selection of titles and a big, globe-spanning magazine rack. It respects and hand-sells the work of West Virginia’s writers. Its coffee and baked goods are firstrate. The chairs are comfy as hell. And its attached art gallery goes for incisiveness, not soft-focus nonsense. One recent show featured drawings from the Don Blankenship trial. It’s a state treasure.”

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❸ THE BLUEGRASS KITCHEN “The pepperoni roll aside, West Virginia isn’t especially known for its contributions to American cuisine. The Bluegrass Kitchen makes you see the state’s food in an expansive new context. This unpretentious restaurant (paper menus, no tablecloths) does farm-to-table with a lot of grace and wit and know-how. Trout and grits, pickle-brined fried chicken—this is the food your grandparents would have cooked, if they’d had tattoos of beets on their forearms. On weekends, don’t miss the Bloody Marys.”

COURTESY OF JOSH SAUL; NIKKI BOWMAN; ZACK HAROLD

Dwight Garner

discover ››

INNOVAT IO N

Mother of Invention

isabella yosuico was on a treadmill when an idea tugged at her. Like many children with Down syndrome, her son Isaac suffered from poor muscle tone. She’d been wondering what she could do to help him build up his arms and legs. “I had my wrist and ankle weights that I sometimes wore when I was running, and I thought, ‘Well, why don’t I just do that?’” She fashioned a tiny pair of weights from a scrap of fleece and some sand from her children’s sandbox.

When Isaac’s doctor noticed his limbs were getting stronger, she suggested Yosuico try to sell the weights. She launched her Berkeley Springs company, MightyTykes, in May 2014.

The company’s colorful, waterproof weights are now helping children all over the country— they’re even being used in children’s hospitals, including Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. mightytykes.com written by maia

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brumage

COURTESY OF MIGHTY TYKES

An Eastern Panhandle company is helping children with muscle disorders get stronger.

Taste NO MEAL IS COMPLE TE WITHOUT A GOOD STORY

NIKKI BOWMAN

Fresh is Best These cooks, growers, and sellers know great food only comes from great ingredients.

PICTURED: MELLOW MOODS JUICE BAR IN SHEPHERDSTOWN, PAGE 41

taste ›› maker

38 wvl • summer 2016

maker ‹‹ taste

First Cook First Lady Joanne Jaeger Tomblin’s cookbook shows you how to cook like a West Virginian. first lady joanne jaeger tomblin is an excellent cook—she’s

known for her love of fresh produce and makes a mean cornbread salad. Earlier this year, Tomblin released a cookbook, The First Lady’s Cookbook: Recipes of the Mountain State, to share some of her best recipes with the world. It also includes dishes from other prominent West Virginians—you can try former senator Jay Rockefeller’s favorite chocolate chip cookies or cook pasta fagioli the way Senator Joe Manchin likes it—and some recipes submitted by the public. Plus, it’s for a good cause. All proceeds benefit the Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway.

This limited edition cookbook can be purchased at the Culture Center on the state Capitol Complex. We sat down with Tomblin to talk food, family, and the glory of a fresh tomato.

STEVE BRIGHTWELL, WEST VIRGINIA DIVISION OF CULTURE AND HISTORY

➺ I love to cook. I have cooked for many, many years and I come from a long line of wonderful cooks on both sides of my family, so I wanted to share some of my own recipes, but also recipes from other West Virginians. ➺ Wherever you grow up they have regional foods and I grew up in New York in a Jewish community, so I ate a lot of bagels and lox and matzah ball soup, as well as the things that people eat all across the whole country. When I came here I learned to eat some West Virginia things—like green beans. I’d never eaten fresh green beans out of a garden until I came here. ➺ There is nothing like a homegrown West Virginia tomato. You can go all over this country but there is nothing that tastes as good. ➺ West Virginia food is comfort food: cornbread salad and potato salad and baked beans and green beans. Good, simple comfort food. ➺ I think I had almost a natural instinct to cook. My grandmother was a fabulous cook, and my grandmother and my mother and my aunts always got together and prepared a lot of different things to share for holiday meals.

I absorbed that and then kind of taught myself to cook. ➺ I’m not one of the gourmet cooks that uses all kinds of spices. I like food to be really simple, but good. ➺ One of the things that I absolutely miss since we’ve been in the Governor’s Mansion is being able to cook. Because we’re so busy, I don’t get to do it very often. We have a wonderful executive chef who prepares delicious food, but I do miss cooking myself. ➺ Growing up I didn’t have gardens and so forth, but the governor taught me how to can food and for our entire married life we’ve canned food from the garden. When we came here the chefs—they are tremendous chefs but they had no idea how to can, so I taught them. ➺ One of the things the governor and I like to brag about is the fact that we’ve never purchased a canned spaghetti sauce from a grocery store for as long as we’ve been married. Our tomato sauces come from garden tomatoes we canned ourselves. interviewed by shay

maunz wvliving.com 39

40 wvl • summer 2016

Freshly Squeezed

Juice bars give us the true, revitalizing essence of the garden.

N

ot all juice is created equal. Outside your own kitchen, the only way to get the real, unpasteurized product bursting with aroma and flavor is to get it fresh-extracted at a juice bar. The benefits? Dense, complex nutrition that devotees say beats pasteurized juice to a pulp.

Fresh smoothies are usually on the menu too, along with power-ups said to boost immunity, enhance energy, or detoxify the body. Radiant in gem-like oranges, greens, and reds, fresh-extracted juice feels more vital than pre-packaged in every way. These West Virginia juice bars serve it up right. wvliving.com 41

taste ›› libations

Mellow Moods Cafe

Shepherdstown was ready for a whole-foods option when Philip and Shanna Mastrangelo opened Mellow Moods Cafe in 2007. “People saw the fruits and vegetables go through the juicer—it was an easy sell,” Philip Mastrangelo says. Mellow Moods uses a centrifugal juicer for mixtures that include Green Lemonade, a cocktail of apple, lemon, and kale, and Beet Red, made of carrot, beet, celery, apple, and ginger.

Mellow Moods’ smoothie menu ranges. “We have simple ones that are for everyone—our Berry Buzz is all fresh berries and local yogurt, and we add a little ice,” Mastrangelo says. Others are dairyfree, contain local honey or local maple syrup, or use agave as a sweetener.

“I always joke that I was 25 years old when we opened and I had more gray hairs than I do now,” says Mastrangelo, who touts the health benefits. “I believe that comes from drinking carrot juice every day.” He sees customers’ tastes changing as they experience similar benefits. “People try wheatgrass once but then they say, ‘Hey, I didn’t have coffee this morning but I had a shot of wheatgrass and I felt great all day.’ Once people try things, they change on their own.” 119 W. German Street, Shepherdstown; 304.876.0608; mellowmoodsjuicebar.com; facebook.com/ mellowmoodscafe

Real Juice Bar & Café

Opened in Morgantown in 2014, Real Juice makes orders at the counter with a centrifugal juicer, says owner Ruth Haas. It also offers juices in its cooler that staff have cold-pressed. “We make those two or three times a week,” Haas says. Real Juice’s more popular nectars include Heartbeet, with beet, apple, carrot, and lime. “It may not be the first juice people order, because they don’t like beets, but it quickly becomes their favorite,” she says. For smoothies, Real Juice freezes a small portion of the fruit, rather than adding ice, and uses almond milk or house-made coconut milk.

Another way to go at Real Juice is shots and wellness elixirs. Shots are concentrated, vitaminand mineral-rich substances like wheatgrass. Elixirs include herbs. “So, someone will come in and say, ‘What elixir should I have, because I’m getting a cold?’” Haas says. Her prescription? A shot of “Power Booster,” containing astragalus root and elderberry, to boost the immune system, and a shot of “Immunity”—with lemon, apple, ginger, and cayenne—to clear up the sinuses. Haas sees her customers evolving, too. “People are learning that food that’s good for you isn’t necessarily tofu and Brussels sprouts.” 119 Pleasant Street, Morgantown; 304.212.5213; realjuicebarandcafe.com; facebook.com/ realjuicebar written by pam

kasey bowman

photographed by nikki

42 wvl • summer 2016

wvliving.com 43

EAT + DRINK + BE LO CA L |

44 wvl • summer 2016

Beverly Bistro ‹‹ taste

Farm Fresh

Chef Jason Talbott’s menu features freshmade entrees, appetizers, and desserts.

The Beverly Bistro wins admirers with a locally sourced, stick-to-yourribs menu.

I

can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven through the quaint town of Beverly on Route 250, carefully surveying the charming storefronts looking for a restaurant and not finding one. Then, 16 months ago, the historic Leonard Feed Store building became the Beverly Bistro.

Owner and chef Jason Talbott says, “I didn’t so much choose Beverly as Beverly chose me. I was looking to do something different than other places around.”

After attending a French culinary school in Pittsburgh and graduating from Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, Talbott worked as a sous chef and then as an executive chef in several fine-dining establishments around the country.

He dreamed of returning to West Virginia and owning his own restaurant. He says, “I wanted to create a restaurant that focused on being farm fresh and to get as close to the source of food as you possibly can. I’m fortunate that Campbell’s Market is across the street. There are probably seven farms within five miles, and the majority of my meat comes from those farms. The hamburger we use was raised literally down the street.”

Talbott believes it is important for people to know where their food comes from, and that is the cornerstone of Beverly Bistro. “We keep it fresh, literally and figuratively,” he says. “We put twists and turns on our menu items. Nothing is exactly like your mama cooks it when you eat here. People like to see a variety, so we are constantly changing our specials.” The menu reflects his French and Cajun leanings, and pork reigns supreme.

“I’m a huge fan of all parts pig,” he says. “Pig skin. Pulled pork. Pork chops. You name it. I love it all.”

One of the most popular appetizers is the freshly fried pork rinds served with a spinach artichoke dip, which come to the table still popping and crackling. The dish is so popular, people call and order them to-go by the droves.

For lunch try the delectable pulled pork, one of the cheeseburgers, or the beef tips

“We keep it fresh, literally and figuratively.” chef jason talbott

wvliving.com 45

taste ›› Beverly Bistro

served over fries topped with honey mustard dijonnaise. For dinner, the chicken scaloppini, chicken Marsala, and pan-seared pork chop with a sherry mushroom cream sauce and mashed potatoes are all good options. The baked macaroni and cheese with house-smoked pulled pork barbeque and caramelized onions is a new popular item.

On Sunday’s Talbott brings out a special “Barbeque and Burgers” menu, served from noon to 7 p.m. Jason’s mother, Linda Talbott, makes all of the Bistro’s desserts. You’ll want to try her chocolate cake or the incredibly popular banana cake. Talbott says, “My mother’s banana cake is one of the most popular menu items we serve. When I go places everyone wants to talk about her desserts.”

Talbott is also expanding his catering business and recently got his manufacturing license and is gearing up to bottle his famous made-from-scratch ketchup, sauces, and dry rubs. He is excited to have his own product line, but probably not as excited as his customers, who range from locals to folks from neighboring counties to visitors traveling up the valley towards Snowshoe.

