Wildflowers Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

The Herbal Magic Of Violets And A Book Ban In Virginia, Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, spring wildflowers are in bloom, and some of the most common species play an important role in herbal medicine. This week, we learn about some of the ways people use violets. Also, what’s your favorite style of egg roll? An acclaimed, out-of-the-way restaurant in Pounding Mill, VA bends culinary genres and uses an unexpected ingredient. And, more and more school boards are pulling books from library shelves. We’ll speak with a reporter in a Virginia county where 57 titles were yanked.

Spring wildflowers are in bloom, and some of the most common species play an important role in herbal medicine. This week, we learn about some of the ways people use violets.

What’s your favorite style of egg roll? An acclaimed, out-of-the-way restaurant in Pounding Mill, Virginia bends culinary genres and uses an unexpected ingredient.

And, more and more school boards are pulling books from library shelves. We’ll speak with a reporter in a Virginia county where 57 titles were yanked.

In This Episode:

Violet Tendencies

Violets will grow almost anywhere. They are one of the first flowers to grow in Appalachia come spring.

*Photo Credit: Brandon Tester*

Every April, violets bloom across Appalachia, adding purple, white and yellow to the deepening green of the hills. But violets do a lot more than add natural flair. These flowers have long been a key ingredient in herbal remedies.

People use them to fight cancer and the common cold. And they make a pretty tasty snack.

Folkways Reporter Wendy Welch brings us the story.

Taking A Bite Out Of Cuz’s Uptown Barbeque

Yvonne Thompson owns Cuz’s Uptown Barbecue in Pounding Mill, Virginia. A place that mixes cultures, flavors and fun.

*Photo Credit:* *Connie Bailey Kitts/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

In the South, people love to argue over which barbecue sauce is most authentic — vinegar, tomato or mustard. But Cuz’s Uptown Barbeque in Tazewell County, Virginia, is distinguished by something entirely different. For starters, its food is inspired by Asian cuisine and local mountain specialities.

You can find dishes on its menu like Morel mushrooms, cheesy egg rolls, and country ham caprese.

Back in 2022, Folkways Reporter Connie Bailey Kitts and her family stopped in at Cuz’s for supper.

A Book Ban In Rockingham, Virginia

Members of the Rockingham County School Board, which recently voted to remove 57 books from school libraries.

*Photo Credit: Ashlyn Campbell*

Book bans are nothing new. But we’re seeing a new spike in book removals across Appalachia, including in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Sometimes, debates that lead to book bans happen in state legislatures. But they’re just as likely to play out on the local level, in public schools.

In January, the school board in Rockingham County, Virginia voted to remove 57 books from school libraries, prompting an outcry.

Ashlyn Campbell has been covering the story for the Daily News-Record. Mason Adams spoke with Cambell to learn more.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Sean Watkins, John Inghram, John Blissard, Amythyst Kiah, Dinosaur Burps, Doc Watson and Frank Hutchinson.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from Folkways editors Nicole Musgrave and Mallory Noe-Payne.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Encore: Wildflowers, Paddle Makers, Turkey Calls — And More Inside Appalachia

This week, we’re airing an encore episode of Inside Appalachia. We’ll meet a man who makes wooden turkey calls. We’ll also meet people who make wooden paddles by hand and custom-decorate each one, and a man who repairs cuckoo clocks. Finally, we’ll travel to some of the most beautiful spots in Appalachia to find wildflowers, like Dolly Sods and the Canaan Valley of West Virginia.

This week, we’re airing an encore episode of Inside Appalachia.

We’ll meet a man who makes wooden turkey calls, but these aren’t just any turkey calls. Painter Brian Aliff doesn’t call himself an artist, but he intricately paints his turkey calls, which are now collectors’ items.

We’ll also meet people who make wooden paddles by hand and custom-decorate each one, and a man who repairs cuckoo clocks.

Finally, we’ll travel to some of the most beautiful spots in Appalachia to find wildflowers, like Dolly Sods and the Canaan Valley of West Virginia. And we wonder — are these areas becoming too popular?

These stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Welder Keeps Old Clocks Ticking

When you need to check the time, where do you look? Most people turn to their phones or digital watches. These days, it seems like every electronic device has a clock function in addition to whatever it’s supposed to do, but it hasn’t always been this way. Not all that long ago, marking the passage of time was the job of one device — a clock.

Folkways Reporter Zack Harold spent some time with Carl Witt, a man in Fairview, West Virginia, who learned how to repair clocks after crossing paths with the late Charles Decker. Witt, a welder at the time, decided to retire and went on to start his own clock repair business — Curiosity Clockworks.

Dolly Sods Hosts Wildflower Pilgrimage

Dolly Sods is federally protected public land — full of rocky ridges, soggy bogs and beautiful views. It’s also the site of an annual nature walk called the West Virginia Wildflower Pilgrimage. The event attracts wildflower and birding experts from around the country and was most recently held in May of this year.

Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams made the pilgrimage in 2021 from his home in Floyd County, Virginia to Dolly Sods in West Virginia’s Canaan Valley.

Paddlers Design Their Own Gear

Appalachia has several huge rivers: the Gauley, the Youghiogheny and the New River, just to name a few. Whitewater paddling is popular in the region, but it wasn’t that long ago modern paddlers first started exploring these rivers, designing their own gear and even building their own paddles. Some of those DIY paddle makers are now master crafters and their work is in high demand.

As part of our Inside Appalachia Folkways Project, Clara Haizlett learned more.

Handmade Turkey Calls

Like many Appalachian traditions, turkey calls go way back. Historically, they’ve been used as a hunting tool, but one West Virginia artist has taken it to the next level. Brian Aliff makes hand-crafted, prize-winning decorative turkey calls. These pieces are functional and they’re becoming collector’s items, but it took a while for Aliff to think of himself as an artist.

