On May 30, 1940, Smoke Hole Caverns in Grant County opened for tours. Of our state’s four commercial caves, the Smoke Hole Caverns is likely the most visited.
The Smoke Hole Caverns developed along bedding planes that were tilted into a vertical position by the Earth’s tectonic movements. Only about a third of the available cavern space is open to the public. It features openings of more than 100 feet in height, beautifully decorated stalactites hanging in rows along the ceiling, and numerous calcite flowstone draperies lining the walls. The main room is called the “Room of a Million Stalactites.”
The caverns are located near the Smoke Hole Canyon, an 18-mile-long gorge that runs through Grant and Pendleton counties. It supposedly was named for a cave chamber where Indians and early settlers smoke-cured meat.
Before World War II, the Smoke Hole was known for its remote, unique culture, not to mention a long history of making moonshine whiskey. The region is better known today for recreational opportunities. For the last half-century, the Smoke Hole Canyon has been part of the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area.
The Robert C. Byrd Corridor H Highway Authority is celebrating the completion of a segment of the road near the Tucker-Grant county line.
The authority scheduled a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.
The new section runs about 3 miles and is part of an ongoing project to complete Corridor H between Mount Storm and near Davis.
Authority president Robbie Morris told The Inter-Mountain that the section is the first completed portion of Corridor H in Tucker County.
Corridor H is the only section of the Appalachian Corridor system that hasn’t been finished. When it is completed, it will connect Interstate 79 near Weston with the junction of Interstates 81 and 66 in Front Royal, Virginia.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Curtis Fleming explains fly fishing to school children from around the state.
The Outdoor Channel features a show titled, Fly Rod Chronicles with Curtis Fleming. It makes stops across the country to feature different places to fly fish. Last week, the show stopped at Cabins, West Virginia in Grant County to hold an event to push for kids to go outside and fly fish. Among the participants, were two students from the Chestnut Mountain Ranch School in Morgantown. It’s a Christian school that serves troubled boys. One of the students talked about the qualities of fly fishing that might help him and others like him in his therapy.
On a warm fall day, this group of about a dozen middle school aged kids eagerly watch for fish in the local stream in Cabins, West Virginia just outside of Petersburg. They’re here to learn about fly fishing from West Virginia native, Curtis Fleming and his crew of pro-fly fishers.
Among the dozen children, two of them are from the Chestnut Mountain Ranch School in Morgantown that serves troubled boys. It’s a Christian-centered school that aims to help boys who are in crisis at home or within themselves.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Kyler Grimes is a 6th grader at Chestnut Mountain Ranch, and he says fly fishing helps him calm down and take his mind off things.
“Just calming, the relaxation, and when you’re casting…it’s just like the history between fly fishing and the history of fish. It just goes through your mind how long they’ve been here and has been here,” Grimes said.
Bradley Clodfelter is a teacher at Chestnut Mountain Ranch who started a Fly Fishing 101 class after watching Fly Rod Chronicles on television. Grimes is a student in his class.
“Basically what we do in that class is we teach them the basic biology of a nymph, and the lifecycle of nymphs,” explained Clodfelter, “They’re actually required to do a presentation at the end of the class, and it’s a PowerPoint presentation. They learn how to cast. We try to get them out on a stream and teach them how to catch a fish.”
Clodfelter says his class also teaches life-lessons.
“We’re able to work through just…frustration, anger issues…patience. We’re learning about that out here,” said Clodfelter, “It is difficult sometimes to catch fish, and you get your fly tangled up in a tree, and you just have to learn patience there. Also, you learn how to take care of the environment, what we’ve been given, and a lot of times, you know, they like to destroy it, so we want to teach them how to take care of it.”
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Curtis Fleming, the host of Fly Rod Chronicles, often works with Project Healing Water, a wounded veteran program that aids vets through fly fishing. He compares the work he does with veterans to the work that Chestnut Mountain Ranch does with troubled boys.
“Just like what we do with wounded vets that come back, it helps them let go of the pain. Okay? And kids today that comes through that’s been troubled or having problems, when you get them outdoors and you get them fly fishing, they forget all about their problems,” Fleming said, “I always tell people that you cannot worry and fly fish. You just can’t do both at the same time.”
Fleming hopes as the day comes to a close that the kids who participated in his event will leave with a new love for fly fishing. He also hopes it will help motivate them to go outside and stay active.
The West Virginia Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to return local control of the school district to the Grant County Board of Education…
The West Virginia Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to return local control of the school district to the Grant County Board of Education after nearly five years of intervention.
The system was taken over in 2009 after and audit showed the county was failing in multiple areas, including curriculum, student achievement and lacked leadership.
In 2012, a follow-up audit revealed improvements, but the state BOE remained in control of its finances and personnel, or hiring, practices.
“Where we came from was a state of confusion,” Grant County Superintendent Dr. Deedra Bolton said, “and that has changed completely.”
On Wednesday, Director of the Office of Education and Performance Audits Gus Penix said Grant County still has a deficit of more than $176,000, but reported the county has a plan to reduce that deficit without going into detail. He recommended the state board vote to return control to the county, which they did without discussion.
“This is when you’re really proud to be a member of the state Board of Education,” Board President Gayle Manchin said after the vote, “when you can listen to stories of the successes that you’re having in your counties.”
