When Henry Schmulbach was a child, he and his family immigrated to Wheeling from Germany. By the time he was a young adult, Schmulbach had become one of the city’s most successful businessmen, selling retail groceries and wholesale liquor. Schmulbach was one of many German immigrants who turned Wheeling into an important brewing center in the late 1800s.
Tag: Wheeling
Weelunk.com: Do Something
Weelunk.com is a self-described “Wheeling-centric website that wants to serve sophisticated, local readers who care about their community,” and it’s is launching November 1st. That’s according to the Weelunk Facebook page that was born a few weeks ago and has since been growing in popularity.
Wheeling is one of the oldest names in the state. It’s actually an anglo-fied Delaware Indian word: Weelunk— which means Place of the Skull, or Head. According to lore and historians, the land where Wheeling Creek and the Ohio meet was marked by native folks with a European’s head on a stake as a stark reminder of some heinous deed that occurred there. An ominous beginning. But today, people in Wheeling are reviving the word Weelunk, as part of a larger effort to revive the town.
Weelunker: Passionate Wheeling resident with a Wheeling-related message to share with Wheeling and the world.
Credit Matt Miles / Weelunk.com
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Weelunk.com
Weelunker-in-Chief Jason Koegler has what he calls a “real” job with West Liberty University. But he’s been peddling hard to get Weelunk off the ground.
Koegler says there’s a real need for a community platform to connect all of the initiatives and activities that are happening all over the area. Weelunk is the idea that is crystalizing. So far, the three main objectives of the site
- encouraging community dialogue (Weelunkers)
- an all-encompassing, interactive Wheeling Calendar of Events
- in-depth journalism
The idea began as an online newspaper to serve the Wheeling area. Perhaps that’s why the only paid employee so far is the news editor, local talk radio personality Steve Novotney.
Novotney is another home-grown Wheelonian. He says there’s been a need for unbiased, veteran journalism in Wheeling for some time.
“We’re gonna cherish the past, but focus on the future,” Novotney said. “You’re going to see that no longer in Wheeling is it passé to dream.”
So far, all other Weelunk employees are volunteers. They include marketing experts, web developers, graphic designers, party planners, and business men and women cohorts in general who all share one thing for sure in common: they are all invested in Wheeling’s future.
New Urban Garden in Wheeling Designed For the Blind
Wheeling has a new urban garden, and it’s a little out of the ordinary. It’s designed for visually impaired gardeners. Not many like it exist in the state.
Inspiration From Afar
What was an empty lot on Wheeling Island in Ohio County not long ago is now a garden of peppers, flowers, beans, and more. Martin Wach designed and built it. Over the past several years he’s built several urban gardens in the area. Wach has trained mentally disabled people to garden, but even he was befuddled by the idea of creating a garden for the blind. He had to do some research, but he found a few good models.
“In Africa was the perfect example,” Wach said, “in Ghana and the Congo. All of the blind there garden. They have a vegetable garden. So I began to realize that the blind, even though they can’t see, have operational capability. They’ve learned how to compensate.”
Wach is using some of the African gardening techniques here in West Virginia. One device helps the visually impaired know which vegetables are in which beds.
“We put a string with knots in it,” Wach said. “They slide their hands down the string. One knot is this garden, a little bit father is two knots, it’s cabbage; three knots is peppers.”
The Seeing Hand
Credit Glynis Board / WVPublic
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WVPublic
The garden for the blind is the latest initiative of the The Seeing Hand Association, a Wheeling-based organization with a mission to help blind and visually impaired people lead fulfilling and independent lives. Executive Director Karen Haught says some of the clients find jobs within the organization.
“We’re always looking for projects and ways to have our employees do things that they enjoy.”
The land for the garden was donated to the group. And now two Seeing Hand employees, Teddy Busby and Debbie Hatfield are spending a couple of hours a week in the back of the garden – a nursery that grows potted plants and flowers.
