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Tygart Valley Homestead Celebrates 75th Birthday

The Tygart Valley Homestead Community in Randolph County is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this weekend. The Roosevelt Administration built the town of Dailey during the Great Depression to give out-of-work West Virginians a second chance. But the community is now struggling to hold on to that history and to their school building.

During the 1930s, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was personally very devoted to the resettlement communities that were built across the country. She visited Arthurdale in Preston County and the Tygart Valley Homestead.

The vision for these Resettlement communities was to offer work and housing to hard working white Americans who were victims of the Great Depression. Residents had to apply to be offered a job and relocate their families to a resettlement community. No African Americans were selected for the communities.

And the Tygart Valley Homestead was perhaps one of the most successful of the Resettlement communities.

To celebrate its 75th anniversary this weekend, an Eleanor Roosevelt impersonator will travel to the homestead school.

Sonny Knaggs is organizing the celebrations, which begin Friday evening and continue into Sunday afternoon. Although the main purpose of the events will be to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the homestead, Knaggs says the local Tygart Valley Homestead Association is worried about whether the historic school, once visited by Eleanor Roosevelt, will be able to remain in operation. Repairs are needed, including a new roof and electrical upgrades. The future of the school, which teaches 145 kids, Kindergarten through 5th grade, will be discussed this weekend.

Do You Know Where the Word "Redneck" Comes From? Mine Wars Museum Opens, Revives Lost Labor History

In the early 1900s, coal miners were fighting for the right to organize and to stop the practice of using mine guards. They also wanted an alternative to shopping at coal company stores and being paid in scrip, instead of money. In the early 1900’s, miners led a series of strikes in southern West Virginia, leading up to the climatic march on Blair Mountain in 1921.

Now, this history is honored at a museum, called the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum.

“My name’s David Hatfield, I’m the great-great nephew of Sid Hatfield, who was the police chief here back in 1920. So this mine wars museum means a lot to me, and to this town, and to this whole area. And I’m just grateful to all the people who worked on it, took their time, and blood sweat and tears, to make it possible. And if they could, I’d love for everybody to come down and see it because it’s something to behold.”

David Hatfield’s ancestor, Sid Hatfield, has come to represent many things for the people of Matewan, depending on who’s telling the story. For most people, Sid Hatfield became a hero who stood up for the families of striking miners.

But for the coal company owners and the Baldwin Felts Agents who opposed him, “Smiling” Sid Hatfield was seen as a lawless, renegade cop.

During the Matewan Massacre of May 19, 1920, Baldwin Felts agents approached Sid Hatfield and mayor Testerman by the railroad tracks.

“And just as they reenact here every year in Matewan, the two groups of men had a tense stand off, with the Baldwin Felts agents, asserting that they had a warrant for Sid Hatfield’s arrest, and the mayor insisting that their papers were bogus or falsified,” said Lou Martin, a historian and one of the board members of the Mine Wars Museum.

Nobody is sure which side fired first, but a gun fight erupted beside the railroad tracks in downtown Matewan.

Some of those bullet holes are still visible in the bricks in the back of the new Mine Wars Museum.

Beside the bullet holes, there’s also an audio exhibit where visitors can hear the story first hand- from interviews with Matewan residents. These interviews, as well as countless artifacts and research material from the mine wars, have been collected by local historians throughout the years. But there hasn’t been a local museum to curate them, until now.

“All through the decades there have been people, especially locally, trying to preserve this history, trying to honor it. We feel them cheering us on, and we know that a lot of people have been working towards something like this for a long time,” said Martin.

And some of those people who’ve been working to preserve the Mine Wars history for many years joined up with young organizers and historians to build the new museum.

Mingo County native, Wilma Lee Steele, is one of the board members for the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. Steele is a retired art teacher. For her the passion of sharing this history started from telling young activists about the history behind the word “redneck” and the red bandana. Striking miners tied Red Bandanas around their necks during the march on Blair Mountain.

“The thing that gets me, I guess, and what makes me want to do this, and tell other people about this, is that all these immigrants from all these different countries, they didn’t speak the same language. They did not have the same culture. And they were fighting each other and divided. But when they tied on these bandanas and marched, they became a brotherhood. And one of the things I love about the union is that the union was one of the early ones that said equal pay for blacks and whites. It’s pretty special.”

