This week, we step on the Appalachian Trail with one of America’s most accomplished hikers, Jennifer Pharr Davis. We also talk to the director of the Augusta Heritage Center. Each summer, dozens of students attend workshops to learn traditional skills. This year, the center is turning 50. We’ll also visit the steel drum capital of America — which, believe it or not, is right here in Appalachia.
This week, we step on the Appalachian Trail with one of America’s most accomplished hikers, Jennifer Pharr Davis.
We also talk to the director of the Augusta Heritage Center. Each summer, dozens of students attend workshops to learn traditional skills. This year, the center is turning 50.
We’ll also visit the steel drum capital of America — which, believe it or not, is right here in Appalachia.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
Talking Trails With Hiking Phenom Jennifer Pharr Davis
Few people know the Appalachian Trail better than Jennifer Pharr Davis, a North Carolina native who’s through-hiked the trail three times and set speed records. Davis continues to blaze new pathways and has become a celebrity in the world of outdoor recreation.
Host Mason Adams spoke to her about some of her hikes — and how they shaped her identity as an Appalachian.
Augusta Heritage Center Celebrates 50 Years
The Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia has become a destination for the study and preservation of traditional arts, music and crafts. To celebrate its 50th year, the center wants to bring more West Virginia high school students to its summer workshops — for free.
Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Executive Director Seth Young about the center’s mission and plans for its summer workshops.
The Appalachian Capital Of The Steel Drum
Keith Moone works on a steel drum Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, at the Manette Musical Instruments workshop in Osage, W.Va. Credit: Jesse Wright/100 Days in Appalachia
You’ve almost certainly heard the steel drum. It’s a quintessential Caribbean instrument, used in Calypso and Reggae and all kinds of pop music. But here’s a surprise: Some of the best steel drums in the world are made in…West Virginia.
Folkways Reporter Zack Harold has the story.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Jesse Milnes, The Steel Drivers, Tyler Childers, the Carolina Chocolate Drops with Rhiannon Giddons, and Amythyst Kiah.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.
You can send us an email at InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
On this West Virginia Morning, the Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, and North Carolina native, Jennifer Pharr Davis has not only through-hiked the trail three times, but she has also set records for speed. Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams talks to Davis about her love of hiking and what it takes to get started.
On this West Virginia Morning, the Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, and North Carolina native, Jennifer Pharr Davis has not only through-hiked the trail three times, but she has also set records for speed. Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams talks to Davis about her love of hiking and what it takes to get started.
Also, in this show, our Mountain Stage Song of the Week comes to us from West Virginia native, singer, songwriter, fiddler, and Tiktok sensation Philip Bowen. We listen to his performance of “The Old Kanawha.”
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Bill Lynch, Caroline MacGregor, Curtis Tate, Chris Schulz, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Liz McCormick, Randy Yohe, and Shepherd Snyder.
Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and our producer.
Eric Douglas is our news director.
Teresa Wills and Chuck Anziulewicz are our hosts.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
On this episode of The Legislature Today, with West Virginia tourism growing as a four season, nationwide destination, there’s an abundance of legislation to enhance hiking and biking, with rail trails and rest stops along the way.
On this episode of The Legislature Today, with West Virginia tourism growing as a four season, nationwide destination, there’s an abundance of legislation to enhance hiking and biking, with rail trails and rest stops along the way.
Assistant News Director Caroline MacGregor has more on this outdoor recreation push with House Minority Leader Doug Skaff, D-Kanawha, who sits on the House Committee of Economic Development and Tourism, and Sen. Mark Maynard, R-Wayne, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Outdoor Recreation.
Also, over the weekend, the House and Senate both met for regular floor sessions. The Senate passed four key bills including a tax cut proposal, a bill on employee pay raises for certain employees, a bill to shore up PEIA and a budget bill. Those have all headed to the House.
The Senate and Gov. Jim Justice now agree over the estimated $750 million Senate plan that includes an initial personal income tax cut of around 20 percent, a personal property tax credit for vehicles and a 50 percent personal property tax break on equipment and inventory aimed at small businesses.
The Senate also passed 20 bills Monday on a variety of issues ranging from alcohol consumption to high school sports. Chris Schulz has more.
And the House passed a bill that would create a military funeral honor guard in remembrance of Medal of Honor recipient Woody Williams. The chamber also approved the contentious Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Finally, representing nearly a quarter million West Virginia senior citizens, AARP maintains a strong lobbying force at the state capitol. On AARP Day, at least two bills top the list to help the elderly, and often, the rest of us as well.
Having trouble viewing the video below? Click here to watch it on YouTube.
The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.
Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Mercer County leaders have repurposed 23 acres of woodland, once used for forestry research, into a recreational area. And its two miles of trails offer more than hiking. They also have a lot of history and learning opportunities.
Mercer County leaders have repurposed 23 acres of woodland, once used for forestry research, into a recreational area. And its two miles of trails offer more than hiking. They also have a lot of history and learning opportunities.
