Andrew's world West Virginia history

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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. ...