“It was strange growing up with this history because when I was first learning about it this history was not being celebrated at all,” said Chuck Keeney, a history professor at Southern Community College. He’s another one of the board members of the new museum. He’s also the great-grandson of Frank Keeney, who led striking miners in the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike of 1912–1913. These were some of the bloodiest battles of the Mine Wars.

“The first time I heard my great-grandfather’s name was I was around 8-9 years old. And it was my great aunt’s house. And it was just a family gathering, and I was actually out back behind her house and was trying to throw a little toy knife into the side of the hill. And an old man walked up to me and said to me, ‘you have to learn how to throw that thing well. Because you never know, you might have a Baldwin Felts thug after you one day.’”

“And I had no idea what he was talking about. So I asked him, ‘what’s a Baldwin Felts thug? And why would they be after me? And he said, ‘well don’t you know that you’re Frank Keeney’s great grandson?’”

During the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike, Baldwin Felts agents were sent to fight the striking miners. After the strike, Frank Keeney became the president of the UMWA District 17 in 1917.

But Frank Keeney had blood on his hands, and historians generally did not name him a hero. He was tried for treason and murder, though he was acquitted.

Until recently, the story of the Mine Wars was largely uncelebrated, even by the UMWA.

“So I mean there are enormous chunks of our own history that are just missing. It’s no wonder that the people in our state have an identity crisis; we don’t know our own story. If you don’t know your own story, how can you determine what you are?” said Chuck Keeney.

That’s why the local community and volunteers from far and wide have come together to build the Mine Wars Museum. The funds to build the museum came from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the United Mine Workers of America, the National Coal Heritage Area, Turn This Town Around, and hundreds of private donations.

And the museum, like the history, means different things for different people.

Wilma Lee Steele says she hopes the museum will become a place where people throughout the coalfields can come to reclaim their identity.

“I think that we have a lot to say, and I think we’re gonna say it. We’re gonna tell our history, and we’re gonna come together as a community.”

Beginning May 23, the museum will be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is located in downtown Matewan, 336 Mate Street. The museum’s board members are Greg Galford, Lou Martin, Chuck Keeney, Kenny King, Katey Lauer, Wilma Steele, Charles Dixon and Catherine Moore. Most of the museum’s designs and exhibits are by Shaun Slifer. in Matewan. For more information, visit www.wvminewars.org. Note: there are many stories about the origins of the term “redneck”. Most scholars agree that the term probably was originally used at least a century before the Mine Wars, to refer to southern farmers who were exposed to long hours in the sun while working in the fields. Do you have a story about where the term redneck came from? You can send a tweet to Roxy Todd @RoxyMTodd to join the conversation.

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Pipeline Opposed by Monroe County Historic Landmarks Commission

The Monroe County Landmarks Commission recently submitted a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. The group opposes the latest proposed route for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which cuts very close to a historic mineral springs hotel.

“Well the reason we really got involved, and at first we weren’t going to get involved, was when they changed the proposed route to the alternate route. It came right through Salt Sulphur Springs Historical district,” said Mary Pearl Compton, a former state legislator and a current member of the Monroe County Landmarks Commission.

Proposed route for the Mountain Valley Pipeline through Monroe County, with Alternative

During the 1800s, the mineral spring waters of Salt Sulphur Springs were famous for their supposed healing powers, and the Salt Sulphur Springs hotel was built in 1820.

The mineral springs are still running at Salt Sulphur Springs, though the spring houses are not open to the public. The resort closed in the 1920s, and was later restored. The hotel is owned by Betty Farmer, who hosts events inside the ballroom and many weddings outside on the lawn.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a proposed 300-mile line that would transport natural gas from Wetzel county to Virginia.

MVP recently released a new alternative route, which puts the pipeline through a hill that sits just behind the historic Salt Sulphur Springs hotel. The gas pipeline would be buried, but the historic commission says they don’t want the pipeline to run within view of this historic district. They say the 75 foot right of way that would be cut along the route would affect the view from the historic district. They also say they’re concerned that the construction of a 9 food deep trench would obstruct the flow of the mineral springs underground.

Front and side of the Salt Sulphur Springs Chapel, located along U.S. Route 219 in Salt Sulphur Springs in Monroe County, West Virginia, United States. Built in 1840, it is a part of the Salt Sulphur Springs Historic District, a historic district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

At first the historic commission didn’t want to get involved in the pipeline debate. But the alternative route would run too close to areas that Compton says Monroe County residents value culturally. Aside from the Salt Sulphur Springs resort, this would also include the Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory on Peter’s Mountain, the Potts Valley Rail Trail, and the historic community of Waitville.