“We really cater to our loyal customers, who appreciate that everything is locally sourced and homemade. If someone has a dietary restriction, we work with his or her needs. You don’t get that in corporate restaurants,” he says. “If you walk out of here hungry, it is your own fault.” 246 Main Street, Beverly; 681.298.5002; beverlybistro.net written and photographed by nikki

46 wvl • summer 2016

bowman

vittles ‹‹ taste

Farmer’s Daughter Market & Butcher

O COURTESY OF FARMER’S DAUGHTER MARKET & BUTCHER

This tiny market is a huge boon to its community. ff Route 50 in Capon Bridge travelers are raving about a little store and butcher shop. Freshcut meats, ground sausages, cured bacon, produce, breads, coffee, wines and beer, daily sandwiches, and specials—we could fill pages with the selections at Farmer’s Daughter Market & Butcher. “We try to source as much locally as possible— produce, dairy, meats, grains, and so on,” says Pete Pacelli, who, with his wife Kate, came to West Virginia to start their business just over a year ago.

Pete, a butcher by trade, grew up in Virginia just east of Capon Bridge. He comes from a long line of butchers but didn’t pick up the trade himself until moving to Asheville in his 20s. After moving to Portland, his interest in local, quality food really took off. “The food culture out there is so rich with pop-up food trucks, fine dining, open-air outdoor markets, it opened my eyes to something bigger,” he says. Pete and Kate moved to Capon Bridge to be closer to family and help fill a need. Though rural and surrounded by farmers, Capon Bridge residents can find it

difficult to buy fresh food outside of farmers’ markets and roadside stands. “We’re kind of in a food desert,” Pete says. “It’s very hard to find fresh food around here.”

Pete and Kate raised more than $27,000 with a Kickstarter campaign to open the business.

Now the couple buys their inventory from local farmers, purchasing whole carcasses of beef from Mineral County and hogs, chickens, and lambs from Hampshire County. Their old school approach to purchasing and butchering allows Farmer’s Daughter to accommodate almost any customer request, and to use and sell all parts of the animal—bones for stock and soups, braised short ribs for prepared meals, and hog skins for dog treats.

Customers come from as far away as Washington, D.C., but it’s locals who are really rallying behind the Pacellis’ store. “We expected to have a sleepy winter, because the tourism slowed down,” Pete says. “But we’ve been rolling right along.” 2908 Northwestern Pike, Capon Bridge, 304.856.2550,facebook.com/ farmersdaughterwv written by katie

griffith wvliving.com 47

taste ›› local f lavor

Cicada Salad A pest to some is a delicacy to others.

Try them now before they’re gone.

written by katie

48 wvl • summer 2016

griffith

CARLA WITT FORD

W

est Virginia’s Brood V cicadas have returned with a vengeance. Billions of bug-eyed creatures flit across the Mid Atlantic and through most of West Virginia, creating a cacophony of sound lying somewhere between a Boeing 373 departure and a lawn mower on decibel charts. On the plus side, we hear cicadas make a tasty source of protein.

Just check out the cicada cookbook published by the University of Maryland, Cicada-licious. “A staple food in the past for Australian Aborigines, New Guineans, Siamese people, and American Indians, cicadas were considered a special delicacy in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as modern-day Japan,” the books asserts. “They contain a high protein content, and since cicadas eat only vegetable matter, they are a pure and wholesome food source.” A delicate, nutty flavor doesn’t hurt.

While it’s a bit late to collect the true delicacy—newly hatched cicadas, called tenerals—UMD’s book suggests mature females are the next best thing. “Just be sure to remove all the hard parts, such as wings and legs before you use the adults. These parts will not harm you, but they are also not very tasty.” The cookbook recommends blanching the insects in boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes directly after collection and before preparing any recipes.

If you try any recipes, be sure to write in and tell us how they went.

You can download a copy of Cicada-licious at bit.ly/1R6JF4w.

town ‹‹ taste

Culinary Clarksburg

This is the place to go for pasta, pepperoni rolls, and everything in between.

The Fifth Floor Every restaurant on this list could be called a in Clarksburg Clarksburg culinary institution. Something about the is the perfect town, with its cliques of older Italian gentlemen, food- place for a power lunch. centric Italian-American culture, and legion legacy food establishments makes its food scene unlike any other in the state. When you have a hankering for pasta like your grandmother made, Clarksburg will deliver—and then some.

Don’t worry, we won’t tell Nonna you prefer this food to hers. written by shay

maunz

The Fifth Floor 134 South 3rd Street, 304.326.5555

The Wonder Bar 1012 Wonder Bar Road, 304.622.1451 wonderbarsteakhouse.com

Everything about this establishment is classic old-school Italian, from the mural of Venice to the tin ceiling to the truly first-class pasta fagioli. It’s been a Clarksburg staple since 1967, and it’s currently run by the third generation of restaurateurs in the family.

This spot is smack dab in the middle of downtown Clarksburg, but still manages to feel tucked away.

From a side street you go down a hallway, ride an elevator to the fifth floor, and find yourself in a room with exposed brick, high ceilings, and a long bar lined with top-notch liquor. All the locals know this is the place to come for a great martini and killer views of Clarksburg, plus soups, salads, and paninis. The food is light, unique, and always delicious.

Stepping inside this place is like stepping into an old Humphrey Bogart film, filled with the red-carpeted walls and white-linen tablecloths.

It serves the kind of steaks Bogart would have appreciated, too: tender, grilled to perfection, and topped with bubbling hot blue cheese sauce.

CARLA WITT FORD; THE STICK COMPANY

Julio's Cafe 501 Baltimore Avenue, 304.622.2592

wvliving.com 49

s ' � n i th � � � v E

Just Peachy written by

katie griffith carla witt ford

photographed and styled by

this ‹‹ taste

They’re coming by the bushel. Roadside stands and farmers’ markets

will soon be overflowing with summer’s yellow-orange, fuzzy, succulent bounty— or, if you’re lucky, a next-door neighbor’s orchard trees will be heavy with it.

Peaches, like any fresh fruit, are most delightful when they’ve been plucked, sunwarmed, straight from the tree at peak ripeness. And if you can’t wait for that July–August harvest, canned or frozen will work just fine. There’s nothing you can’t do with peaches. Confect a jam or glaze a steak; sweet or savory, these recipes will make sure your pecks and pints don’t go to waste.

Peach Caprese

Salad

with Lime Vinaigrette for dressing: 1 lime, juiced and zested 1 tablespoon champagne or white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon water 1 tablespoon honey ½ teaspoon salt ¼ cup olive oil for salad: 2 4-ounce balls fresh mozzarella, chopped into 1-inch pieces 4 ripe peaches, washed and cut into 8 wedges ½ cup fresh basil leaves To make dressing: Combine lime juice, zest, champagne or vinegar, water, honey, and salt. Slowly whisk in olive oil and set aside.

To make salad: Gently toss cheese, peaches, and basil leaves and cover with dressing. note: For a different flavor, substitute

1 to 2 bunches of baby arugula or spinach for the basil.

yield: 4 to 6 servings

wvliving.com 51

taste ›› this

Peach Glaz� for Steaks ¼ cup peach preserves 2 tablespoons chicken broth 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 2 teaspoons rosemary, minced ¾ teaspoon ancho chili pepper, ground 1 garlic clove, minced Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and pour over steak. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until the glaze is heated through. yield: about one cup

Baked Peach

Pudding

2 cups peaches, skins removed, sliced (drain syrup, if canned) 4 tablespoons butter 1¾ cups sugar ½ cup milk 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 cup flour 1 tablespoon cornstarch ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup boiling water Place peaches in 9x12-inch pan. Combine butter, ¾ cup sugar, milk, baking powder, and flour. Pour over peaches. Mix remaining sugar with cornstarch and salt.

Sift this mixture over batter. Pour water over all.

Bake at 325º for 50 minutes or until crust is slightly golden. Serve with ice cream. yield: about 8 servings

52 wvl • summer 2016

➳

taste ›› this

Peach & Mango

Pico d� Gallo

¼ cup red onion, diced ½ jalapeño cored, seed, and finely diced 1 lime, juiced 1 teaspoon honey ½ teaspoon salt 1 to 2 teaspoons cilantro (if desired) 1 cup mango, cubed into ¼-inch pieces 1 cup peaches, cubed into ¼-inch pieces ¼ cup red bell pepper, diced zest of lime for color In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.

Serve immediately with chips. yield: 2.5 to 3 cups 54 wvl • summer 2016

this ‹‹ taste

Peach Rosemary Jam 4 cups fresh peaches, peeled and chopped 1 teaspoon lemon rind, grated ¼ cup fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons rosemary, finely chopped 1 1.75 ounce package powdered fruit pectin 5 cups sugar items for canning, including 7 half-pint jars and lids

1. Bring first five ingredients to a full rolling boil in a Dutch oven. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add sugar to peach mixture and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring

constantly. Remove from heat and skim off foam with a metal spoon.

2. Immediately pour hot mixture into hot sterilized jars, filling the jars ¾ full. Remove air bubbles and clean jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids and screw on bands.

3. Process jam in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes yield: 7 half-pints jars

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56 wvl • summer 2016

Live

E XPLORING THIS E X TRAORDINARY PL ACE WE CALL HOME

Big Thinkers CARLA WITT FORD

Stories of dreamers and makers who have made their communities richer, one idea at a time.

PICTURED: THE DECOR AT THE OLD HEMLOCK ESTATE IN PRESTON COUNTY REFLECTS ITS LATE OWNERS’ OUTDOORSY PASSIONS, PAGE 72.

Farm Fresh

Glascock’s Produce in Morgan County has been doing it for more than 20 years. written by pam

kasey • photographed by nikki bowman

local ‹‹ live Mark Glascock takes pride in working on his family farm.

G

lascock’s Produce is a household name among Eastern Panhandle marketgoers. They’ve been at the Berkeley Springs Farmers Market since the market started up in 2002, and at one time they worked seven markets in the region. They’re that go-to vendor that always has the season’s most luscious staples: mountains of sweet corn, rainbows of heirloom tomatoes, melons heavy with sugary juices, jolly round pumpkins.

They also have so very much more, and we’ll get to that. What’s truly unusual about Glascock Produce is that it’s a self-sustaining business. “We don’t have any other job,” says co-owner Laura Glascock of herself and her husband, Mark. “This is totally what we do.” That’s impressive because, for many farmers, the business of growing food doesn’t pay anymore. Since around the turn of the millennium, more than half of farmers nationwide report taking additional work to patch together livelihoods. Chat up your favorite growers during a slowdown at the local farmers’ market and they’ll tell you tales of fulltime day jobs off the farm and side businesses

ranging from construction to landscaping to house painting.

The Glascocks’ success comes, in part, from their backstory. Once upon a time, the Glascock patriarch split his 600-acre dairy farm and orchard among his three sons. Today those Glascock brothers run three land-based businesses. One has the original orchard. One has a separate orchard. A third runs a game bird preserve. Glascock’s Produce, started in 1992, is a third-generation business on the property.

The truck farm doesn’t get the land for free— Laura and her husband Mark have leased the 45 acres they farm from Mark’s father since 1992.

But what that particular property and family history did was to keep a close-knit family of hard-working entrepreneurs within arm’s reach of each other. Today, among the four businesses, the original 600 acres supports a clan of—oh, about 30, plus some contracted help. “I don’t even know how many of us there are. That’s just a quick estimate,” Laura laughs. “Everybody helps everybody out.”

