Andrew's world West Virginia history

First of all, I wanna say I don’t consider myself to be gullible. As a believer in the paranormal, I don’t believe every claim I hear, only the ones I consider to be credible. I think believing in the paranormal is more about believing in the POSSIBILITY of the paranormal than anything. Like I said I believe in CREDIBLE claims by credible people and not a lot of people are more credible than Daniel Boone. Daniel Boone needs no introduction. I’ve read several things over the past couple of years about Daniel Boone’s claim of seeing and killing a ten-foot tall, hairy man like creature that he called a “yahoo”. He borrowed the name from a book called Gulliver’s Travels that he was a fan of. All sources I’ve read point to a 1992 biography of Daniel Boone’s written by John Mack Faragher in which Faragher says Boone used to tell these tales, especially in his later years. The place where this was said to happen is now called Yahoo Falls, Kentucky. It’s clear that what Boone referred to a...

In Fayette County, West Virginia, at the confluence of the Gauley River and the New River, which forms the Kanawha, is a town called Gauley Bridge. The town is named after an actual bridge that was built in 1822 to carry the James River and Kanawha Turnpike over the Gauley River. Before this, the area was referred to as Kincaid’s ferry. The Kincaid family settled there in around 1812. Mr. Kincaid who ran the ferry was tried and convicted of arson when the covered bridge burned in 1826. This was a strategic point to control in the Civil War and the area, which was originally southern in sympathy, was taken and retaken three times between 1861 and 1862. The union forces would keep control until the end of the war. A wooden bridge over the Gauley was burned, rebuilt and burned again. The piers of the bridge are still standing! They’re visible from the modern bridge. One of the highest water falls in WV is in Gauley Bridge, at 60 feet. You gotta check out Cathedral Falls. Gauley bridg...

This house has always intrigued me, but I didn’t know exactly what to call it or much else about it until a couple years ago when I was looking at some articles another historian posted on his Facebook page. Not everyone knows the name of this house, but it is a landmark in St. Albans, West Virginia. I’m of course talking about the Mohler house AKA “Hill Grove” This mansion on Pennsylvania Ave. is considered by many to be the best, or at least one of the best, examples of Victorian Queen Anne Architecture in the state. This house had a twin in Charleston, but it was demolished. It was built for William Mohler in approx. 1900 William Mohler Mr. Mohler was an impressive man. He owned 13 other houses in St. Albans and was a very successful businessman. He owned Mohler lumber company, sat on the board of several banks and was president of the St. Albans electric and water company. He was also a stockholder of the Boone County Bank in Madison and stockholder of Panaguio Mine co. in Me...

I read about a murder in the area the other night that really piqued my interest and I went down the rabbit hole. The murder was in 1858 and led to the first white man being legally hanged in Kanawha County. Late in the evening of Wednesday, January 20th, 1858 or early in the morning of Thursday, 21st, Mary Susan Turley was murdered by her husband Preston S. Turley. The couple were residents of the neighborhood around lock 4 in what is now Alum Creek, this was way before Alum Creek or even Rome, wv. Susan was found the following Monday night about midnight, which was almost ten years exactly since her and Preston were married. The river had been dragged for quite a distance from their house, which sat almost directly on the riverbank. Preston, who was in bed at his father's house, about a mile away, was immediately arrested.It was said that he left his house when they started dragging the river. His initial claim that she drowned herself was disproved by the 69-pound rock that...

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                  I was doing a little research on Drawdy falls, like I always do about places I visit (I’m a nerd). I didn’t really intend on making a post about it, especially since I’m right in the middle of writing another post buuuut you know how it is, I found some interesting stuff                 If you drive on the stretch of route 3 (Daniel Boone parkway) that goes through Peytona in Boone County, you might drive right past the Drawdy falls roadside park and not even notice it. You should really stop and check it out if you get a chance. The falls are located on the opposite side of the road from the picnic tables and signs. Theres also an “almost heaven” swing for a nice photo opp.                 The falls themselves (there are t...

                                                  A picture my mom took of the Capitol Plaza Theater when we we're walking along Summers street last month.                            I figured today would be a good day to end my nearly one-year hiatus from blogging (my last post was in October 2024). The dreary weather today has me in the mood to tell a good ghost story. Everybody who knows me knows I love a good ghost story.       This is probably one of the most told and re-told stories around the Charleston area. This is the story of the Capitol Plaza Theater on Summers Street in downtown Charleston, WV. It is said that the site was formally occupied by the Welch mansion. The Welch family mansion was built in the latter part of the 1700's ...

