This week, when you’re the only doctor in a rural mountain county, you’ve got to think ahead to keep your practice going. Also, a West Virginia baker draws on her Finnish heritage to make a different kind of cinnamon roll. And, if you bought a live-cut Christmas tree this year, there’s a good chance it came from Appalachia.
Randolph County Homestead School Reopens As Community Center
Listen
Share this Article
The Tygart Valley Homestead Association in Randolph County is celebrating the opening of a new community center inside their historic school building that first opened in 1939. The school was originally part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Homestead projects.
After high winds damaged part of the roof at the Tygart Valley Homestead in 2017, the Randolph County School Board closed the school.
But one year later, the local community association bought the building from the federal government for a nominal fee of $1.
The community raised more than $30,000 to repair the roof, and they plan to make more improvements to preserve the historic structure.
Roseann Rosier, secretary for the Tygart Valley Homestead Association, said part of the value of the school building is in its history.
“So when the county closed the school, we decided to try, and fail, rather than not try at all,” she said.
The Tygart Valley Homestead was once visited by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Roosevelt was devoted to resettlement communities that were built across the country, including Arthurdale in Preston County and Eleanor in Putnam County.
Credit Farm Security Administration
/
Resident of Tygart Valley Homestead with his child
The Homestead Association is hosting a celebration all day on Saturday, August 31 to honor the 80th anniversary of the opening of the school. It’s also the grand opening of the new community center, featuring a new walking trail and a small museum. Rosier said they will be serving a pulled pork lunch and are screening a new documentary about the Tygart Valley Homestead community.
This week, when you’re the only doctor in a rural mountain county, you’ve got to think ahead to keep your practice going. Also, a West Virginia baker draws on her Finnish heritage to make a different kind of cinnamon roll. And, if you bought a live-cut Christmas tree this year, there’s a good chance it came from Appalachia.
The question of whether the state can allow the creation of charter schools without a vote from the people of the county, or counties, where it operates, is moving through the state’s legal system.
Before he became the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall spent decades using the law as a tool for social change. On Us & Them, Trey Kay hosts a community conversation on Marshall’s legacy — featuring excerpts from Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect — and asking what his civil rights victories mean today, as hard-won reforms face renewed challenge.
For many the Christmas season is not all merry and bright, but laced with an emotional weight that at times can be overwhelming. Those challenging emotions prompted a Cabell County musician, Parry Casto, to compose a different kind of Christmas song.