Folkways Reporter Connie Kitts talks with Aliff on this week’s episode.

Increase In Tourism Puts Strain On Local Infrastructure

Tucker County, West Virginia, has seen a surge of new visitors from Washington, D.C. in the years since US Route 48, also known as Corridor H, opened. The growing number of visitors is good for business, but it’s also straining the resources of a county with just one stoplight and 7,000 year-round residents.

Mason Adams visited the towns of Thomas and Davis in Tucker County, West Virginia and has this story about managing growth and resources against the backdrop of expansive natural beauty.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Dinosaur Burps, The Chamber Brothers, and Wes Swing. Bill Lynch is our producer, but Roxy Todd originally produced this episode.

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: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Rare Orchids Abound in W.Va.'s Wild Places

If you live in West Virginia, chances are, you’ve driven past a cluster of wild pink or white orchids just off the side of a curvy road. Some of the best opportunities in the country to find them are located along our rural mountain hillsides.

A few years ago, two orchid enthusiasts discovered a rare and previously undiscovered species, known as Platanthera shriveri, or Shriver’s Purple Frilly Orchid.

I was sworn to secrecy not to reveal the location of our hike before Scott Shriver and Clete Smith agreed to take me to see one of the rare orchids they discovered. After all, poachers have been known to dig them up. Let’s just say we took a little walk along a road to a steep hillside, in the misty mountains of Pocahontas County.

The Highland Scenic Highway in Pocohantas County

Shriver is a retired high school biology teacher from Pittsburgh, who helped discover the Purple Frilly Orchid, and named it after his dad.

“He was my best friend for 30 years,” Shriver said. “I wanted to honor him so I asked if we could name it after him. He died in 2008, we published in 2008, so it was a kind of a tribute to him.”

Clete Smith and Scott Shriver, who discovered the Purple Frilly Orchid. Shriver has a tattoo of the orchid he helped discover.

A report about the new species was published in the North American Native Orchid Journal. But aside from a few orchid fans and scientists, few people heard about the discovery.

“As a teacher, kids would say, ‘How much money did you get? How famous are you?'” Shriver recalled. “There’s no money, there’s no fame,” he told his students.

Each plant can have up to 100 flowers on its stalk. Some of the flowers are no bigger than a nickel or a quarter. “So a lot of people would be excited to see that and hopefully they wouldn’t pick it,” Shriver said.

The Hunt

The ground is spongy and mossy under our feet as we make our way down a hillside covered in green ferns and tall grass. Scott and Smith are on the hunt for the orchid they discovered.

Then, we spot them. Each of the plants have lots of little purple flowers, each shaped like an orchid, with a kind of a funny hat on top, and a frilly, ornamental skirt at its base.

And then, laughing with giddiness, Smith points out a hybrid plant they didn’t expect to find. I peer close to see a green orchid, right next to a very rare, hybrid version. Basically, Shriver explains, they think the green orchid crossed with the Purple Frilly they discovered to make a sort of orchid love child that has this cool green and purple color combination.

For these two orchid fans, this is like Christmas in July.

“It’s a treasure hunt. There’s no doubt, it’s treasure,” said Shriver.

A green fringed orchid that reproduced with the purple frilly to create a a rare orchid hybrid

Shriver and Smith are part of an informal group of orchid hobbyists who scour the country looking for these wild flowers.

“We just fell in love with orchids, and we hunted them from Alaska to Newfoundland. I mean North American orchids were our hobby. Some people play golf, we did North American Orchids. So we were just orchid crazy,” said Shriver.

Wild West Virginian Orchid Hunting Grounds

West Virginia has a really good climate and geography for orchids, making it a secret hotbed for finding a lot of different types of flowers. So Smith and Shriver began making regular trips to visit. They even made a goal to try to see an orchid in every county in the state. And they did.

“I know there’s been a lot of cutting of forests, there’s been a lot of coal mining, there’s been a lot of damage that has occurred here, but there are a lot of little nooks and crannies that still exist here that are still pristine,” Shriver said.

Scott Shriver talking with reporter Roxy Todd about the orchid he helped discover in W.Va.

Shriver said some of the best places to see orchids are in the Monongahela National Forest — 300,000 acres of which are located in Pocahontas County. “And so we were drawn to Pocahontas County, which is the pinnacle of orchids because you can see 18 species of orchids in one day, in bloom!”

Plantanther shriveri, also known as a pale frilly orchid

Orchids even grow in places where you may not think to see them. Some orchids like those pristine niches, other orchids like disturbed area.

“Old strip mines are one of our favorite places to go orchid hunting,” said Shriver. “Not a strip mine that ended two years ago, but one that ended 30 years ago and is recovering by succession. Orchids are going to move into those areas.”

“So West Virginia’s just a great place,” Shriver added. “Pennsylvania’s good, West Virginia’s probably better. And so we spend a lot of time here.”

Neither Shriver nor Smith are professional botanists, but they insist that anyone with an interest in exploring the outdoors can make big discoveries, especially in remote Appalachia

“I think there are things in the nooks and crannies of West Virginia that nobody has ever seen before and that’s exciting. When you’re here, it’s kind of like you’ve escaped urban and suburban areas and a lot of places in West Virginia. It’s wild,” said Shriver.

Threats

But this abundantly diverse wildness is fragile. Deer are a threat to orchids, and there are poachers who steal them to grow in greenhouses or to plant in their backyards.

Recently, an endangered orchid that grows on Cheat Mountain was nearly wiped out by poachers. So I assure Shriver and Smith, their secret is safe with me. If you want to find an orchid, you’ll have to go driving out to the mountains yourself.

Keep your eyes peeled though, because you never know what you’ll find on the back roads of West Virginia.