Family help is part of how they make it work. The Glascocks also cultivate relationships in the wider community that, in emergencies, inspire neighborly pitching in. “Like, there was

a frost warning the other night,” Laura said in mid-May, when some fruit trees were at a critical blossom stage. “We called the neighbors out to help us put out frost pots. In turn, we help them out with plants and help them prepare their gardens, teach them how to grow things. Some put their own few trees out and they ask our advice.”

On top of all that, the Glascocks work hard— really hard. Farming all week, markets on the weekends. “Sometimes when we get home from the market it’s unload, load for the next day, water, and go to bed,” Laura says. But, she jokes, “we get to pick our own 80 hours a week that we want to work.”

What comes of all that is such a bounty that it’s hard to summarize. “We start out in the spring selling plants, like heirloom and commercial tomatoes and peppers, annuals, and herbs, along with hanging baskets.” Early greens give way to tender asparagus, firm broccoli, and technicolor beets, and those to all of the summer and fall favorites plus less common market finds like eggplant, artichokes, and Brussels sprouts. “But we’re known for our sweet corn,” Laura says. “The best ever, everywhere.” wvliving.com 59

live ›› local

Visit these farmers’ markets for Glascock’s Produce BERKELEY SPRINGS Sundays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. through mid-December Thursdays, 2–5 p.m., July and August BURKE, VIRGINIA Saturdays, 8 a.m.–noon through mid-December LEESBURG, VIRGINIA Saturdays, 8 a.m.–noon year-round RESTON, VIRGINIA Saturdays, 8 a.m.–noon through November

Then there are the fruits: strawberries, blueberries, sweet cherries, apricots, and plums. Peaches and nectarines. Watermelons and cantaloupes. And the apples—so many varieties—and apple cider, and cherry apple cider.

And don’t forget the preserves and baked goods. “We take our produce to Froopers in Romney, and they use our recipes, make it, and package it for us,” Laura says. She makes blueberry, strawberry, and peach jam herself. “I do my grandma’s secret-recipe fruit bread—when there are strawberries, I’ll make strawberry bread, peaches I’ll make peach bread, apples, pumpkins. And when the honeycrisp apples come in, I make apple dumplings and I use the whole apple and that’s becoming real popular.”

Laura and Mark produce the kind of variety that makes people want to eat local.

They’ve scaled back their market activity in northern Virginia a little. But they remain fully committed to the Berkeley Springs market, and they’re still going strong. “It keeps us out of trouble,” Laura says. “We really do love it.” glascocksproduce.com; 304.258.1431 60 wvl • summer 2016

out loud ‹‹ live

Stick It

The “religious freedom” bill is dead, but the movement opposing it is still very much alive.

Y

written by shay

maunz • photographed by zack harold

ou’ve probably seen them around town: colorful stickers in the shape of West Virginia, filled with a friendly phase: “All Kinds Welcome Here.”

They’re on car bumpers and bike helmets and, especially, the storefronts of local businesses around the state. The stickers are remnants of this spring’s fight over the socalled religious freedom bill that was passed by the House of Delegates in February and would have created a test to determine whether governmental actions were violating individuals’ religious freedoms. That sounds like an OK idea, but civil rights activists argued the bill would actually counteract local LGBT protection ordinances and

give people license to discriminate against minoritiesy.

When Paul Greco, the owner of Sam’s Uptown Cafe, heard about the bill, he felt compelled to do something. Sam’s is a popular Charleston restaurant and watering hole, the kind of place with broad appeal and a rotating cast of colorful regulars.

“Everybody comes here,” Greco says. “It’s nothing new for us to have diversity inside of these walls—we have lots of it. Sam’s is just one of those spots.” So Greco wrote up a short Facebook post clarifying his establishments’ stance on the bill (he also owns the Boulevard Tavern around the corner, a bar and music venue): “Sam’s and the Tavern are, have always been, and will

always continue to be safes spaces for folks of all genders, races, creeds, colors, religions, and sexual orientation,” he wrote. “We welcome your business and promise to only judge you by the music you play on the jukebox.”

The response was huge—hundreds of people liked, commented on, and shared the post—and Greco realized that he needed to do more.

A friend of Greco’s, Jessica Kennedy, designed stickers so local businesses could let patrons know they were safe to shop without fear of discrimination.

They started selling them for a few bucks apiece—all proceeds benefit the ACLU of West Virginia—and pretty soon, most of the store windows lining Capitol Street in downtown Charleston bore the stickers. People began coming into Sam’s looking to buy their own stickers to show solidarity with the movement and legislators opposing the bill had them on their desks in the House and Senate chambers.

Eventually, the bill was voted down in the Senate and didn’t become a law. Since then, the political fervor around the bill has died down—but the All Kinds Welcome movement hasn’t. People are still interested in the campaign and want to buy anything emblazoned with that colorful West Virginia logo. You can now get stickers, buttons, and t-shirts online, and those storefronts still have it in their windows. Greco says he’s happy to keep the campaign alive, even without a fight in the Legislature. It’s nice just to remind people that West Virginia is a tolerant place where, well, all kinds are welcome. “So we’re still here, we’re still handing out stickers, and we’re still sending the message,” he says. wvliving.com 61

Casts of Character A West Virginia artist, Burl Jones, draws inspiration from the American West to make timeless works of art. written by zack

harold • photographs courtesy of burl jones

live ›› creatively Bronze artist Burl Jones puts the finishing touches on one of his extensively

detailed sculptures. He has created more than 225 limited-edition works to date.

the native american hunter, all bulging muscle and sinew, lies close to his horse’s neck as the beast reaches full gallop. He clutches a flint-tipped spear in his right hand.

With his left he holds a buffalo hide, draping the skin over himself and his pony.

We are witnessing a “buffalo jump,” where a disguised horseman drives a herd of bison into the path of a hunting party. In milliseconds the hide will fall away and the stunned herd will be doomed. But the climax never occurs.

The whole scene is frozen in time.

This is the work of sculptor Burl Jones.

He takes characters and scenes from the adventure magazines he read as a kid growing up near Charleston and—with clay, bronze, and an eye for detail—hits the pause button.

Like so many young West Virginia boys and girls, Jones spent his childhood outdoors.

He remembers thrilling over the rabbits and squirrels his father brought home after hunting trips and began accompanying his father on those trips as soon as he was old enough to hold a gun. He fantasized about the American West—the Rocky Mountains and the badlands of Montana that he read about in Jack O’Connor’s stories for Outdoor Life magazine.

Jones finally got a chance to see those landscapes himself when, after finishing dental school at West Virginia University in 1966, he went to Montana for two years to work on an Indian reservation. It was during this time in Big Sky Country that he first encountered the bronze work of renowned artist Robert Scriver, who had a gallery on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. He began seeking out other bronze artists after that, but only as an admirer. Jones had an artistic bent—he’d carved a few gunstocks and tried painting until his colorblindness made the exercise too frustrating—but did not yet consider himself an artist. “I was intrigued by it (but) it never registered in my mind that it was something I’d do,” he says.

He returned to West Virginia in 1968 and set up a dental practice in Sissonville. His artistic impulses continued to goad him, but it wasn’t until 1980 that Jones finally tried his hand at sculpture, making little figurines from dental wax. He learned by observing other artists and asking questions, but it was 64 wvl • summer 2016

creatively ‹‹ live Burl Jones’ sculpture work has led to large commission projects,

like the monument outside WVU’s Erickson Alumni Center. Below,

he poses with an eagle sculpture that sits outside his Montana home.

largely an effort of trial and error. “Mostly error,” he says.

He tried to cast his miniature sculptures in copper and bronze, the way he was taught to make dental prostheses in dentistry school, but was not satisfied with the results. “I didn’t know enough about the casting process. I discovered if I’m going to do this, I’m going to have to enlist the aid of a professional foundry,” he says.

After a lot of shopping around, Jones finally found a foundry he liked and began having his sculptures turned into bronzes.

He had no intentions to sell the pieces— sculpture was nothing more than a creative outlet at the time—but his work started attracting attention from friends and, eventually, from art galleries in Montana.

In 1982, Jones sold his dentistry practice in West Virginia and moved with his wife to Livingstone, Montana, where he spent half his time tackling cavities and root canals and the other half sculpting birds, bears, horses, fish, Native American warriors, and coonskin-capped mountaineers. He eventually opened his own art gallery and, in wvliving.com 65

live ›› creatively

1992, decided to quit dentistry and give his full attention to art.

No matter what he’s making, each of Jones’s sculptures begins with in-depth research. Jones is a stickler for detail. “I’ve got shelves full of books that show profiles and dimensions on hawks and eagles. They have a certain number of feathers. They have a proportion of wing to tail to body.” For living human subjects, he’s been known to make exhaustive photographic records and even measure the person’s facial features.

Small pieces can take up to a month to sculpt, plus two or three months at the foundry. For portraiture projects, he prefers to have at least a year. To date, Jones has created more than 225 limited edition sculptures.

His work is a mainstay at Tamarack, West Virginia’s art and craft showcase in Beckley, and prized by collectors who share the artist’s affinity for the outdoors. His reputation 66 wvl • summer 2016

“I was intrigued by it (but) it never registered in my mind that it was something I’d do.” burl jones

for intensely detailed work has led to larger projects, including a monument outside WVU’s Alumni Center, a statue of a coal miner on the state Capitol grounds, and the bust outside Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards Stadium commemorating players killed in the 1970 plane crash.

Jones plans to do three or four sculptures this year. Now 74, he says he doesn’t get as much time to sculpt as he’d like. He splits his time between a home in Huntley, Montana, a “medium-sized” ranch in the northeastern part of the state, and a residence back home

in Kanawha County. Between his grandkids’ ballgames, marketing his work, tending to his ranch, hunting, and fishing, there’s not as much time to spend in his art studio. But sculpture remains Jones’ favorite pastime. “I could work at it every day and be happy doing it,” he says.

He’s currently finishing work on a small eagle, its wings canted and tail feathers spread as the bird turns in midair. In life, this moment would be over in a split second.

But soon the sculpture will go to the foundry and the eagle—along with a small piece of its creator—will be frozen in time. Forever.

“The Best Idea We Ever Had”

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service at these special places in West Virginia. written by zack

harold

NIKKI BOWMAN

T

he pulitzer prize-winning novelist, historian, and environmental advocate Wallace Stegner once said National Parks were “the best idea we ever had” and “absolutely American,” and reflected our country “at our best rather than our worst.” It’s difficult to disagree with Stegner.

This August marks the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s creation of the National Park Service, an agency he promised would manage the United States’ national lands and landmarks to “leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Thanks to that visionary idea, a century later millions of people each year are still enjoying pristine parks, rugged forests, and national landmarks protected by the National Park Service.

Celebrate this important milestone with a visit to West Virginia’s six National Park Service properties this summer.

of f the grid ‹‹ live

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Harpers Ferry was the spark that lit the powder keg of the American Civil War. In October 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown and his 21-member militia led a three-day siege of the United States Armory and Arsenal located at Harpers Ferry. Brown’s supporters intended to begin an uprising of slaves, and planned to use the 100,000 weapons stored at the armory to aid in the rebellion.

Although Brown and his men were not successful, the episode only deepened the divisions between North and South, and the

ensuing war would prove disastrous for Harpers Ferry. The town would change hands between Union and Confederate troops eight times between 1861 and 1865—leaving it ravaged and burned by war’s end.