A pic a friend and I took of the grave of Ann Bailey when we visited Point Pleasant in 2022 “Mad Ann” Bailey was a famous frontierswoman. History.com names her one of the 7 gutsiest women on the American frontier, in a March 2018 article.    I went to Ann Bail ey Elementary, where I think I was misinf ormed about who A nn Bailey really was , or maybe after all these years, I just don’t fully remember what I was taught. In any event I was surprised to re-learn about Ann Baily in recent years.   Ann Hennis came from Liverpool, England around 17 61 to Virginia. She was an educated woman. She married her first husband, Richard Trotter , in Virginia. Richard was a Sh enandoa Valley settler. He also participated in and survived General Edward Braddock’s disastrous expedition of 1 755 (a major event in the French and Indian war) . Richard was killed in Lord Dunmore ’s war AKA The Battle of Point Pleasant . I covered Lord Dunmore’s war in deta il in my book, Ce...

A picture I took of a man stirring Apple butter at Roscoe Village (Ohio) in 2014        Recently I had an experience making apple butter and pumpkin butter. I have been talking about doing it for several years now, but it seems like something always came up and I ended up just buying a jar or someone would give me a jar that they made. Well, this year my mom and I finally got around to doing it ourselves, I have made and canned a lot of things with my mom over the years. We've done everything from our own hot sauce to just canning home grown vegetables.      Apple butter and pumpkin butter are both a pretty big thing here in West Virginia, so I thought I'd share with you a little history on it. See, some of the earliest settlers in what is now West Virginia were known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. The Pennsylvania Dutch weren't actually Dutch at all, they were a group of German immigrants (and immigrants from other German speaking countries like Switzerla...

Usually this blog is all about historical West Virginia but today we have some current events to discuss. You probably heard about Bam Margera making a random stop in Charleston the other day. I'm not even sure how many people saw him, he just posted on his Instagram that he got his morning skate session in Charleston, WV, along with a pic of him at the skate park under the interstate. This is huge to me because I've been a huge fan of his since the early days of jackass in 1999 or 2000. I'm honestly surprised that Brandon AKA Bam isn't here more often actually, since he lives one state up (Pennsylvania). So, now theres only one question - what will he do next? (Whatever the fuck I want) Viva la bam fans will get it. In other news, actress Halle Berry celebrated her birthday in the mountain state. I saw on Instagram (how did we survive before IG?) that Rock City Cakes made her birthday cake. What an honor

     The other day, I ran across a story that I wanted  to believe. I even shared it on my personal Facebook because I was so excited about it. Apparently, somebody had asked an AI powered search engine (not too sure which one) what the most haunted place in Lincoln County, WV was. It told them a story about the Lincoln County courthouse in Hamlin being haunted by the ghost of a former sheriff who was murdered in the building. Now when I read that, it seemed exciting, boring old Lincoln County just got a little cooler but since then I had time to do a little research. I thought I'd be able to find accounts of witnesses and people who claim to have seen something that might lead them to believe the courthouse is in fact haunted. but no, nothing, not one claim. So, I wondered about the Sheriff that was murdered. There appears to be no truth to that either. The closest thing I was able to find to that was the Sheriff of Lincoln County was killed in a car wreck in 1970. ...

If you've noticed a bit of a decline in blog posts over the past several months, it's because this blogger has been trying something a little different. I've been writing a book! Just something I had to get out of my system and now I can mark "author a book" off my bucket list. I actually had dreams of getting it published by a publishing company. I found out a lot about the publishing industry this year, it's not what you think. If you're really lucky, you'll get a literary agent (which you almost have to have if you want traditional publishers to see your manuscript) and if you're really, really lucky one of the publishers will like your book. Now, you'll get an advance that ranges from $1-$10,000.00. after that, you dont get anything until the publisher has got their money back from them advance. Now, you start getting royalties, which is probably gonna be about 30%. Thats option one. Option two is you self publish. Now, thesedays there are ...