“We believe that this is not the right route and that another route should be selected. Because the cultural attachment to Monroe County and to a lot of West Virginians and people all over the country. Not only the cultural impact but particularly the historical impact,” said Compton.

Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory on Peter’s Mountain

Another concern for many of the county’s residents is that the area’s porous karst topography makes this a dangerous location for a pipeline. That’s because under the ground here are many many sinkholes, streams, and caves. One example of the karst in Monroe County is Scott Hollow Cave, which is the third-longest cave in West Virginia with a length of 24.7 miles.

Mountain Valley Pipeline Company spokeswoman Natalie Cox says that her company is in the early phases of surveying, and that EQT company that would be constructing the pipeline does have experience building pipelines through karst.

“It can be constructed safely and it could be maintained safely, in this type of topography. And what Mountain Valley has done is to hire a third party karst topography expert, if you will, to do analysis along not only the proposed route but the alternative routes as well.”

That engineering consulting company is Draper Aden Associates, located in Blacksburg, VA.

Meanwhile, the Mountain Valley Pipeline Company has other issues before it can continue to survey the proposed and alternative pipeline routes. Last month, MVP filed suit against 103 West Virginians, demanding access to their land for surveying. The result of this case would likely create a precedent for future eminent domain cases like this one in West Virginia.

According to the Mountain Valley Pipeline website, the company is still planning on sending its formal pipeline proposal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by October of this year. MVP says they plan to begin construction in late 2016.
According to an economics benefit report that MVP commissioned by FTI Consulting, the pipeline is projected to generate about 8,000 jobs in West Virginia between 2015-2018.

Bloody Butcher Corn: From Field to Fork

In southern West Virginia, Reed’s Mill has been stone-grinding local cornmeal since 1791. It’s one of the few gristmills that has been in continual operation in this country, and it grinds a local heirloom corn that has been passed down for generations.

There’s a mesmerizing sound of tumbling corn kernels, as Larry Mustain shows me an overflowing handful of Bloody Butcher corn. The dried corn is multicolored and magic–in his hand are a dozen seeds of red, purple and yellow that have been passed down at Reed’s Mill for generations. The corn may even go as far back to when Reed’s Mill first opened in 1791.

And there is something perfect about eating cornbread made from Larry’s coarsely-ground meal. It has a unique gritty texture. The butter clings to the bits of grit, and there is an earthier, more complex taste than commercially ground cornmeal.

Spiderwebs cling to the wooden rafters above us as Larry pours the Bloody Butcher corn into an electric stone grinder. The mill’s old water turbine, behind us, is rarely used these days, although earlier this spring Larry did get it running briefly, when creek water swelled with heavy rains.

Historic Mills of Second Creek:

Along Second Creek, there were once 22 mills that ran by the rushing waters, some were lumber mills, and woolen mills, but most were grist mills much like Reed’s Mill.

Today, only this mill is standing. All the others have been closed for decades. The old buildings have all burned or are in disrepair. A couple of years ago, Larry drove me to see one of these abandoned mills, called Nickel’s Mill, that was still standing. A swampy forest had grown up between the old wooden floorboards. I stumbled into knee high water just outside the mill’s main entrance. Now, that mill has been torn down too.

Nickles’ Mill, which has now been torn down.

Gone with the Wind:

Larry says he used to drive his mother around these old back-roads to see the abandoned mills, just before she passed away. With a heavy heart, she used to sit and stare at the decaying old buildings, expressing a deep nostalgia for her childhood, when Second Creek and nearby Gap Mills were thriving communities, with dozens of prosperous farms.

“And it was like a scene out of the old south. And she’d say, “It’s just looks like Gone with the Wind. Same thing down there at Nickels mill where we just were. She’d say, it’s just like Gone with the Wind. It’s all gone now.”

Wagon photo from the Second Creek/Glace area, from a book called “Carriages of Monroe Co. WV”. A new Carriage House Museum opened in Union recently, where historic carriages are on display.