Teddy: She goes and gets me the plant, and I just put the dirt inside the pot. That’s basically the way we do it all the time. Board: And how many have you done? Teddy: Oh lord, we’ve done over— Debbie: We lost count. Glynis: You lost count? Teddy: I’d say we did over 400 or so, something like that. Debbie: And they’re going to be beautiful. They make a beautiful ground cover.
Busby and Hatfield use their sense of touch to tell the difference between day lilies and weeds.
Other gardening techniques for the visually impaired include wind chimes and herbs with strong fragrance to help navigate the garden, as well as vertical growing, like walls of tomatoes. The Wheeling garden could incorporate those in the future.
Gardening is new for Busby. He said his mom used to garden when he was a kid, but he never caught the gardening bug himself. But he’s getting into it now.
Hatfield does have some gardening experience and she’s happy to be getting her hands dirty again.
“It’s hard work,” she said, “don’t let them fool you that it’s easy—it’s not.”
But she said she likes being outside, and perhaps most importantly, she appreciates the opportunity to serve her community.
Public Service
Right now the plan for the produce:
- A large portion will go to the House of the Carpenter, a local charity that distributes food to low income households.
- Some will also go to Seeing Hand.
- Overflow may be sold in farmers markets.
- Plants from the nursery will be sold to pay for garden operations.
The hope is with some volunteer help, and continued support from the community, Wheeling’s garden for the blind should soon be self-sufficient and could even become profitable.
New Book Discovers Where Wheeling (Place of the Skull) Got Its Name
The name Wheeling is a very old word. While there’s some dispute, it’s most commonly translated from the indigenous Delaware language to mean “Place of the Skull.” That’s the name and subject of a recently published book written by Ohio Valley resident Alan Fitzpatrick.
Skullwithintro.mp3
Part 2 of "The Place of the Skull."
Wheeling: from Delaware Indian language weel (meaning ‘skull’ or ‘head’) and lunk (meaning ‘place of’).
That’s according to Alan Fitzpatrick, the author of a newly published book entitled Place of the Skull**.
“What happened here? Something happened. Indians did not name places randomly, for no reason,” Fitzpatrick wondered.
The Legend:
Wheeling is the place where an early white settler was murdered by natives. His severed head was put on top of a pole as a warning to other settlers to stay away.
But, until now, no one has ever really tried to substantiate the story.
There were a couple of other motivating factors behind the undertaking:
- Brennan
Fitzpatrick first learned about the legend from Wheeling historian, Margaret Brennan. He dedicated the book to her, in fact, and credits Brennan, in part, for inspiring him to investigate the matter.
- A Family History
Place of the Skull is actually the third book Fitzpatrick has written about 18th century indigenous Americans. His interest was sparked in the subject when he began to look at his own family tree. He discovered one of his American ancestors fought with native tribes and the British during the Revolutionary War, against other Americans. Fitzpatrick then discovered there were many who fought with the indigenous people.
“The American side did not know how many white men had gone over to the Indians, who were sympathetic, who could speak the language who were with them, fighting against their own people.”
He discovered this oversees in England where he found a treasure trove of historical documents meticulously taken and maintained by the British before and during the American Revolution. Some 42,000 letters and documents exist there, Fitzpatrick says, and were the basis of his first book Wilderness War on the Ohio. Those same documents also informed Place of the Skull.
Fitzpatrick remembers encountering many references of Wheeling in letters written by white men who were fighting along side indigenous North Americans.
“These are Indians who have never been to Wheeling,” Fitzpatrick said. “For some reason Wheeling holds a certain spell over them, and when you read the letters you get the feel of it. They’re always talking about Wheeling, almost like a place of mind, not an exact spot.”
- Fort Henry
Fitzpatrick also notes a war tactic anomaly that captured his curiosity. The last battle of the American Revolution was fought in Wheeling. Fitzpatrick explains, it was peculiar because the fort wasn’t a significant post, nor could it be easily taken. And yet, for three days a battle raged.
“Why would Indians spend three days attacking a fort when that went against every principal of warfare that they understood and had practiced?” Fitzpatrick wondered.
Fitzpatrick was intrigued and so he began a search to discover the story behind Wheeling.