Jessica Lilly
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A bridge covers a small creek along the Gardner Trails in Mercer County.
“The foresters just like to get out in the woods,” Mercer County Commissioner Bill Archer said. “Since it was a federal government entity, you know, they spared no expense as far as rock lining all the trails out through there that are open.”
While the trail in the forest had a good foundation, Archer said the county still had to work to prepare the site for the public. The county worked to clear debris, modernize some of the signs found along the trail identifying some of the trees and soften the rock lined paths.
“We had a lot of excess wood, and we leased a wood chipper and ground [the wood] into wood chips, and my late wife recommended that we put that on the trails,” Archer said. “If we had them we might as well use them to make a nice soft trail to walk, on and it’s very safe.”
The site also has a building, once used by the U.S. Forest Service; it’s the only building in the country dedicated to honor President John F. Kennedy before he was assassinated.
Jessica Lilly
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Mercer County worker Everett Cole built the new horseshoe pits from excess wood along the trail.
Jeff Palmer takes care of the trails.
“I think, probably around 1911,” Palmer explains standing by the Poor Farm Cemetery trail head, “the county acquired this property, and it became what was called the Mercer County Poor Farm. People who could not support themselves for one reason or another, they ended up here. And what happened was when people would pass away, they were buried in the cemetery up here, which is now called the Poor Farm Cemetery.”
Along the right side of the trail is a set of horseshoe pits. Once overgrown, they are now restored for additional recreational use. The pits around the old iron pegs were also made from excess wood while clearing the trails.
“Here in southern West Virginia, that seems like the route,” Palmer said. “Recreation is a big thing now, and so as many [recreational] opportunities that we can offer to anybody, we try to take advantage of that opportunity.”
There are also picnic tables, disc golf and even brief botanical lessons available to visitors.
Along the hike are rectangular signs strategically perched in front of trees and elements of the forest.
“This right here is one of my favorite trees, that’s the black gum,” Palmer said. “The way I can tell it’s black gum is by the bark. The chunks of gum protrude out so far.”
Jessica Lilly
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Along the Gardner Hike Trails, trees and forest elements are labeled with a rectangle sign.
At one time, the forest was used to highlight the timber and types of woods that could be used for furniture after World War II. Hikers can find even more information by logging onto the website, even while they hike.
“A lot of history here and we’re working to preserve that history,” Palmer said. “When we have hikers coming up here, we encourage them to go onto our website and as they hike, they can just look at the history of this whole place.”
The interactive map and other details are available at their website.
The Mercer County Commission is working to connect another section of trails. Palmer expects the section will be open before spring 2023.
Jessica Lilly
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Jeff Palmer stands at one of the trail access points.
The hope for the Great Eastern Trail is to relieve some of the foot traffic on the iconic Appalachian Trail which hosts about three million visitors each year.
In 1948, a hiker named Earl Shaffer came up with the idea of an alternative to the Appalachian Trail (AT). It would be a trail that stretches from the deep south to New England, just west of the AT. It wasn’t until 2007 that the Great Eastern Trail Association was created and parts of the trail started to open up to hikers. But when hikers get to southern West Virginia, they find a trail that is incomplete.
“A new trail system like this just doesn’t pop up every year,” Houck said before attempting the hike. “To actually try to be one of the first to hike this trail and to showcase it and to bring it into light is actually a very humbling experience.”
The hope for this trail was that it would relieve some of the foot traffic on the iconic Appalachian Trail which hosts about three million visitors each year.
“It also is going to be an economic boost for this area that needs a boost other than coal,” Houck said. “I’m not against coal. Actually, I have a lot of friends that are in the coal industry. But this is a way to showcase southern West Virginia in a different light.”
Nearly a decade later, what is the impact of the Great Eastern Trail in southern West Virginia?
Back Out On The Trail
Tim McGraw is president of the TuGuNu Hiking Club, which maintains and promotes the Great Eastern trail in southern West Virginia. McGraw got involved with the project because of his love for the experience of being outdoors in southern West Virginia.
Jessica Lilly
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Tim McGraw along the Great Eastern Trail in Mercer County.
“I like to be out in nature, particularly I like to be up on the ridges in southern West Virginia,” McGraw said. “For me, it’s kind of a spiritual experience. To be in the woods, I just want to share what I feel when I’m in nature. I want to share that with other people.”
The GET runs from Alabama to New York west of the Appalachian Trail, but portions of it are incomplete, especially in southern West Virginia. McGraw says the biggest challenge to completing the trail here is private land ownership. Trailblazers tried to keep the trail on accessible land by mapping it to connect public lands. Those lands include R.D. Bailey Lake Wildlife Management Area, Bluestone State Park and Twin Falls Resort State Park.
Scott Durham worked as superintendent of Twin Falls State Park in Wyoming County for 42 years.
“We let them co-designate some of our existing trails at Twin Falls as pieces of the Great Eastern Trail,” Durham said. “That designation has gone away, not because they’re not welcome, but because they’ve just been inactive.”