       Charleston, WV just had it's first emo/ pop punk festival on July 13th, 2024. J.T. Woodruff of the band Hawthorne Heights said "it's hard to bring an emo festival to West Virginia because it's not mainstream and we didn't know how many people would show up" But there was a huge turnout. West Virginia has a huge music scene, despite being a small state. We truly don't get the shows we deserve. These weren't fans just getting into the music, most were fans like myself who have been fans of these bands for at least 20 years.  J.T. also said "I'd like the record to show that I'm from West Virginia" he went on to talk about how he had to move three hours away (Dayton, Ohio) to play music because back then there was no talent in West Virginia. But now there was enough talent to put together a whole stage [All day] I guess that means we should be proud of our little state. J.T. who sings lead vocals and plays rythym guitar...

Photo sourced from britannica.com        Daniel Boone was an amazing man by anyone’s standards. He was a noted frontiersman and has certainly earned his spot in history books. Most books overlook the ten years he spent in the Kanawha Valley, though. I don’t know if that's because most historians and biographers of his just don’t think it was interesting enough to write about or if it just isn’t widely known, who knows?    In any event, he lived in a cabin not far from Fort Clendenin or Fort Lee as it was later renamed and would eventually become the City of Charleston. There's a park, on the opposite side of the river from where he lived, he lived on the south side of the river, which nowadays I guess you could say is the U.C. side or the Kanawha City side .  Nothing is left of his cabin, but the park which was named in his honor does have the Ruffner cabin, which is said to be the oldest extant structure in the Kanawha Valley, it also has the Cr...

  I have lived in the Charleston area all my life. I’ve never lived within the city limits, but I’ve always lived within half an hour or so from downtown Charleston. So, as you can imagine, I’ve spent more than a little time downtown. Charleston, although it’s a small city in comparison to other cities, has a rich history that I have come to appreciate. There are a lot of reminders of the past that I'm sure most people don’t even give a second thought, as they walk or drive by. For example, Clendenin Street was named after Colonel George Clendenin and his family who built fort Clendenin (renamed Fort Lee) to protect settlers from Indians . They built this fort with the help of other families, like the Tacketts who eventually moved down river and built their own fort, Fort Tackett near present day St. Albans, and a group of greenbrier county rangers. Fort Clendenin was started in 1788 and would later become the town of Charleston. The city was originally supposed to be calle...

     Every year since it became a Federal holiday in 2021, I've heard people wondering what is Juneteenth? Why are people getting off work for it? I admit I didn't know either in 2021, so I read about it, something I do in every situation and recommend you do, too. So anyway, I figured this year i'd publish a post on my blog instead of trying to educate people a little bit individually. That's the beauty of having this particular platform to shout from.      The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1st, 1863. Most people know that this was supposed to grant freedom to all enslaved African Americans. However, certain areas were still controlled by the Confederacy and the Emancipation Proclamation couldn't be enforced.      The last of the enslaved African Americans were in the western most Confederate state of texas, in a town called Galveston Bay. On June 19th, 1865, more than two years after the slaves should've been freed, the U...

     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 holid...

    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 th...

  You remember that part of the movie Without A Paddle where Seth Green's character says, “what's with all these satanic names?”   Well, here in West Virginia, we have an answer for that. We have a group of rock formations that people refer to as “the devil’s tea table”. You've probably seen these rocks that actually do resemble a table. Most likely, these were formed by erosion. “Tea table” rocks are what geologists call them, the reason for the devil part is people say that the devil himself really does come to these “tables” to have his tea.   Legend has it that a long time ago two men were returning home from work in a small boat going down the Elk River. One of the guys looked up on the hill and spotted a rock formation he wanted to go check out, the other man thought it was time for a break anyway, so they pulled ashore. The guy who wanted to check it out eagerly hoped out of the boat and went on up the hill while his friend just sat back in the boat assumin...

I just finished the book visitors from lanulos by Woodrow Derenberger. You've probably heard about Woodrow, allow me to refresh your memory, he was the guy from Mineral Wells, WV, who claims to have had several encounters with Indrid Cold. He first saw him in 1966. Indrid is from the planet Lanulos. Now, I know what you're thinking but let me assure you Derenberger wasn't a lunatic. He seems to have been educated, respected and he said he didn't drink. An organization called NICAP (National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena) actually had him tested to see if he was insane and he wasn't, but of course they never published this. Derenberger wasn't the only one that saw Mr. Cold the first night he saw him, in fact there were other similar reports in WV and one in New Jersey. Listen to Mr. Derenberger talk about his first experience... https://youtu.be/QP_NFPjgCXA?si=xRqJg5pLLzbDdTlS      In the book, Derenberger tells all of his experiences with Mr. Col...