But it’s not all gone, not as long as Reed’s Mill is still in operation. There are still plenty of customers every Saturday, when the mill is usually open (Larry sometimes opens the mill other days too, if a group or a tour bus calls ahead). But Larry is now 77 years-old, a retired schoolteacher. And though he doesn’t plan on retiring from the mill anytime soon, he does admit that health issues have slowed him down in recent years.

Losing Last Year’s Crop

To complicate matters, Larry is losing a battle against the geese and deer. Last year, they ate his entire crop of Bloody Butcher corn. He claims the animals prefer the heirloom Bloody Butcher corn to the hybrid corn that grows in all the neighboring fields.

Most of the customers who come to Reed’s Mill seem to prefer the heirloom corn, too. They claim it has a different texture and taste, compared with the yellow hybrid corn he also sells at the mill.

One of these customers is Lowell Lewis, of Frankford, who learned how to bake salt rising bread and cornbread from his mother.

One of the old farms that once flourished along Second Creek

“She wouldn’t use any store-bought cornmeal. It had to be stoneground from Reed’s Mill. And I still use that today,” said Lowell.

Another Bloody Butcher Farmer in West Virginia:

To be able to continue selling heirloom corn at the mill, this year, Larry found a nearly identical corn in Craigsville, at Spring Creek farm. Frances Meadows helps her father Edgar Meadows run the farm.

“The Bloody Butcher Seed is a very unique seed. It’s been in our family for probably five generations. My dad is 93 years old and he grows the Bloody Butcher every year.”

This year, she sold Larry Mustain about 1,200 lbs of Bloody Butcher to grind at Reed’s Mill. Frances Meadows also gets Larry to grind some of the Bloody Butcher into a coarsely ground polenta, which she sells to chef Tim Urbanic at Cafe Cimino Country Inn, in Sutton.

Tim Urbanic’s breakfast of Bloody Butcher Polenta (similar to grits), fried ham, cucumbers, and an omelet

To visit Reed’s Mill, call Larry Mustain: 304-772-5665. The mill is open on Saturdays and by appointment. Reed’s Mill is located on Second Creek Road. Heading south from Lewisburg on US 219, as you cross the Monroe County line, Second Creek Road is on your left. The mill will be on your right about a mile down the road.

Tomorrow, in part two of this story, we’ll travel to Cafe Cimino to find out how chef Tim Urbanic makes Italian polenta using the Bloody Butcher cornmeal.

Helen Kershner’s Cornpone:

Frances Meadows says her family has been eating this Bloody Butcher cornmeal for generations– using it for cornbread, stuffing, corn mush and cornpone (the cornpone is her favorite way to eat it.) If you’ve never had cornpone- the West Virginia variety at least, it’s a thicker, sweeter cornbread-type dish. Meadows says her family sprinkles pieces of bacon into theirs.

When I lived on Droop Mountain in Pocahontas County. My neighbors, Helen and Betty Kershner, gave me their family recipe for cornpone and cornbread:

2 cups cornmeal

1 1.2 tsp. salt

2 cups boiling water

mix corn and salt, and pour in boiling water. Let sit overnight, or at least for a few hours.

Then add the other ingredients:

½ cup flour

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. salt

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter

Cut in the pieces of butter and fold the egg in gently and mix, but don’t beat it. Pour into a greased pan or a cast iron skillet and bake around 375 degrees until the top is golden brown.

Betty Kershner’s Cornbread:

1 cup cornbread

1/2 cup flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 tsp. salt

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. baking soda

5 tbs butter

1 cup hot water

Mix dry ingredients together. Then cut in the butter. Fold the egg, don’t beat it. Put in water and buttermilk. Don’t overmix. Pour into a greased pan or a cast iron skillet. Bake in a 350 degree oven till golden brown.

Barbara Hicks Lacy Remembers Charleston During Segregation

In Charleston, those who grew up during segregation remember a tight knit community in the downtown neighborhood known as The Block. During the 30’s and 40’s Barbara Hicks Lacy grew up in this neighborhood, and she’s one of the remaining residents who vividly recalls The Block, which today has all but disappeared. The West Virginia Center for African-American Culture and Arts recently invited her to share her story at the West Virginia State Archives.

When she was a kid, Lacy’s best friend, named Baby Sue, was white, and so they weren’t allowed to attend the same school.

The Block was full of characters, and during segregation Lacy saw many well to do black tourists and musicians who came through her neighborhood. Lacy worked at her father’s restaurant The Block Cafe.