All of this rich history is on display at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. History buffs of all ages will love the guided tours provided by park rangers, allowing visitors to quite literally follow in Brown’s radical footsteps. The park is also renowned for its walking trails and serves as midpoint of the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail.

COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Gauley River National Recreation Area The Gauley River National Recreation Area encompasses 25 miles of the Gauley River.

Even more than its sister the New River, the Gauley is known throughout the world as some of the best whitewater rafting in the United States. The water gets really wild each September when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins releasing water from the

Summersville Dam for its annual draw-down of Summersville Lake.

For a more relaxed experience, the Gauley River National Scenic River is also a great place for fishing. Anglers can catch trout, smallmouth bass, walleye, and muskellunge at public river access points Gauley Tailwaters, Masons Branch, and Woods Ferry. wvliving.com 69

live ›› of f the grid

The Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail This National Park Service-maintained trail— which runs down the East Coast from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Georgia’s Springer Mountain 2,200 miles away—is the thruhiker’s equivalent of Mount Everest. While thousands of people each year set out to hike the entire length of the “AT,” as enthusiasts know it, only a few hundred achieve the goal.

Only a short section of the Appalachian Trail passes through West Virginia’s eastern panhandle, but it’s an incredibly important section. Harpers Ferry marks the midpoint of the trail, and it’s where the Appalachian Trail Park Office is located.

This national land protects nearly 11 miles of the Bluestone River, which begins on East River Mountain in Virginia and flows 77 miles to Bluestone Lake in West Virginia. The waterway got its name for the limestone that lies on the bottom of the river. It is popular with fishermen for its 70 wvl • summer 2016

smallmouth bass, rock bass, and bluegill.

Hunters also make use of the area and there are hiking trails, too. Camping isn’t allowed at the Bluestone National Scenic River, but campgrounds are available at Pipestem Resort State Park and Bluestone State Park at either end of the scenic river.

H. DEAN CLARK; CASSIA KING

Bluestone National Scenic River

of f the grid ‹‹ live

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE; ZACK HAROLD

Long before President Dwight Eisenhower deemed the waterway a national monument in 1961—it would become a national historical park a decade later under President Nixon—the 184-mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal spent nearly a century as the best way to transport coal from the Allegheny Mountains to Washington, D.C. Nowadays, it serves eastern West Virginia, Maryland, and Washington in a very different way.

About 5 million people each year visit the park to hike, bike, boat, ride horses, and fish.

New River Gorge National River This 70,000-acre property was named a national land in 1978. But despite its name, the history of the New River goes back millennia—geologists believe it might be one of the oldest rivers in the world. Over time the flowing waters cut what is now known as the New River Gorge, the deepest and longest river gorge in the Appalachians.

The New River Gorge National River follows 53 miles of the New River, running from

Bluestone Dam near Hinton to Hawk’s Nest Lake in Ansted. The gorge contains all kinds of outdoor activities: miles of hiking trails, old railroad beds transformed to biking trails, world-class whitewater rafting, and huge rock faces perfect for climbing. And around every bend of the trail, there’s a chance you’ll find a vista that even the best camera won’t quite be able to capture.

The national river is marked with remnants of the area’s coal mining history. Climb down the 821 steps of the Kaymoor Miners Trail to see the remains of a coal processing plant and coke ovens. On the Headhouse Trail in nearby Nuttallburg, hikers can see the remains of the Nuttall coal mine entrance and a conveyor used to transport coal. wvliving.com 71

home marketplace

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home marketplace

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The Happy Hunting Ground Old Hemlock Foundation in Preston County carries a gentle legacy forward. written by pam

kasey • photographed by carla witt ford

history ‹‹ live

In

1939, a creative couple living in New York City bought an 18th century homestead in Preston County. A Pennsylvania-born illustrator of periodicals like Cosmopolitan and McCall’s Magazine, George Bird Evans had been raised to love bird dogs and the hunt. When he and his wife, Wheeling native Kathryn “Kay” Harris Evans, found their dream home, they left the city and made their lives in the country. They named their place Old Hemlock after a virgin hemlock stand on the property.

Over their six and seven decades at Old Hemlock, George and Kay stewarded their old log home and 230 acres, where they wrote mystery books under pseudonyms, among other things. Most importantly, George got back to hunting in earnest. He enjoyed shooting upland birds—birds like woodcock, grouse, and quail. In support of his pastime, he managed a conversion of former farmland on the property to woodlands. And he began breeding his own line of English setter hunting dogs.

In a split that had been controversial for decades but impossible to control, some

English setters were bred for characteristics like athleticism that made them great in the field, and some were bred more for esthetics that showed well on the competition bench.

Evans wanted a combination: a handsome dog that would make a good hunting companion.

He whelped his first litter in 1947.

Meanwhile, he thought a lot about the experience of hunting—the relationship between hunter, dog, and bird, and the mindset that makes the experience of taking a life have meaning. His writings made him an authoritative voice on upland bird hunting and quality bird dogs in magazines and, later, in a couple dozen books. “For Evans, hunting was not about the kill but about the entire experience,” reads the 2014 National Register of Historic Places nomination of the Old Hemlock property, noting that Evans’ philosophy was unconventional for the mid-20th century. “He believed that respect and fairness should come to play whenever a hunter entered the woods.” His book The Upland Shooting Life, published in 1971, brought him nationwide prominence.

George Evans died in 1998. His Old Hemlock English setters are now a soughtafter breed. “They could win a conformation show at Westminster—they're that pretty— but they're hard hunters, they're obedient, they're not aggressive. Just a great all-around dog,” says Steve Smith, editor of The Pointing Dog Journal, who printed Evans’ writings. “If I didn’t have three dogs of my own right now, I’d be in the market to get one of George’s.” wvliving.com 75

And admiration for his writings continues strong. One recent commenter on the Old Hemlock Foundation’s Facebook page wrote, “I still have an original book by George Evans in my library that I’ve read so many times.”

Another: “When I first read [An Affair with Grouse], I didn’t put it down. I started again at chapter one and read it again.”

Kay Evans provided for creation of the Old Hemlock Foundation before she died in 2007. The foundation maintains the property as a wildlife preserve, as part of its conservation mission. Visitors can see the two-story log home and the stone studio George and Kay added in 1939, and they can tour the rooms where the couple sketched and wrote and lived a life close to nature.

Some of the property’s 500 visitors a year are particularly appreciative. “I’ve had people visit Old Hemlock on their bucket list,” says foundation board member and administrator LeJay Graffious, a long-time friend of the Evanses. “I had a guy from Minnesota who’d had cancer. As soon as he was declared cancer-free, he made arrangements to spend 76 wvl • summer 2016

“All my dogs had a passion for the ritual of licking dinner plates, and it has been tradition at Old Hemlock that the dog who made the retrieve should have the silver dish in which the game was served, with the plates going as secondary honors to the other setter or setters present.” george bird evans, Living with Gun Dogs, 1992

ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE BIRD EVANS

live ›› history

history ‹‹ live LeJay and Helen Ann Graffious and their Old Hemlock setters Willow and

Laurel serve as caretakers at Old Hemlock, their friends’ estate.

Visitors can see

artifacts of the Evanses’ lives and work in their true setting.

the weekend with us.” The foundation also has a charitable side, supporting conservation efforts, the Preston County Humane Society, and college and medical school scholarships for local students. While the various activities generally promote the Evanses’ legacy, they all center around a philosophy of mindfulness and appreciation that particularly resonated with George Evans’ readers. “I think the biggest thing George promoted was the idea of the quality of the quest and experience,” Graffious says.

Evans’ manuscripts are housed at the West Virginia University Libraries, which Graffious says is scanning his hunting journals and expects to make them available online in searchable form later in 2016. As for manuscripts Evans submitted to Smith, they’re locked in a safe. “One of my great sorrows is that I worked with George from 1981 until his death and I never met him,” Smith says. “He’s been missed. I keep his memory alive by republishing his articles now and then, one or two a year.” ➻ 2016 public tours of Old Hemlock will take place on July 16 and September 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. Civic and educational group tours are available by appointment. 17098 Brandonville Pike, Bruceton Mills; oldhemlock.org; info@oldhemlock.org wvliving.com 77

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on the edge ‹‹ live

Making the Stage

One man’s improbable dream brings music to the mountains. written and photographed by zack

harold

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live ›› on the edge

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rrive late to a show at the Jerry Run Summer Theater and you can hear the music as soon as you open the car door. Low frequencies seep from the uninsulated walls, drawing you along the worn grass path toward the green front doors. Inside, after you’ve paid the $5 entrance fee and a few bucks more for a hot dog and bottle of pop, the theater will be dark except for the stage lights and the fading sunlight that wriggles through the louvered, glassless windows.

Slip into the rows of thickly padded auditorium seats and you’ll likely go unnoticed. The crowds at Jerry Run are known for their attentiveness to the entertainment.

But look around. See the scores of smiling faces. Neighbors will be tapping their feet and bobbing their heads to the music, alongside folks from farther away who’ve come to see this little theater in rural Webster County.

And in the corner of the balcony, show after show, you’ll find Dusty Anderson—the soundman, master of ceremonies, handyman, and janitor, and the guy who designed and built the theater from the ground up.

Anderson is a lifelong music fan, having learned the basics at the knee of his organplaying grandfather. In high school, he played electric bass in a rock band. But when he graduated and started working as a carpenter, his interests shifted—instead of playing music, he dreamed of building a place where he could host performances by other artists.

He was inspired by a benefit concert he and wife Renee organized to help save the local elementary school from consolidation.

The school’s gymnasium wasn’t the most acoustically appealing space, but the response was overwhelming. “People really enjoyed themselves. It brought pleasure to their lives,” says Renee.

Dusty started researching theater construction, trying to find books about acoustical design at the local library. “I believe in a blueprint,” he says. The information proved lacking. Good acoustics, the authors seemed to suggest, are as much a matter of luck as anything else. This did not intimidate Dusty, however. He began making models of his theater, planning how it all would fit together.

A tract of land eventually came up for sale across the road from the Andersons’ home.

They bought the property and Dusty began clearing trees. He designed and built tall arching trusses that make up the building’s rib cage, hoisting them upright with some assistance from helpful neighbors. “People

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were thinking, ‘What’s he doing out there?’” he says with a laugh.

He included skylights down the middle of the roof to provide ventilation and a little light, and built louvered windows for the same purpose. He built a tidy concession stand in one corner of the foyer and left the opposite side open for a seating area.

Dusty bought a speaker system from a friend who upgraded to a more high-tech setup. “They go back to the ’80s but they sound good,” he says. The theater seats also came second-hand, from a lecture hall at West Virginia Wesleyan College. The school had planned to send them to the landfill, but Dusty spent a whole weekend hauling them back to his theater. Each seat still has a fold-up

desk bolted to the right-hand side—which makes for a handy place to rest your hotdog and pop while enjoying a show.

After years of planning and years of construction, the theater opened its doors in 2003. Now in its 14th season, Jerry Run hosts about 25 shows each year, beginning in late spring and running until early fall. Despite its out-of-the-way location, the theater has attracted scores of musical acts from across the state and around the country, as evidenced by the wall of framed pictures hanging in the foyer. Most are bluegrass bands—that’s what most local bands play, and that’s what audiences like to hear—but there have been rock, country, and folk groups, too. As word of the quaint little venue has spread, so has its roster.

on the edge ‹‹ live clockwise from left Savannah & The Kings perform at Jerry Run; the small theater opened its doors in 2003; this picture of Dusty and

Renee with Sam Beam— better known as Iron & Wine—and his manager Howard Greynolds hangs in the theater’s foyer; the admission for each show

is $5 for adults, $3 for children 3 to 12, and free for children under 3; a pair of first-time visitors pay their admission.