A Cold Case
“I had to approach it like this was a cold case,” said Fitzpatrick. He set out to find some very tight circumstantial evidence.
The search lead to studying 18th century indigenous customs—especially those regarding a man’s skull being severed from his body and put on display atop a planted post (not an especially easy task).
“They didn’t do this for recreation,” Fitzpatrick said, “It was not a random act of violence.”
Fitzpatrick points out that white people had very little insight to the native mindset then, and so we naturally still have a very shallow understanding of their perspectives. But he has been able to glean some understanding by interviewing modern indigenous Americans schooled in traditional cultures.
“To us today, if we see that man kill that person, that man is guilty of the act for whatever the motive was, but in Indian understanding of things in 1800s, there’s no difference between an evil act, and an evil person, and an evil place. They are one and the same,” he explained. “And so the skull on the post is a warning to Indians that something bad has happened here to us.”
**You can find out more about this book, which was self-published by Fitzpatrick, here.
Reclaiming the Abandoned: Ohio Valley Grows Local Food Economy
**Music by Sugar Short Wave.
Like many towns across much of the state, Wheeling is home to a lot of abandoned, depressed, impoverished areas susceptible to crime and drug epidemics. The region has depended largely on the coal and steel industries, which are declining. The population is decreasing along with the economy and the vitality of the communities.
A small group is tackling several major projects with the hope of changing all of that. The projects all center around infusing the town with locally grown foods, and educational opportunities to teach residents how these foods are grown. There are eight initiatives already in motion and the fledgling non-profit, Grow Ohio Valley, has raised more than $200,000 so far to support their efforts. They hope that instead of being known as a dying town, Wheeling can become a regional food production hub.
Grow Ohio Valley
A lot of the impetus for the growth in the local food economy has come from Danny Swan, co-founder of Grow Ohio Valley (GrowOV). He came to Wheeling through Jesuit University. He hails from Morgantown. He’s really passionate about growing food, educating youth, and about his community. He says GrowOV is fundamentally about growing and distributing quality foods into neighborhoods, and teaching people, especially kids, where and how that food is made.
Executive director of GrowOV is Kenneth Peralta. A filmmaker with an MBA from Harvard Business School, Peralta blew in from New York City several years ago with a mission to explore food and sustainability. Lucky Wheeling. Since he got here, he’s co-authored a Benedum-funded study that outlined the region’s potential to develop a local food economy.
Now armed with blueprints of how to build healthy, sustainable, economically-strong communities, GrowOV is putting eight ideas in motion.
- Farm 18
It’s called “Farm 18” because it’s on 18th street in Wheeling. Farm 18 has been growing for about 5 years now and is currently the nonprofit’s primary production and training ground. The farm, located under a highway overpass, produces eggs, fruits, and veggies. Last year, the acre plot produced an estimated 10,000 pounds of organic produce, sold and distributed throughout the community. This year, Swan said, with a lot of volunteer effort and resources, they hope to produce 20,000. And all of these organic vegetables are being grown on top of filled-in foundations of a former neighborhood.
- Youth Outreach and Summer Camps
Swan and Peralta agree, continuing to develop aand deploy the educational elements of GrowOV is a top priority. This summer plans are in motion to launch a full docket of educational programs for ages 5-18. These programs will focus on gardening, healthy living, and sustainability.
“In the end that’s where the changes come from, is changing [kids’] mindsets,” Peralta said.
Credit Grow Ohio Valley
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Grow Ohio Valley
- Vineyard Hills Orchard – a five-acre urban apple orchard
The nonprofit applied for and was awarded a grant through the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. The urban orchard proposal was awarded the highest possible award of $25,000 to get the project started. Fencing and 1,000 dwarf apple trees, as well as blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries will be constructed and planted this spring across what are currently five vacant and unusable acres in North Wheeling hills. GrowOV is working with the Wheeling Housing Authority who owns the property.