The proposed route for the Great Eastern Trail inevitably crosses private property to reach public lands like Twin Falls. According to a study from 2013 Wyoming County has the highest concentration of outside land ownership of any county in the state. In fact, Durham says Twin Falls was donated to the state by a private company,
“All the land around three quarters of the boundary of Twin Falls is corporate land,” Durham said.
Corporate landowners have a reason for not granting access to hikers – liability. For Durham and many residents in southern West Virginia, it’s a familiar story.
“I have worked in southern West Virginia for my whole career,” Durham said. “I’ve been involved in any number of economic development efforts, the real hard part of trying to create economic development in southern West Virginia always comes back to having access to buy land and own land.”
Durham says the Great Eastern trail would mean more than economic development to the region.
Jessica Lilly
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WVPB
Great Eastern Trail in Mercer County
“It brings a stamp of approval too,” Durham said. “If you go to someplace in Virginia, North Carolina, and they say well, ‘the Appalachian Trail runs right through here. That gives you an image of what that place is and the quality of the outdoor experience at that place.”
“It’s gonna bring hikers but it’s gonna bring other people too because it’s part of the package of what people are looking for when they’re going outdoors.”
There is a way around the roadblocks. Private landowners could open their land to hikers and the state could take on the liability. That’s how the nearby Hatfield McCoy ATV trail system was made possible. For now that’s not happening for the Great Eastern Trail.
If somehow hiking clubs found a way to complete the GET in southern West Virginia, what would a completed trail do for the economy in southern West Virginia? Well, there’s a hint at what’s possible further down the trail in Narrows, Virginia.
Welcome To The General Douglas MacArthur Hotel
The General Douglas MacArthur Hotel was purchased by Narrows native Alan Neely in 2008.
Jessica Lilly
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Allen Neely stands at the front door of the General Douglas MacArthur Hotel in Narrows, Va.
He has an award winning mustache and a passion for his hometown.
“Narrows Virginia is a National Trail town, because it’s the only town in the United States where two major hiking drills trails? intersect,” Neely said. “The Great Eastern Trail and the Appalachian Trail intersect on top of that mountain.”
After working as the lead construction contractor at Virginia Tech, he retired and rescued this historic hotel from demolition. Now about a quarter of his business is hikers.
“They’re (hikers) actually from all over the world really,” Neely said. “We had people from Brazil and Britain and Spain. They come through and they go back to their hometowns wherever it might be and tell of the little town that they love. You know, we’ve even had some people that hike through here, and they’ll come back and buy houses to move here. I mean, not one or two. I mean several.”
The vision for many coal and railroad towns in southern West Virginia also includes restoring a historic hotel or building and growing a tourism industry.
Jessica Lilly
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WVPB
Allen Neely in the lobby of the General Douglas MacArthur Hotel.
So what will it take to get the Great Eastern trail completed in West Virginia? Scott Durham says to start, it’ll take initiative.
“There needs to be people who step up,” Durham said. “But there are serious hikers here. It may just take that one person who cares.”
Mon EMS and the Mountaineer Area Rescue Group (MARG) are combining resources to improve emergency medical service access to remote areas.
Monongalia EMS and the Mountaineer Area Rescue Group (MARG) are combining resources to improve emergency medical service access to remote areas.
After nearly 18 months of planning Mon EMS, in Monongalia County, has forged a partnership with MARG to improve patient care.
MARG and Mon EMS will combine emergency medical services with wilderness search and rescue skills using state of the art medical equipment to reach people who are hurt or sick in remote places like Mason Dixon Park, Coopers Rock State Forest, Snake Hill Wildlife Area and the headwaters of Cheat Lake.
Mon EMS Executive Director Forest Weyen said the two agencies will still remain separate entities.
“Our folks are trained professionals that are on an ambulance and are typically used to dealing with folks in their homes and along roads, not necessarily real far out in the wilderness,” he said.
Weyen said when someone gets hurt in an area or off a trail that is not easy to access, Mon EMS is limited in its ability to respond.
“What ends up happening is our folks are lugging equipment out there,” he said. “We might not have the full spectrum of equipment that those folks might have, water resources, compass, GPS – all those kinds of things.”
The partnership came about after both departments realized there was a need to figure out ways to solve problems before they happen.
Weyen said the two agencies were looking for ways to improve and subsequently identified there is a potential for emergency care to get delayed.
Mon EMS will provide training and competency for the Mountaineer Area Rescue Group.
“They will come to some of our training, our medical director and our clinical team will find them all such providers, these folks are West Virginia licensed EMS providers already, somewhere,” he said.
Weyen called it a “truly symbiotic” relationship. While MARG will benefit from state of the art medical equipment, personnel and first responder resources, in return they will provide land navigation, map reading and other critical skills that will help Mon EMS better handle emergencies in remote outdoor areas.
“The best thing about it is that the patients who live, work and play in Monongalia County, and certainly people in those super remote areas out in the wilderness somewhere, they’re going to have proper EMS care if and when they need it,” he said.