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live ›› on the edge Dusty and Renee Anderson operate Jerry Run with the help of friends and family.

In October 2014, Jerry Run Summer Theater got its biggest act to date: internationally renowned songwriter Sam Beam, who goes by the stage name Iron & Wine. Beam’s manager Howard Greynolds saw an article about Jerry Run in a Chicago newspaper. Greynolds has family in Clarksburg, so he decided to stop by on his 82 wvl • summer 2016

next visit to the Mountain State. He asked Dusty if Jerry Run would host one of his acts someday—to which Dusty agreed, although he didn’t expect anything would come from it.

“We thought, we’ll never hear from this guy again,” Renee says.

More than a year later, however, Greynolds called the Andersons and asked if they would put on a special concert by Iron & Wine.

Beam had been inspired by Dusty’s story and wanted to feature the theater in a short concert film to promote his new collection of early songs, Archive Series Volume No. 1.

Beam’s people trucked in loads of fancy cameras and lighting rigs, along with generators to power everything. The show attracted fans from Charleston and Morgantown and Pittsburgh, along with Jerry Run’s usual band of regulars. “People were just so thrilled. The crowd was hanging on every word,” Renee says.

The concert film—called Dreamers and Makers are my Favorite People, now easily found on YouTube—has gained Jerry Run national recognition, but it hasn't changed the venue's handmade charm When the Andersons opened the theater in late April

for this year’s first show, Renee was still at the concession stand, slinging hot dogs, pepperoni rolls, and popcorn with her longtime helper Barb Kopanko. Renee’s sister Linda Pugh was still behind the cash box collecting admission.

“Glad to see you open again,” a woman said as she handed over her five-dollar bill.

At seven o’clock sharp the night’s entertainment, a Buffalo, New York-based folk rock group, walked onstage with Dusty in hot pursuit. He strode up to the mic, hands tugging at the lapels of his unbuttoned denim shirt.

“Please welcome—Savannah and the Kings!”

Dusty was off the stage almost before the applause began. His tall, lanky frame quickly carried him to the darkened balcony, where he took his place behind the mixing board.

Next week he’ll sweep up the popcorn off the floor and wipe up any coffee rings left on the folding desks. If a breaker knocks out the lights again, he’ll be the one hunting down the problem. But while the band is onstage, Dusty can just sit back, enjoy the songs, and appreciate a music scene he built with his own two hands. 824 Cleveland Road, Cleveland; 304.493.6574; members.citynet.net/jerryrun

Two Centuries of Comfort Once a historic private home, the 200-year-old Edgarton Inn is now a homey bed and breakfast. written by zack

harold roth

photographed by elizabeth

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live ›› away

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athy King is out of bed each morning by 5 a.m. She gets herself ready and puts the coffee on by at least 6. She spends the next few hours cracking eggs, frying bacon or sausage, slicing fruit, and baking bread. Breakfast is served at around 8 a.m.

There’s almost always a crowd waiting for her. Sometimes they’re proud parents headed to a graduation at the nearby West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, or PGA golf marshals working the Greenbrier Classic, or New Orleans Saints fans come to watch the team go marching into its White Sulphur Springs training camp.

No matter who the guests are, they have one thing in common: They come to the table hungry. That’s no problem for King. “I love cooking for large groups,” she says. That’s one of the reasons she opened the Edgarton Inn in Ronceverte in 2010.

King is a Ronceverte native and always wanted to open a bed and breakfast, but told herself the dream would have to wait until her kids finished school. As luck would have it, the home that would become the Edgarton Inn came up for sale when her daughter was a senior in college. “I’ve always loved this home since I was a child,” she says. “It’s laid out perfectly for a B&B.” The house actually predates the town where it resides. The first section was built in 1810 by Thomas Edgar, who founded the settlement of St. Lawrence Ford, which would become Ronceverte more than 70 years later. The home would remain in the Edgar family for three generations.

It was later home to Colonel Cecil C. Clay, timber baron and Ronceverte founding father.

Another resident, Colonel C.E. Best, is responsible for the Victorian-style expansion of the home in the 1880s. A family of prominent merchants, the Townleys, purchased the home in 1917 and kept the property for much of the 20th century until selling it to the Allison family in 1986. King bought the home in 2010, two hundred years after the first residents moved in.

Although the home was naturally suited to become a bed and breakfast, King still had plenty of work to do before she was ready to welcome guests. She partitioned off a private residence downstairs while preparing the rest of the first floor with a meal serving area, dining room, and formal sitting room. She also brought the kitchen up to code so it would pass a health department inspection.

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The major renovations, however, happened on the home’s second floor. When she purchased the home, the second floor had only one bathroom. King installed two more while also painting the walls, stripping and refinishing floors, and refinishing the original plaster that remained in many of the rooms.

She also added a hospitality suite on the second floor with comfortable chairs, a television, and a kitchenette, and outfitted each guest room with beds, tables, chairs, local art, and antiques.

The Edgarton Inn now has four guest rooms. Three have queen-size beds, as well as a full or daybed. The fourth space, the “Renaissance Suite” located in one of the home’s tower rooms, is perfect for families with

Each of the children or larger groups. It Inn’s four features a queen bed, daybed, Edgarton guest rooms are and private sitting area. uniquely decorated with local art and Of course, nice rooms antiques. are only part of the reason guests go to a bed and breakfast. “That’s the thing about B&B crowds—they love to network and get to know other guests,” King says. The Edgarton Inn has plenty of room for that. The large backyard has cornhole and ladder ball games to keep folks busy, but many people just like to relax on the comfy covered porch. “In my location, a lot of them love to hear the hum of the trains going by,” she says.

away ‹‹ live

Edgarton Inn owner Kathy King says she

enjoys creating guests can relax, a comfortable mingle, and make environment where themselves at home.

King strives to make each guest’s stay as homey as possible. She’s happy to consider special dietary needs and will even prepare breakfast early if guests need to leave before the usual mealtime. When the PGA golf marshals arrive each July, King serves them breakfast at 5 a.m.

Each evening around 7 or 8 p.m. King puts out a snack and beverage as guests start returning to the B&B. It’s usually something sweet like a cookie or brownie along with sweet tea, lemonade, or coffee. “Whatever the weather’s driving,” she says.

It’s about meeting the guests’ needs but also anticipating their desires. That’s what

King most enjoys about being an innkeeper.

“Adding little special things to the rooms.

Putting out that snack in the evening and watching their eyes light up. Having something different at breakfast they’ve never had before. If it’s an anniversary couple or a honeymoon couple, that special thing I might add to give it that touch,” she says.

Rooms at the Edgarton Inn begin at $85, although prices increase depending on the room and the season. King stays busy from mid-June to mid-October, so it’s a good idea to reserve your room as early as possible. 305 Walnut Street, Ronceverte; 304.645.1588; edgartoninn.com wvliving.com 85

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vintage ‚‚ live

Welder, Horologist, Entrepreneur In a digital age, Carl Witt is making a go of it as a repairman of antique timepieces. written by pam

kasey witt ford

photographed by carla

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live ›› vintage Open in June 2016, Curiosity Clockworks in downtown

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Fairmont will both repair and sell mechanical clocks.

ime used to be so audible. But the clock on the wall doesn’t tick these days, and conversations are never interrupted by the chiming of the quarter hour— much less by a cuckoo. So a visit to Carl Witt’s new Curiosity Clockworks in Fairmont is an auditory trip back in time.

Witt got his start in clock repair about a decade ago when he stopped by the shop of Charles Decker in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. Decker had been doing it for half a century and, although Witt was a full-time welder for Pratt & Whitney in Bridgeport, he also became Decker’s parttime apprentice. He learned to repair the movements—the workings—of all kinds of clocks and found he loved bringing old things back to life. “And also the challenge—some are very hard to work on. I like that, thinking, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ And in the morning it’s a fresh start.”

Decker had an old-fashioned business philosophy: “If he couldn’t fix it he wouldn’t charge them, if they weren’t satisfied he didn’t charge them, and he kept his prices pretty low,” Witt says. He apprenticed with Decker for three years, then set up a workshop in his own basement. His hobby turned into a side business and, when he outgrew the basement a few years ago, he built a workshop behind his house.

Meanwhile, he became a collector. He owned just a few clocks when he’d first met Decker. Now he has a houseful. “I think I have six grandfather clocks,” he says. “I have about seven Vienna Regulators. A lot of mantle clocks. Old American, old French, old German. I have about 75.” He keeps some of them wound, and he recognizes their chimes from other parts of the house. “I think they actually bring life into a home.”

In the shop, Witt might have 30 clocks mid-repair at any one time. His favorites to work on are American. “Pretty much the same things always go wrong with them and the problems are easy to spot,” he says. “French ones are harder. They’re smaller, and you have to be a lot more careful with them.” One of the rarest clocks he’s worked on was an antique master clock—a precise timepiece that others are synchronized with. “It was probably 8 feet tall. It had heavy, heavy weights. I actually had to open the loft in my little shop for the height to run it, and it was amazing.”

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It’s obvious why the business has grown: Witt and his business partner, Greg Carruba, adopted Decker’s customer-centered philosophy. Witt makes house calls for grandfather clocks, for free within about a half-hour radius of his shop. He charges just $50 to service the clock in place and $125 to take the movement and weights back to his shop, tune it all up, and re-install it. He guarantees his work and takes good care of repeat customers.

In addition to repairs, Witt will sell clocks at Curiosity Clockworks that he’s found and refurbished—again, with the customer in mind. “A lot of people would enjoy owning old clocks, if they could afford them,” he says. “My goal is, if they like something in my shop, they can afford to buy it.” 124 Adams Street, Fairmont; 304.288.4570

Go West î ƒ and East

î ƒ

What do a resort in Colorado, an inn at a gristmill in Virginia, and an eclectic restaurant in downtown Washington, D.C., have in common?

They are all owned by West Virginians. Join WV Living editor Nikki Bowman as she ventures beyond our borders in search of unique places with strong ties to the Mountain State. written and photographed by Nikki Bowman

Gateway Canyons Resort GATEWAY, COLORADO

West Virginia native and founder of the Discovery Channel John Hendricks built Gateway Canyons Resort in Colorado as a place where learning and adventure intersect.

His Gateway Colorado Auto Museum is home to an unusual gold 1954 Oldsmobile F-88.

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first learned about Gateway Canyons Resort eight years ago when I was interviewing Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks about his early upbringing in Matewan, West Virginia—that story can be found in our Spring 2009 issue. He described to me an ambitious project he had been working on, transforming an old gold mining town into an experiential learning resort in remote western Colorado. He said, “You’ll just need to come and experience it yourself. It is a place you’ll never forget.” This past year, I took him up on his offer and headed west.

I flew into Denver in late May with the sun gleaming off the snow-covered peaks of the Rockies. By the time I rented a car and began my trek westward on Interstate 70, which hugs the Colorado River and winds its way through the towns of Vail and Beaver Creek, I’d driven through blinding sunshine followed by a horrid hail

storm that transformed into a mind-boggling blizzard.

