Pocahontas County is a treasure chest of history. The first settlers crossed the Alleghenies in 1749, and thus, the roots of families and communities run deep.
Without special effort and proper care of collections local history can quickly disappear. Pocahontas County is rich in people who care about its history. This project will provide the resources to help them preserve it and share it with the world.
The Historic Preservation Project will identify, stabilize, curate and store papers, pictures, records, recordings and artifacts. We will capture writings, photographs, interviews, buildings, and artifacts as digital images, sound files and text. We will create and maintain a Digital Library on the World Wide Web where digitized material will be freely available to researchers, historians, students and genealogists. And, we will facilitate community building by working with individuals and organizations as they exchange ideas and showcase their hard work.
Neighbor working with neighbor is the cornerstone of "Preserving Pocahontas." People in our communities will be actively engaged in this project as they are trained in the digitization process. Families and individuals will be encouraged to have their records and photographs digitized and to share those materials with the project.
To learn more, visit pocahontaspreservation.org.
Preserving Pocahontas
Pocahontas County Belle Emma Beard, of Arbovale, is pictured standing to the right of U. S. Senator Robert C. Byrd at the West Virginia State Folk Festival in Glenville, W.Va. The two women on the far left and right are unknown county belles. The photograph was taken on June 19, 1981. Emma Beard was a member of the Arbovale Extension Homemakers Club. County belles have been a part of the State Folk Festival since 1957. Belles must reside in West Virginia and possess the pioneering spirit that characterizes our mountain heritage. The belles are required to wear attire fitting to pioneer days. Photo Courtesy of Arbovale Extension Homemakers , ID: PHP000572
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org Prints of photographs from the archives are available.
Preserving Pocahontas
Droop Mountain Road Construction - 1936
Road construction crew on the Droop Mountain section of U.S. Route 219 in 1936. The Civilian Conservation Corps was working at Camp Price during this time constructing Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. (Courtesy of Mike Smith, ID: PHP000113)
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org
If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org Prints of photographs from the archives are available.
Preserving Pocahontas News
Mr. Murrill Colburn called last week from Michigan and it was truly a pleasure talking with him. A number of folks in Pocahontas County will remember him from his days with the telephone company here.
Colburn came to Marlinton with his family in the late 1950s as an employee of Telephone Utilities of Pennsylvania, which had purchased the local phone company. Colburn’s job was to modernize the system – upgrading it from an operator system to a dial system. The Colburns returned to Pennsylvania when the job was completed which would have been around 1965.
Many of us remember the days when our phone numbers consisted of three digits. To place a call you simply picked up the phone and a local operator, working at the office on the corner of Third Avenue and Ninth Street, would answer with “Operator. May I help you?” You gave her the number you were calling and she would patch through the call.
The Colburn Family is donating a collection of photographs to our historical archives. The collection includes photos of the many local employees at the phone company and the company dignitaries at that time.
Mr. Colburn talked in great length about Hiter Cashwell and his wife, Margaret. He has fond memories of Marlinton and his time here. He asked about many people in the community and extended best wishes to all those who knew him
I sometimes think that the renewed communication with people connected to Pocahontas County is as important as preserving our recorded history. Preserving Pocahontas has opened a door least expected – the preservation of relationships with friends young and old.
Going to the Dance - 1912
Group of men and women going to a dance at Minnehaha Springs in 1912. This photograph comes from an album which belonged to Frances “Fannie” Golden Overholt. The photo album is in the archives at the Historical Society Museum in Marlinton. The digital images may be viewed in our Digital Library on the web.
(Courtesy of Pocahontas Co. Historical Society, ID: PHS006102)
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org
If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org Prints of photographs from the archives are available.
Preserving Pocahontas News
Two readers called about the Huntersville photo that ran in last week’s paper. Robert Kelley in Hillsboro and Marvin Harvey in Maxwelton identified the unknown pile of thrashed material as wheat or oat grass. It was great fun talking with both of them. I now know more about thrashing than I had ever expected to learn.
It was also great to hear from Dr. Roy Clarkson up in Morgantown who will be loaning his many logging photographs for scanning. I interviewed him a number of years ago. He’ll be glad to know that I preserved the footage of his logging tool demonstration. I plan to convert it when I have time and put the video on-line. I’m looking forward to his visit in the spring.
More photographs from the Historical Society Collection are now accessible in the on-line archive. The majority of the images are taken from negatives and the quality is quite good considering that some were damaged during the 1985 flood.
Also, more photos from the Fannie Overholt Photo Album have been added. I hope everyone is enjoying this collection as much as I am. They show Marlinton and Campbelltown through a completely different lens, which is that of high school girls with a camera.
All in a Day’s Work – ca. 1915
These men are working with a portable steam engine on a farm near Huntersville. The large stack appears to be a bark pile. If anyone can tell what they are doing please give a call. The people in the photo are as follows:
Standing left to right: Wallace McLaughlin, Charles Moore, Joe Phillips, Walter Grimes, George Ginger, French Moore, A.P. McLaughlin, Paul Crummet (owner of the machine). Young boys left to right: Tuck McLaughlin, June McLaughlin. On stack top to bottom: Renick Hogsett, Billy Moore, Fred Moore, Will Crummet (left) Ed McLaughlin (right).