Five Apple Factoids: 1. It’s estimated that from 2000 to 2020 the consumption of apples, per capita, will increase by nearly 8 percent. (USDA) 2. Americans eat nearly 16 pounds of apples each year (USDA Census) 3. Wheeling residents consume 223 tons per year, or about 9,300 bushels (48 lbs/bushel) 4. Ohio County School District paid $24/bushel of apples last year (about $30,000/year) 5. On 4 acres, GrowOV projects to grow between 1,200 – 3,200 bushels per year (trees will yield at full capacity in 2018).
- Linclon Meadow Organic Farm & Training Center
GrowOV has plans to reclaim an abandoned neighborhood that was torn down in the 1970s and has now grown into a forest in the Middle of Wheeling. They want to take the existing elements, the overgrown roads and these pretty-much-perfect public stairways with hand rails that traverse the entire hill, and turn them into Wheeling Botanical Garden. The plan is to develop over the next several years vegetable, medicinal, and flower gardens, fruit and nut trees, nature trails complete with historical and informative signage, as well as create a teaching garden in the meadow that overlooks the Ohio Valley.
Credit Glynis Board / WVPublic
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WVPublic
- Friendly City Foods – A Consignment Farmers Market/Health Food Store
GrowOV is taking a page from the Wild Ramp in Huntington, and creating this year-round combined consignment farmers market/retail local, healthy, natural food store slated to open in July. This building which was recently gifted to GrowOV from another Wheeling-based nonprofit, House of the Carpenter, will also serve as a distribution spot for GrowOV’s super-CSA entitled Black Swan Organics. (For those unfamiliar, CSA = Community Sustained Agriculture. Individuals purchase a subscription, and gain access to weekly distributions of produce from local farms or producers. Distribution is scheduled to begin June 18th.)
Credit Glynis Board / WVPublic
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WVPublic
- Four-Season Garden and Greenhouse
$22,000 in grants and donations from the Hess Foundation and others has already been awarded to support this project. On the corner of 14th and Wood streets in East Wheeling, construction is already underway. The community greenhouse gets at the heart of what GrowOV is all about because it’s a year-round growing facility building with sustainable building techniques on historic remnants in the heart of a neighborhood in need of some love. The building will be used by residents as a place to grow foods to be sold in town.
Credit Grow Ohio Valley
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Grow Ohio Valley
- Mobile Markets/Farm Stands
GrowOV started putting up farm stands in East Wheeling in 2013. This year they hope to launch a program that allows consumers to receive a 50 percent discount on purchases made using their Food Stamps. With $8,500 in grants from WV Food and Farm Coalition and the Community Impact Fund, Grow OV is sending out roving farm stands complete with cold storage options which sell to everyone from low-income households to high-rise buildings that house elderly residents.
- Community Garden Micro Grants
There are about twenty small community gardens growing in Wheeling now, where five years ago, there were just many empty lots in neighborhoods known as a drug and crime hotspots. GrowOV wants to continue the trend by continuing to provide micro-grants and a “Community Garden Retention Program.” The Community Impact Fund has contributed $1,500 to support the effort. Mini-grants are awarded to community gardens that want to grow food, and special consideration is given to applicants who want to grow surplus food to sell at market.
MIT-Inspired Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) Lab Comes to High School in West Virginia
Wheeling Catholic High School has decided to take a page from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is renovating the school’s library into a Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) lab.
In lieu of shelves full of largely-ignored books, work stations to accommodate small and large groups and a lounge environment will be made complete with wireless tablets, touch-screens, computer projectors, and other kinds of technological tools.
Principal Rebecca Sancomb visited a similar lab in Florida and said the active learning environment is something she had to see happen for her students.
Sancomb said the lab is part of a new learning initiative throughout the school where they are trying to overhaul the way kids are educated. One-to-one devices, upgraded internet facilities, and improved communication classes and technology are all scheduled to be incorporated more thoroughly throughout the school.
“If you looked at [an office or any other thing in this world] fifty years ago,” Sancomb said, “it looks pretty drastically different now. If you look at a classroom, it looks the same. Why is that? And how are our students truly maximizing the tools and resources out there and available?”
Several grants and local donations made are making the transformation possible. Principal Sancomb expects the lab to be complete by the time classes begin in the fall of 2014.