Not being familiar with Colorado’s fickle spring weather, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I reached Gateway, a five-hour drive from Denver. But once I turned south on Scenic Highway 141 from Grand Junction, I knew I was entering an almost mythical land.

The resort was tucked into the most magnificent expanse of canyons, as if it had sprung effortlessly from the red earth. Brightly hued orange spires shot out of the ground like otherworldly sculptures. Massive outcroppings in striated shades of sunset loomed in every direction. The scenery took my breath away, and just when I thought I couldn’t see anything more inspiring, a sandstone rock formation in a dizzying array of shades of rust, crimson, and salmon—which I later learned is called the Palisade—jutted from the red earth like a colossal fiery fin. Three hundred million years of the Earth’s story unfolds in each of the variegated geological layers of this impressive natural monument. And sitting at the foot of the Palisade is Hendricks’ Gateway Canyons Resort, with its Adobe-style architecture blending into the surroundings as if it had always been there.

In 1995 Hendricks began acquiring large ranch tracts in Mesa County, Colorado, and placed 4,000 acres in a permanent conservation easement with The Nature Conservancy in an effort to preserve the vistas and wildlife habitat. He also knew the area needed economic sustainability and built the resort in an effort to revive tourism. Gateway, which opened in 2005, is not your typical getaway. Hendricks wanted to fashion a place where learning and adventure intersected, not dissimilar to his original inspiration for the Discovery Channel. He wanted guests to feel stimulated, to soak up the natural wonders, and to cultivate curiosity.

The resort delivers on its promise. You can stay in one of 72 suites or one of the 14 private casitas, which feature private outdoor patios, fire pits, hot tubs, outdoor showers, and views of the Palisade rock formation.

With a state-of-the-art conference center, luxurious spa, adventure center, and several restaurants, it is among the finest resorts in the country, boasting amenities and activities that include one of best car museums in the world, the Gateway Colorado Auto Museum—a destination in its own right.

The car museum houses Hendricks’ private collection and is an automobile afficionado’s Louvre. From a 1906 Cadillac Model H Coupe to a 1929 Packard Runabout to a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, it is a journey through American auto history. The crown jewel of the museum—or, as Hendricks calls it, “the Mona Lisa”—is a gold 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 that Hendricks purchased for $3.2 million. “To a child growing up in the mountains of West Virginia, cars represented adventure and exploration,” Hendricks says in the introduction of The Performing Art of the American Automobile, a book about his collection. “Through the years, our country’s car designers have given full expression to the American spirit of adventure and style. We have wrapped ourselves wvliving.com 93

The amenities and activities offered at Gateway Canyons Resort are astounding.

Enjoy the natural surroundings and views of the imposing Palisade rock formation by riding a horse, driving a Bentley or Porsche, or slinging mud in a jeep or UTV.

in their metallic visions of art and power and we have been forever changed as a society. Our changing moods and artistic tastes have been frozen in time and steel.

Cars are objects worthy of study.” After spending time in the museum, you’ll never look at your car the same way.

The museum primes you for Gateway’s Driven Experiences, the ultimate candy store for motor enthusiasts. Take your pick of a Porsche 911, a Bentley Continental, a Tesla Roadster, or Corvette ZR1 for a drive through the scenic canyons. Once I saw the Bentley, I had the bug. When I slipped into the driver’s side with its buttery leather seats, the car cocooned around me, and I’ve not been right since. I owned the open road. I’m deliriously giddy just thinking about the experience of zipping through the majestic crimson canyons as they came to life with the roof down.

If driving a sports car isn’t your thing—although, seriously, what’s wrong with you?—Gateway Canyons Resort is home to a different kind of horsepower. You’ll enjoy the guided horseback trail rides over sagebrush at the base of Uncompahgre Plateau at the Palisade Ranch.

For unique views of the towering Palisade, check out the UTV rides or Jeep tours. You can even go off-roading in a Pro-Baja racing truck or rent a mountain bike and make your legs do the work. Afterwards, you’ll want to recover and unwind with a massage at the luxurious spa.

One person you must meet is Zebulon Miracle, the curator of curiosity. Zebulon will take you on one of the most enlightening and engaging hikes of your life.

Climbing through the canyons you’ll learn about the history and geology of the area—and even discover dinosaur tracks. Or book your stay to coincide with the resort’s Curiosity Retreats, which brings eminent visionaries, scholars, and trendsetters to discuss topics ranging from the mysteries of the universe to the future of technology.

John Hendricks was right. I had never experienced anything like Gateway, and its towering red sandstone canyons will be etched in my memory as one of the most enlightening and transformational vacation experiences of my life. I will also blame him for my insatiable desire to own a Bentley convertible. gatewaycanyons.com wvliving.com 95

WARM SPRINGS, VIRGINIA

COURTESY OF THE INN AT GRISTMILL SQUARE

The Inn at Gristmill Square

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The Inn at Gristmill Square in Warm Springs, Virginia, offers 17 beautifully

appointed rooms in repurposed historic buildings. The Wheelhouse Restaurant,

located in the property’s 19th-century mill, has become an acclaimed culinary destination.

ometimes we just need to get away. We need to escape the superficial noise of our everyday surroundings and travel to a place where life rearranges itself—a locale like Warm Springs, Virginia, where people like Thomas Jefferson and Robert E. Lee sought sanctuary more than a century ago.

And there’s no better spot to experience the healing powers of Bath County, Virginia, than at The Inn at Gristmill Square, a delightful collection of four 19th-century buildings tucked into this tiny treasure of a town.

Owners Kate and John Loeffler, West Virginia natives, have spent their entire careers in hospitality. They met while working at the former Yellow Brick Bank Restaurant in Shepherdstown, and their career paths took them to The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia, and then The Greenbrier, where John opened Jerry West’s restaurant Prime 44 and Kate worked in human resources. When the owners of The Inn at Gristmill Square decided to sell in 2011, Kate and John knew this was the opportunity they had been waiting for. “We fell in love with the food and beverage business and with each other through the business. This is something we always wanted to do,” Kate says.

You’ll fall in love with Gristmill Square, too, before you even get out of your car. It is an inspiring adaptive reuse of five historic buildings.

Four buildings—the Hardware Store, Blacksmith Shop, Steele House, and Miller’s House—together contain 17 beautifully appointed rooms and suites.

The rooms are each unique and charming. The Silo Room is located, you guessed it, in the silo.

The Board Room has its walls covered in wood from a Civil War fort. The Spring Suite is Kate’s favorite due to its secret garden and close proximity to a babbling brook. A complimentary continental breakfast is delivered in a basket upon request, and homemade cookies greet you when you check in.

A fifth building, a converted mill, houses Kate and John’s acclaimed Waterwheel Restaurant.

It was already a historic spot—a mill has been in continuous operation in this location since 1771—but the restaurant made Warm Springs a culinary destination. With a menu focused on locally-sourced, farm-to-table American cuisine and a unique ambiance, it is a dining experience you won’t want to end, even after the delectable Sour Cream Maple Cake. Make sure you visit the cellar and peruse an impressive collection of more than 200 bottles of wine before making your wine selection. After dinner, wind down the evening at the Simon Kenton Pub and sit in what the Loefflers call “the best four seats in the Commonwealth,” enjoying a hand-crafted cocktail in their charming diminutive bar. wvliving.com 97

COURTESY OF THE INN AT GRISTMILL SQUARE

While one could spend the entire trip relaxing at the Inn, enjoying a massage at the Warm Spirit Spa, or shopping at the gift shop or nearby artist galleries and antique stores, there are a few things you must experience. Just a mile from The Inn at Gristmill Square is one of Virginia’s most unusual offerings, the Warm Springs Pools. You can follow in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson and "take the waters.” Since there are two bathhouses, one for women and one for men, bathing suits are optional. The Gentleman’s Pool House, built in 1761, is the oldest spa structure in the country, and the Ladies’ Pool House was built in 1836. A few words of warning—the faint smell of sulfur wafts through the air, the dressing rooms are very rustic, and the wooden octagonal buildings are extremely old—so don’t expect to be surrounded by polished marble. But suck it up and go.

You don’t get many opportunities like this.

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You’ll also want to experience the pristine George Washington National Forest, an area so picturesque it feels as if it were conjured out of a poem. Pack your fishing pole and take the scenic drive to Lake Moomaw, an easy 30 minutes from the Inn. Also nearby, Douthat State Park has been called one of the nation’s 10best state parks, and features some of Virginia’s most breathtaking vistas. The grand Omni Homestead Resort is located only five miles away in nearby Hot Springs and is most definitely worth the visit. You don’t have to be an overnight guest to partake in the Homestead’s amenities.

You can golf, shop, hike, shoot sporting clays, ski, or dine on the resort’s premise. Although, my favorite place to eat in Hot Springs isn’t at The Homestead, it’s in town at Les Cochons D’or, a French restaurant also co-owned

by Kate and John along with another couple with West Virginia connections, Krystal and Chef Kyle Krieger.

While visiting The Inn at Gristmill Square make sure you take a dip in the oldest spa in the country at nearby Warm Springs Pools.

It dates back to 1761.

The Wheelhouse Restaurant offers more than 200 bottles of wine.

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hen you find yourself in the Washington, D.C., area, you can still get a taste of home. Three friends from Huntington—Drew Kim and brothers Ty and Mark Neal—have created a culinary empire called Matchbox Food Group. With three restaurant brands in 12 locations in the D.C. area and plans to take their brands nationwide, it isn’t hard to find one tucked into the district’s most popular neighborhoods.

Make plans to eat at Ted’s Bulletin, where the menu includes elevated comfort food like Mingo County Meatloaf or Ted’s Famous Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. The restaurant looks like a modern art deco take on a classic shake joint. It’s named after Ty and Mark’s father, Ted, who, after growing up in southern West Virginia, moved to Huntington and was known for gathering the community around good food. In addition to burgers, sandwiches, and dinner platters, breakfast is served all day. The Walk of Shame Breakfast Burrito, Crab Cake Benedict, and Cinnamon Roll Big As Ya Head are local favorites. Save room for dessert. Ted’s Tarts, colorfully adorned house-made toaster pastries, will grab your eye before you sit down, and the milkshakes are sinfully good. Try an adult milkshake—the Millionaires Malt includes 18-year Glenlivet and, at $19.99, it is dessert and drink all in one. There’s even a “hometown drinks” menu that explains, “As kids, we traveled back to Ted’s boyhood home in southern West Virginia, the place where the names of towns and counties are as interesting as the terrain of the ‘hollers.’ We’ve used these names as inspiration for our cocktails.” Who could resist cocktails with names like The Big Ugly, Lincoln County Line, or Williamson Fig? Matchbox Food Group started out with its flagship restaurant, Matchbox American Kitchen + Spirit, known for its uptown menu of angus burgers, woodfired pizzas, and wood-oven mussels.

Or if you fly out of Dulles, check out its newest endeavor, DC-3, cool urban hot dog joint that pays homage to delectable dogs from around the country. And of course, you’ll find a West Virginia dog featured prominently on the menu. matchboxfoodgroup.com

Ted’s Bulletin WASHINGTON, D.C.

Walk of Shame Breakfast Burrito will kick start your day. Ted’s Tarts are house-

made toaster pastries that look too good to eat.