“Particularly when the rhythm and blues people were coming to town and there was going to be a dance.”

She explained that she got to meet a lot of these people because the restaurants in The Block was the only place where non-whites were allowed to eat. And they had to stay at the Ferguson or the Brown hotel.

Here, it was safe for children to roam around the neighborhood together.

She told one story about a bar, owned by Mr. Pin. She doesn’t think her mother ever found out that as a little kid she’d stop by Mr. Pin’s bar to perform a song or two. She had it in her mind that she was an undiscovered Shirley Temple.

“I’d go in, and he’d sit me on the bar, and I’d sing ‘Night Time is the Right Time’. Don’t laugh, it was for a quarter!”

That quarter was usually spent down the street, at the Ferguson Theater, where Lacy spent almost every afternoon after school watching movies.

“It didn’t cost but a dime. And popcorn was a dime. And you could get a drink for a nickel. So if you had a quarter, you were home free. That’s what we did, all the kids in the neighborhood. We went to the movie everyday.”

But these movies were basically the same films that were shown at the white theater. Separated by a few blocks, during segregation, downtown Charleston essentially was split into two sides, roughly along Washington Street. Charleston’s West Side was another neighborhood where black businesses thrived during segregation.

Although there were three white businesses within Lacy’s neighborhood, The Block was predominantly occupied by non-whites. Syrian, Greek, and Italian families lived here too. Garnet High School was the local black school, about a block away from Lacy’s father’s cafe.

As Lacy described the people she remembers, like Flat Tire the barber, Mable Cook the beautician, and Richard Sonders, the usher at the Ferguson Theater, they all seemed like vivid characters out of a great novel. Its pages were written on the side alleys and brick streets off Shrewsbury Street, where Barbara Hicks Lacy grew up. Though the buildings and people she remembers are mostly all gone, the story has not been erased.

Ms. Lacy’s talk was part of a series called African American Life in Charleston: A Personal Perspective. The series wraps up this Thursday as the fourth speaker, James Estes, recalls his own own memories. The event will be at 6:00 at the West Virginia State Archives and History Library.

Historian Explains Why It's Important to Preserve Your Nearby Graveyards

There are many ways to research and learn about our past, but for one historian, studying gravestones and its cemeteries is one of the best ways to find out more about a town’s history.

Dr. Keith Alexander is a professor and historian at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, but his teachings go beyond the classroom. Many of Dr. Alexander’s courses are focused in historic preservation, and part of that curriculum is going out in the field and actually preserving history…starting with a graveyard.

“I think that gravestones are a record and a tangible link to our past that triggers this curiosity among people,” said Alexander.

Dr. Alexander gave a public talk, hosted by the Historic Shepherdstown Commission, about what our gravestones can tell us. He often works with his students preserving three of Shepherdstown’s four main cemeteries. These three cemeteries are the Lutheran Graveyard, the Shepherd Burial Ground, where Thomas Shepherd, the founder of Shepherdstown, is allegedly buried, and Elmwood Cemetery, the largest in the town, which incorporates a Methodist and Presbyterian Cemetery, and a Confederate Soldiers lot.

“We walk by historic buildings all the time, we use them, we inhabit them, we don’t raise that many questions about it,” Alexander noted, “With cemeteries, they’re historical, by definition they’re historical, and they are so tangible, they are these tangible reminders of our own mortality, they are open air museums, they contain incredibly beautiful sculptures, they are parks, nature preserves often times, and they are these accessible, historical repositories.”

Dr. Alexander says as long as you have permission from the owner of the grounds, it’s very easy for anyone in the state to start preserving gravestones and learn more about the history of their area.

“You can start very, very simply, a bucket of water and a sponge or a soft bristled brush, and a notebook,” he explained, “That’s pretty much all you really need to get started. You can do some basic preservation that way, like I said, removing that biological growth, slowing down the process of decay of those stones, and then above all, recording what is there.”

He says the importance of preserving gravestones is to ask more questions.

“Every time I turn to one of these stones…okay I’ve got the data, but I want to know more. Why did people live such short lives? Why was the infant mortality rate so high? Why were there these bumps in mortality in those certain years, 1855 for example? What were the lives of the people like behind the stones? It’s the stories behind the stones, that’s what these stones have to tell us.”

If we don’t work to preserve our past, Dr. Alexander says we’ll lose those resources available to us, and could possibly never find out those answers.