(Courtesy of Pocahontas Co. Historical Society, ID: PHS000090)
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org
If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org Prints of photographs from the archives are available.
Doc Nickell, Veterinary Surgeon - 1918
Dr. Frank C. Nickell, Veterinary Surgeon for the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company in Cass. The photo, dated October 14, 1918, shows Doc Nickell on a handcart, most likely near the town of Spruce. A log landing can be seen on the hill next to the tracks. Frank Nickell was appointed postmaster at Cass in April 1945.
(Photo Courtesy of Norris Long, ID: PHP000491)
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org
If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org Prints of photographs from the archives are available.
Preserving Pocahontas News
Dallas Widney, of Lewisburg and formerly of Durbin, has identified the lone unknown girl in the photo of the Durbin Girls Basketball Team which ran in the January 24 edition of The Pocahontas Times. Her name is Margaret Wilson and she later became a teacher at Durbin Graded School. She is standing in the center on the back row wearing a black dress.
Two new collections have been added to the online digital archive at pocahontaspreservation.org
The “Warren E. Blackhurst Collection” contains 25 pages of an unpublished play written by Tweard Blackhurst. “The Last Day of School” was penned and staged for the Annual Show of the Durbin Lions Club in 1949. The original document is quite fragile and had been rolled up for many years. Thanks to Will Rhodes, who loaned the document, this local literary treasure has been scanned and the digital images will be preserved. Much of the text is difficult read. The document will be transcribed in the future and the transcript will be added to the archive.
Another new collection is the “Fannie Overholt Photo Album” which comes from the Pocahontas County Historical Society. The album contains 175 photographs taken primarily in and around Marlinton and Campbelltown in 1912. A number of the photos are now online with more coming over the next few weeks.
Frances Golden Overholt graduated from high school in Marlinton and went on to teach here for many years. Her students fondly remember her as “Miss Fannie.” She was an avid doll collector and many of her dolls are on display at the Historical Society’s Hunter House Museum in Marlinton.
Lobelia Farm Women - 1953
The Lobelia Farm Women are pictured at their Christmas meeting in this photograph taken at the Lobelia Lodge Hall on December 30, 1953. Names are from left to right. Kneeling: Nancy Kellison and Josephine Vaughan.
Seated: Mabel Barcroft, Zora Cutlip, Mrs. Hull, Phyllis Hill, Madaline Hill, Linda Hill, Viola Kinnison, Arlene Cutlip and Lucy Jane Cutlip.
Standing: Virginia Anderson, Delano Ryder, Gladys Hill, Ina Hill, Ruth Cutlip, Bessie Simmons, Lillie Walton, Daisy Sizemore, Carrie Morrison and Dae Pritt.
(Preserving Pocahontas Archives, ID: PHP000498)
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org
If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org Prints of photographs from the archives are available.
Durbin Girls Basketball Team - 1918
Who would ever guess, looking at the fancy clothing and bows in their hair, that these young ladies are basketball players? This is the Durbin Graded School Girls Basketball Team of 1918. Pictured left to right: Gertie Kincaid, Dolly Hiner, Virginia Hiner, Lizzie Simmons (standing), Freda Boggs (sitting), Unknown (standing), Lucretia White (sitting), Hope Hull and Rosa Reda. Mrs. Herman Bowers - Lucretia White in the photograph - donated the original photograph to the Historical Society. (Courtesy of Pocahontas County Historical Society, ID: PHS000338)
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org
If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org Prints of photographs from the archives are available.
Shay No. 8 at Spruce - ca. 1916
Shay No. 8 is pictured here at the Spruce water tank. Built in 1912, this was the first big Shay engine purchased at Cass. According to Roy Clarkson, she weighed 120 tons with cylinders 15- inches in diameter, a 17-inch stroke and 40-inch drivers. It had a steel cab with a side entrance and was equipped at the factory with an acetylene headlamp. The No. 8 was used mostly on the Cass Hill and because of its size could bring eight to 10 cars off the mountain at one time. It was also used to take trains up -rade from Slaty Fork to Spruce. Sam Waugh was the engineer. Shay No. 8 was in use until 1931 when it was placed on the Dead line and finally scrapped in 1939. (Courtesy of Pocahontas County Historical Society, ID: PHS000338)
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org
If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org Prints of photographs from the archives are available.
The Last Train
The last train on the Greenbrier Branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio passed through Marlinton on December 28, 1978. The crew members on that last run were J. L. Ryan, Brakeman; W. C. Cole, Brakeman; L. R. Ratliff, Conductor; W. W. Bulmer, Engineer.
(Photograph by William P. McNeel, Courtesy of Pocahontas County Historical Society, ID: PHS002867)
Access the “Preserving Pocahontas” Digital Library at www.pocahontaspreservation.org
If you have photographs or documents to be scanned for the county Historical Archive Project contact Preservation Officer B. J. Gudmundsson at 304-799-3989 or email info@pocahontaspreservation.org
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