The décor is Art Deco meets urban

diner. If you’ve ever driven by Big Ugly, you won’t be able to pass on this cocktail.

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Kid-Friendly Escapes When the weekend comes, program your GPS for these family-friendly attractions. written by Zack Harold

happy music on the radio, a cooler full of ice-cold sodas in the back.

It’s a great way to spend time with the ones you love. And the best part is, you don’t have to travel far or spend a lot of money to make those memories. We have a wealth of unique destinations right here in the Mountain State for your family to enjoy. Just don’t be surprised when “Are we there yet?” turns into “When can we go back?”

NIKKI BOWMAN

Summer is the season of road trips— windows rolled down,

HUNTINGTON

Heritage Farm Museum and Village Mike and Henriella Perry founded the Heritage Farm Museum and Village to raise awareness about the bravery and ingenuity of the Appalachian settlers and the generations that have followed.

The collection is spread out through 16 buildings. That includes the Progress Museum, which shows the dramatic changes in home life from the late 1800s through the early decades of the 1900s.

The Transportation Museum showcases the history of travel from covered wagons and carriages to early automobiles.

There’s also the Industry Museum, the Country Store Museum, and the new Bowes Doll and Carriage Museum, which boasts a large collection of dolls, doll accessories, and carriages.

And that’s not all. There’s a new interactive playground that features the seven simple machines, a restaurant, a blacksmith shop, bread oven, farm zoo, and log church on the grounds, along with plenty of space for a family picnic. Make it a weekend and stay in one of the charming cottages on the property.

3300 Harvey Road, Huntington; 304.522.1244; heritagefarmmuseum.com

CHARLESTON

The Clay Center Charleston’s world-class performance hall is also home to the Avampato Discovery Museum, which features two floors of hands-on science exhibits.

There’s Milton Gardner’s Earth City, an interactive Earth science exhibit styled after an old-school roadside attraction. Health Royale goes inside the human body for a look at health science, with a game show hosted by Skully, an animatronic puppet, and his friends Coach Heart, Funny Bone, and Queen Intestine. For young children, the museum offers Kidspace, an exhibit especially designed to stimulate the minds of kids five and under.

Once you’re done with the museum, grab a bite to eat in the Clay Center’s Intermezzo Café, then catch a show at the Digital Dome theater, which features immersive documentaries as well as regular planetarium shows.

1 Clay Square, Charleston; 304.561.3570; theclaycenter.org

This museum is made from railroad boxcars!

WHEELING

Oglebay Zoo Oglebay Resort is a perfect place for an adults-only weekend getaway, with comfortable lodging, golf courses, and a spa. But there’s plenty for the little ones, too. The resort’s on-site zoo features 50 species of animals including bald eagles, lemurs, meerkats, red pandas, river otters, spectacled bears, and African wild dogs. The Discovery Lab allows guests to see poison dart frogs, tamarin monkeys, and other small animals. The zoo is also home to the state’s largest O-scale model train display.

CARLA WITT FORD

65 Lodge Drive, Wheeling; 304.243.4030; oglebay-resort.com/goodzoo

BECKLEY

Exhibition Coal Mine To understand the history of the coal industry is to understand the history of West Virginia. For a closer look at that history— both aboveground and below—check out the Exhibition Coal Mine.

A longtime favorite of school field trips, this museum features a restored early 20th century coal camp, with a church, school, typical miner’s home, and mine superintendent’s home. Step even further into the past with the Mountain Homestead, which gives visitors a taste of life on the Appalachian frontier. There’s a log house, one-room schoolhouse, barn, blacksmith, and general store.

Also on site is the Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia. The museum features three interactive exhibits, which change out every year, as well as a planetarium offering shows about constellations, planets, and celestial events.

The main attraction, of course, is the mine itself. Former coal miners will give your family a glimpse of what it’s like to work in the dark, dank, and dangerous heart of a mountain. You’ll want to bring a jacket even on the warmest days of summer—the temperature inside the mine remains a cool 58 degrees all year long.

513 Ewart Avenue, Beckley; 304. 256.1747; beckley.org/exhibition_coal_mine wvliving.com 103

MARTINSBURG

For The Kids, By George Opened in 2012, this 6,000-square-foot children’s museum will guide your family through four centuries of U.S. history. You can learn about George Washington’s adventures as a young surveyor in what is now West Virginia, tour a Native American village in the 1600s, take a look inside a log cabin from the 1700s, and browse the aisles of a general store from the 1800s.

The museum is also filled with exhibits for the railfans in your brood. Check out the GW Giles Shay Locomotive, the same kind of steam engine that powered West Virginia’s timber industry from the late 1800s through the middle of the 20th century. The “Working on the Railroad” exhibit, sponsored by the North American Railway Foundation, teaches kids about all the different jobs required to keep the trains rolling down the tracks.

Be sure to make time for the Pedal-a-Watt gallery theater, which takes visitors on a virtual biking tour of the Washington Heritage Trail that runs through Eastern Panhandle towns of Berkeley Springs, Martinsburg, Shepherdstown, Harpers Ferry, and Charles Town.

229 East Martin Street, Martinsburg; 304.264.9977; forthekidsbygeorge.org

SENECA ROCKS

CANAAN VALLEY

Mountain Trail Rides Located less than five minutes from nearby Canaan Valley Resort State Park and Timberline Four Seasons Resort, this attraction allows guests to experience the natural beauty of our state the same way the area’s early settlers did—on horseback. Experienced guides lead each tour along trails featuring picturesque views of the Canaan Valley, through landscapes populated with deer and black bears.

No equestrian experience is necessary at Mountain Trail Rides. All necessary equipment is provided, and guides give each group a short pre-ride class about safety and horse behavior—ensuring everyone is confident and comfortable in the saddle, even if they’ve never sat on a horse before. And with a stable full of beautiful, well-mannered horses, Mountain Trail Rides finds many guests returning to ask for their favorite pony by name.

While a horseback ride through the Canaan wilderness is a perfect summertime activity, Mountain Trail Rides host groups all year long, weather and trail conditions permitting.

255 Freeland Road, Davis; 304.866.4652; mountaintrailrides.com 104 wvl • summer 2016

Smoke Hole Caverns The Smoke Hole Caverns and Log Cabin Resort centers around a beautiful system of caves, allegedly used as a hiding place for local moonshiners during the heyday of Prohibition. The caverns are now home to a more honest kind of commerce, with thousands of visitors touring the natural attraction each year.

The resort includes a log motel, private log cabins for couples and families, and cottages along the river. There’s also Smoke Hole Outfitters, which offers fly fishing lessons, a catch-and-release trout stream, and a catch-and-keep pond where visitors can also feed the fish. The resort’s newest activity is the Moonshine Mining Company. It allows treasure hunters of all ages to pan bags of dirt for fossils and gemstones, including amethysts, emeralds, and rubies.

Even the gift shop at Smoke Hole is an attraction unto itself—the 26,000-square-foot shopping center features all manner of outdoor gear, apparel, and gifts. Don’t miss the food section, which is filled with West Virginia-made treats.

8290 North Fork Highway, Cabins; 800.828.8478; smokehole.com

POINT PLEASANT

Mothman Museum The mystery of Mothman is alive and well in the town where the otherworldly winged figure first appeared 50 years ago. Located just next to Point Pleasant’s silvery statue of the creature, the Mothman Museum gives visitors an up-close look at the legend.

See the original, handwritten depositions from the eyewitnesses who first spotted Mothman, as well as newspaper clippings and photographs from the Silver Bridge Disaster, a deadly 1967 collapse some believe is related to the sightings.

There are exhibits dedicated to paranormal investigator John Keel and to local Mothman journalist Mary Hyle, and a sizeable collection of props from the 2002 Richard Gere movie The Mothman Prophecies.

The museum also features two life-size Mothman models—perfect for your next selfie—and a gift shop with tons of souvenirs including t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, buttons, and books.

400 Main Street, Point Pleasant; 304.812.5211; mothmanmuseum.com

NIKKI BOWMAN

Make sure you visit the petting zoo!

North Bend Rail Trail Built along an abandoned stretch of the CSX railroad, this multipurpose trail runs 72 miles from Parkersburg in Wood County to Wolf Summit in Harrison County. Along the way you’ll pass through 13 railway tunnels and over 36 bridges.

You’ll see parks and farmland and tiny railroad towns like Cairo and Pennsboro.

You don’t have to commit to the full 72 miles—the trail is easily accessible from both Interstates 77 and 79 and runs parallel to U.S. Route 50 for much of the way, so there are plenty of places to begin a short jaunt. But if your family decides to go the whole way, North Bend State Park offers shuttle services to get you and your gear back where you started.

304.643.2931; northbendrailtrailstatepark.com

AUDRA

FRENCH CREEK

Tygart River Outfitters

West Virginia State Wildlife Center Located about 30 minutes from Stonewall Resort, the West Virginia State Wildlife Center allows your family to get face-to-face with some of the state’s native critters in a modern zoo facility, including animals no longer found in the Mountain State, like elk and bison.

You can also find white-tailed deer, coyotes, mountain lions, and timber wolves, along with birds and small mammals, including the river otter. And of course there’s French Creek Freddie, the famous groundhog that helps West Virginians figure out whether there will be an early spring or six more weeks of winter.

Animal enclosures are situated along a 1.25-mile, paved, wheelchair-accessible trail. There’s also a stocked pond where your family can spot waterfowl or drop a line to catch trout, bass, catfish, or bluegill. And if you decide to make a full day of your trip, the Wildlife Center has plenty of picnic areas for public use.

163 County Route 20, French Creek; 304.924.6211; wvdnr.gov/wildlife/wildlifecenter.shtm

Just up the road from Audra State Park, Tygart River Outfitters offers a variety of wet and wild adventures for your whole family. Whether you choose to experience the Tygart River in a raft, kayak, or inner tube, this outfitter provides an all-inclusive experience with all the gear your group will need, plus shuttle services to and from the river. Certified instructors also provide a crash course in water safety so everyone makes it back safe and sound.

Once back on land, check out Tygart River Outfitters’ brand-new gem mine. It’s a different kind of adventure, panning through soil to unearth potentially pricey gemstones.

You don’t know what you’ll find, and that’s the fun of it—knowledgeable staff members are on hand to help identify your haul.

1383 Swamp Run Road, Buckhannon; 304.613.5557; tygartriveroutfitters.com

FAYETTEVILLE

ACE Adventure Resort

The new Wonderland Waterpark is kid-approved!

ACE ADVENTURE RESORT

PARKERSBURG

ACE Adventure Resort has been offering white-knuckle whitewater adventures since 1980. But the outfitter doesn’t cater only to adrenaline junkies anymore. Besides rafting and kayaking, ACE offers mountain biking, fishing, horseback riding, stand-up paddle boarding, ziplining, paint ball, a disc golf course, and more. From June to August children ages five to 10 can attend a daylong Kids Camp, where trained guides lead discovery hikes, scavenger hunts, craft projects, and games in the great outdoors.

One of the most popular attractions is ACE’s new Wonderland Waterpark.

Featuring five acres of fun, the park has added 50 new obstacles and inflatable toys for 2016, along with bigger water slides, an expanded sandy beach, and a newly renovated restaurant. Guests can buy a day pass or spend the night in one of ACE’s comfortable cabins and make the fun last even longer.

