Andrew's world West Virginia history

     The leader of the Grand army of the Republic  - a group for northern civil war vets, called for a day to remember the civil war soldiers who died in combat and to decorate their graves. He called it "decoration day" and it was to be May 30th, 1868, a date he chose because it wasn't the anniversary of any particular battle. Most northern states held similar ceremonies and by 1890, decoration day was a state holiday in those northern states but southern states still weren't playing ball.      Over the years the holiday became memorial day and instead of just Civil war soldiers, it became about honoring fallen heros from all the wars. I've always known it to be about decorating all graves, not just those of soldiers.      For years the holiday was observed on May 30th just like the original. In 1968, congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday act, which made memorial day the last Monday in May, it also made memorial day a federal holiday. Now all federal employe

    You probably know by now if you've been reading this blog very long that my family and I like to do a little exploring. A couple weeks ago we went by a place I thought was cool. Before we got there, my dad joked with me about this tree having cans of Pringle chips on it, and that the chips were invented there, haha. By the way, this post has nothing to do with chips. Sorry guys. It was a sycamore tree that is apparently the third generation descendant of the tree that two of West Virginia's early settlers lived in for three years. It was near the town of Buckhannon, WV.     Its not uncommon to hear about a person  seeking shelter in one of these big hollowed out sycamores but this is the first I've heard about someone living in one.      The story goes that John and Samuel Pringle deserted their posts at Fort Pitt, which was near present day Pittsburgh, during the French and Indian war, in 1761. They had a couple of other guys with them but they were caught early on. Th