1 Concho Road, Minden; 800.787.3982; ace@aceraft.com; aceraft.com wvliving.com 105

s n o t g n i h s a W e r e H t p e Sl West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle is home to several historic houses with ties to our founding father. written by Pam Kasey • photographed by Nikki Bowman

106 wvl • summer 2016

C

olonial Virginia was always looking westward.

Generation after generation of colonists wanted their own land. And as tobacco, the colony’s moneymaking crop, wore the soil out, planters, especially, sought new ground.

Samuel Washington, a younger brother of George Washington, had his Harewood built in the Shenandoah Valley in the 1760s. Extensive Washington-family landholdings in the area came to hold a number of family estates in a place that, a century later, became part of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.

In that environment, surveying was a promising profession for a young George Washington. And he was perfect for it. He had a mind for maps and math. He had the best possible connections: His older halfbrother Lawrence had married a Fairfax of “Fairfax Grant” fame—some five million king-granted acres extending westward to the source of the Potomac River, just waiting to be surveyed into tracts and sold off.

And his timing could not have been better.

The long-disputed Fairfax boundaries were fairly well settled in 1746, when George was 14.

Lord Thomas Fairfax was ready to sell in earnest and, in 1748, his agent hired George as part of a Shenandoah Valley surveying party. George and brother Lawrence soon bought up thousands of acres in the fertile region for themselves.

Then, in 1752, Lawrence died of tuberculosis. He wrote George from his deathbed of their shared hopes for backcountry Virginia: “I agree that the Shenandoah Valley is one of the most pristine areas and likely to advance your fortune quite nicely.” Lawrence left his Shenandoah Valley acreage to their younger brothers, Samuel, John, and Charles.

This is how the Washington family came to what is now West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. On that early legacy, the brothers and their descendants built sturdy homes that still stand. As the only one still in Washington hands a quarter-millennium later, Harewood, just west of Charles Town, is arguably the gem. wvliving.com 107

Samuel’s Harewood

Samuel Washington was prominent in his own right before George became commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and long before George was president. “In 1766, while he still lived in King George, Virginia, Samuel was one of the first signatories, along with brothers Charles and John, of the Leedstown Resolves, protesting the treatment of the colony by Parliament,” says Samuel’s greatgreat-great-great-great-grandson Walter Washington, who lives at Harewood today.

Soon after, Samuel and family were the first Washingtons to move to the Shenandoah Valley. Their Harewood dazzled. “When that house was built, in 1770, it was by a long shot the fanciest house in the valley,” says Charles Town architectural historian John Allen. The combination of style and materials was unique. “It’s very similar stylistically to the Tidewater houses where the Washington family came from, literally transplanting that culture here,” John says. “But there wasn’t really any brick here at the time, so they built it out of the local limestone.

It really is unusual.”

Samuel’s stone house looks an austere gray in some lights of day and a warm brown in others, but it always carries a formal Georgian dignity. The main house, one room deep, centers on a high foyer: The visitor entering from the east faces a three-sided staircase that ascends from the left up and over a west-side doorway, turning back on itself to reach a second floor. To the right is a grand drawing room that we’ll revisit in a moment. To the left, the dining room and, through that, a south wing—a large kitchen connected by an architectural “hyphen.”

Upstairs, there is a bedroom at either end with a hall between. That’s the whole of the original house that Samuel, wife, and three children moved into.

We can easily imagine the drawing room of the 1700s, because it hasn’t changed—even the paint is original. This 20-by-20-foot space is where the Washingtons would have entertained. It luxuriates in the full daylight of rooms that have windows on opposite sides. The classic millwork and 12-foot ceilings would have made for gracious gatherings.

Samuel grew wheat and served as a colonel in the local militia and, after Berkeley County split off from Frederick County, Virginia, he was sheriff. But the family struggled with tuberculosis and, by 1783, the children were orphaned.

Uncle George took responsibility for two: George Steptoe and Lawrence Augustine. Harewood may have stood empty—“That’s a good question. We don’t know,” Walter says—while George finished the War of Independence, became founding president in 1789, and saw his wards raised and educated. But in 1793, George Steptoe and his wife Lucy moved into Harewood. Lucy’s sister Dolley was wedded in the drawing room the following year to James Madison, later the nation’s fourth president. Lucy’s pianoforte, which surely brightened festive occasions, remains in the room as a reminder of those times.

Washingtons occupied Harewood until they moved to nearby Charles Town in about 1900. Tenant farmers lived 108 wvl • summer 2016

there for 50 years until Walter’s parents decided, when he was 3, to restore it. “I remember paint peeling off the walls and ceilings,” he says. “That hyphen between the house and the old kitchen, which had a rough lean-to screen porch, there was a groundhog living under the steps.” He visited weekends and summers as the work progressed. At some point, a cousin added a tasteful mirroring north wing.

Some stories about Harewood are undocumented— like a visit from the exiled future French king Louis Philippe. “That’s an urban myth,” says Walter, who read the monarch’s diary. “He did come to Charles Town, but he never mentioned coming to Harewood.” While people perpetuate the story that George’s friend the Marquis de Lafayette gave him the marble mantelpiece in the drawing room, John says there’s no proof of it.

Walter shows Harewood occasionally to those with expertise in history and architecture. He has secured the property’s future by selling a conservation easement, putting the funds into a trust for maintenance, and enlisting cousins in Ohio to steward the home after his time.

Harewood’s drawing room has been praised by architects for its fine proportions. Dolley Madison was married in this room. The portrait is of Bushrod Washington, Samuel’s nephew, who served on the Supreme Court from 1798 to 1829.

clockwise from top left

Washington pays homage to our first president. The original kitchen is Entering located in the south Harewood from wing. Upstairs, the the east. The former bedroom pianoforte of Samuel’s daughter- closets now contain in-law Lucy, built bathrooms. The Canton ware china in Vienna in the is thought to have early 1800s, is no come from Mount longer in playing Vernon. condition. A portrait of George

wvliving.com 109

clockwise from top The grand central portion of Happy Retreat was built by a post-Washington owner; Charles Washington lived in an earlier version of the right-hand portion. Walter

Washington and fellow members of the Friends of Happy Retreat work on its restoration.

Some believe a small octagonal building at Happy Retreat was a schoolhouse, but architectural historian John

Allen believes it was likelier an office. “It’s not really big enough for a schoolhouse.

And the chair rail and all the interior woodwork are really nice. It has all the physical evidence of being an important building.”

Charles’ Happy Retreat Charles Washington moved to the Shenandoah Valley a decade after Samuel, in 1780. He built his home, Happy Retreat, just a few miles from Harewood and set aside an adjacent 80 acres to form Charles Town. When Jefferson County split off from Berkeley County in 1801, Charles Town became the county seat.

Happy Retreat changed hands a number of times and, by the time of the real estate boom of the early 2000s, its 12 acres were in danger of subdivision and development. The nonprofit Friends of Happy Retreat (FOHR) bought the house in July 2015 to preserve it.

“It’s a complicated house,” says Walter, who serves as president of FOHR. “Charles Washington built the two wings, each one and a half stories high, facing each other. The main portion of the house was built in the 1830s by someone unrelated to the family, local Circuit Judge Isaac Douglass.

So the central portion, which everyone identifies as Happy Retreat, was not built by Charles.”

That central part remains unchanged, but for the addition of bathrooms. The east wing was long ago gutted and rebuilt. “But the west wing, we believe, are the two rooms Charles lived in, so we’re focusing our restoration on that part.”

In a commitment to seeing Happy Retreat a living part of the community, FOHR is turning it into a cultural center for concerts, plays, and art exhibits, Walter says. The addition of a catering kitchen will outfit the estate for event rentals, and an interpretive center will make it a heritage tourism destination.

“Everyone concentrates on Jefferson County’s Civil War history and John Brown, but there’s an earlier history, too,” Walter says. “People don’t realize we also have the homes of two other Revolutionary War generals in Jefferson County, Horatio Gates and Charles Lee. All of us involved with this effort on Happy Retreat are committed to seeing that earlier story told.”

110 wvl • summer 2016

Blakely

Claymont Court

Blakely and the facing Claymont Court were built by brothers John Augustine and Bushrod Corbin Washington, grandsons of the president’s younger brother John Augustine, between 1815 and 1820.

The family story is that John Augustine built Blakely smaller because he knew he would inherit Mount Vernon. “But even when they lived at Mount Vernon, Blakely is where they came to get away from the August heat,” says Walter Washington. Blakely is in private ownership and closed to the public.

The grandest home in the region, Bushrod Corbin’s Claymont encompasses some 16,000 square feet. “There probably were homes in Virginia that were that big but certainly nothing in the Shenandoah Valley that even came close to that big,” says local architectural historian John Allen. The current Georgian structure, dating to about 1840, replaced the original after it was destroyed by fire. It is owned today by the Claymont Society for Continuous Education.

Cedar Lawn Built about 1825 by Samuel’s grandson John Thornton Augustine on a portion of the original Harewood estate, Cedar Lawn was bought in the 1940s by the industrialist R.J. Funkhouser, who at one time also owned Claymont Court and Blakely. It has been restored by the current owners, Taylor and Marjorie Fithian, and is not open to the public.

Beallair

(not pictured) The original structure was built by Thomas Beall in the late 1700s.

Beall passed the home to his daughter Eliza and son-in-law George Corbin Washington, the grandson of President George Washington’s older half-brother Augustine and a two-time U.S. congressman. The large main Classical Revival portion was built by George Corbin’s son, Lewis. The home is owned today by a developer and stands behind a fence in a gated community. wvliving.com 111

THE PA RTING SHOT

Small Lakes, Big Fishing written by Zack Harold

❂

photographed by Carla Witt Ford

throughout the 20th century, the U.S. government spent lots of money building dams across the state. Although they were intended to control flooding, these projects came with an awesome side effect—impoundment lakes for swimming, boating, and some seriously good fishing. Here’s a look at five little lakes that are hotspots for anglers.

Burnsville Lake

Lake Sherwood

Moncove Lake

North Bend

Tygart Lake

A 970-acre impoundment just off Interstate 79 in Braxton County, this lake features crappie, bluegill, and three species of bass: largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted. Avoid this lake during the hottest days of summer, however. The water is relatively shallow and bass tend to get lazy when the thermometer starts climbing.

Located about 25 miles northeast of White Sulphur Springs in the Monongahela National Forest, this 165acre lake, built in 1958, features bluegill, channel catfish, tiger muskie, and trophy-sized largemouth bass. A National Forest stamp is required for fishing, and only electric boat motors are allowed.

(pictured) Monroe County’s 140-acre Moncove Lake is home to large channel catfish—some weighing in at eight to 10 pounds—and trophy-sized largemouth bass. For the best chance at bagging a big bass, visit in late spring or early fall and use a deep runner lure.

This 300-acre Ritchie County impoundment stretches more than eight miles from North Bend State Park through the town of Harrisville. The water contains bluegill, channel catfish, crappie, muskie, as well as largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass, although the bass are subject to catch-andrelease regulations.

Just upstream of Grafton, this 1,750-acre lake was formed in 1938 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Tygart Valley River. Now a popular destination for anglers, the tailwaters of Tygart Lake are stocked with trout once a month from February through May and twice in October.

112 wvl • summer 2016