A red spruce seedling puts down roots near a recently fallen cone. Just a few feet from this seedling, 300-year-old trees reach into the sky. Photo by Drew Tanner

A wooded path meanders among boulders that line the way to the overlook at the Gaudineer Scenic Area. Photo by Drew Tanner

Only the concrete footers remain from the firetower once used to survey the landscape surrounding Gaudineer Knob from 1936 through 1950. Photo by Drew Tanner

The scenic overlook along the one-mile loop atop Gaudineer Knob offers a breathtaking view of the sunrise and surrounding mountains of the Allegheny Highlands. Photo by Drew Tanner

The NRAO's 140 Foot Telescope was completed in the spring of 1965. Located in Green Bank, West Virginia, the telescope had its last observation run during the second quarter of 1999. Photo courtesy NRAO/AUI

A look back at 50 years

Erin Wooddell
Contributing Writer
      The upcoming 50th anniversary of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is not just a celebration of the Green Bank site, the home and genesis of the United States' radio astronomy facilities. it also commemorates the establishment of the nation's entire radio astronomy program.
      It began here.
      In the early 1950's there were already optical observatories in the country, supported and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Their hubs were in the mid-to-western parts of the country. Meanwhile, other nations such as England, Australia and Russia, were progressing with radio astronomy observatories; the U.S had nothing of the kind. Still in the space race, the NSF and the Associated Universities Incorporated (AUI) proposed that the U.S. should begin its own radio astronomy program.
      "We had to get on the ball," said Fred Crews, the second telescope operator at the Green Bank site in 1958. Crews later became the Division Head for Telescope Services. "The only concern was that the optical observatories would swallow up any money made by the radio observatories if the two were tied together," he continued.
      A rule was made to ensure that the optical operations in the West wouldn't have access to any of the NRAO's budgeted funds. And it stated that the site for the radio astronomy observatory had to be approximately 300 miles from Washington, D.C.
      Virginia and its neighboring states were thoroughly examined in their mountainous regions to see which locations provided the least interference from radio waves and noise. Green Bank was the quietest.
      "The Corps of Engineers then began to procure the land," Crews said. They wanted 2,700 acres and began gathering private land and paying the owners settlements in return. If inhabitants protested the NSF's attempts to obtain their land, the government had the right to take the land through eminent domain.
      "There were planes that took aerial shots of the topography to try and help decide where to build what," said Harold Crist. Crist was a resident of Arbovale when the observatory first came and later worked as a telescope operator.
      "No one knew exactly what [the observatory] was, what environment it would create," Crist said. "I watched them bring the equipment in; it was pretty exciting. We knew it'd be important."
      Green Bank was chosen to become the first official site of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in 1956.
      "Initially we were the headquarters for all of NRAO; there was only one site, and it was this one," Crews said with pride.
      In theory, Crews explained, it was believed that if the observatory was going to get good astronomers, they needed to put the main offices by a major university. Not many scientists wanted to come to the isolated countryside. West Virginia University was the first choice, but the school did not pursue the institution. The University of Virginia, on the other hand, was pushing.
      Now the center of operations for the NRAO is located in Charlottesville, Virginia.
      The Green Bank Observatory had six major telescopes in the early years. The three 85-foot scopes were the first three and the others were the 140-foot, the 45-foot and the 300-foot.
      "When the first 85-foot scope started observing, it would act as a mirror. The sun would hit it and the scope would reflect the light in a concentrated form. When it would shine on Little Mountain, the sun would be the strongest, and the side of the mountain would actually catch on fire," Crist laughed at the memory.
      "They had to research what type of paint they should use on the dish so that the sun wouldn't reflect like that."
      "In the beginning, the 140-foot was 'the' telescope being built," Crews, who started out as a telescope operator, said.
      A lot was planned for the 140-foot, the only problem‹it was way behind schedule being built.
      "This didn't work right, that didn't work rightŠthe project wasn't attacked properly," Crews explained.
      "While I was teaching at Green Bank High School, they were putting the dish on the 140-foot and we heard this loud crack all the way at the high school. The dish had fallen off and crashed into its control room," Crist said. "The 140-foot even got hit by lightning once, catching that same console on fire." But despite the obvious streams of bad luck, the 140-foot remains Crist's favorite telescope.

The 300 Foot Telescope before its collapse in 1988. Photo courtesy NRAO/AUI

      The astronomers were anxious; they wanted to do something but they didn't have the equipment. The construction of the 300-foot telescope then began and was completed in 1962, three years before the 140-foot was finished; even though the production of the 140-foot had begun at an earlier time.
      By the late 1960's all the telescopes were up and running. Many astronomers and students visited the Green Bank facilities in pursuit of experience and new discoveries. The Observatory continues to expand and develop its research programs.
      But 20 years later, tragedy struck the telescopes in Green Bank once again.
      Crist was at the 140-foot at about 9:30 p.m. in November,1988, when Greg Monk, a telescope operator at the 300-foot, came in the lobby with his nose bleeding and his lip cut. He could hardly even talk. He told Crist that something had happened to the 300-foot.
      Crist didn't understand.

The 300 Foot Telescope after its collapse in 1988. Photo courtesy NRAO/AUI

      "I went outside and every window in his car was broken. Then George Liptack, another telescope operator, went down to the 300-foot to see. The phone was still working, but he called me and said 'Get someone in. This thing is flat on the ground.'"
      Dr. Phil Jewell, the current Deputy Director of the NRAO was in Tucson when the 300-foot collapsed. He recalls when he got the news, "I initially didn't believe it. I thought someone was pulling my leg. But [the 300-foot's collapse] led to the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in 2000, a state of the art research scope." The GBT is also the world's largest fully steerable telescope.
      Jewell first came to Green Bank as a summer college student in 1977, which sparked his interest in pursuing a career in astronomy. He came back to Green Bank in 1998 as the Director. It's a common tendency for aspiring astronomers to come to Green Bank as students and then later return here to work.
      "The objective of the research done at Green Bank," Jewell explained , "is to detect interstellar molecules that are biologically significant. The process is called Astro-Chemistry, a combination of chemistry and space." Crist had an early encounter with Astro-Chemistry.
      "One night an astronomer asked me what I thought we should try to look at in the list of molecules. I said Cyno-Acetylene. The first night we had a spike, found the molecule and it was the first time Cyno-Acetylene had ever been seen in space."
      The GBT has since become the leading instrument used in Astro-Chemistry. Jewell and a team led by colleague Mike Hollis, found an eight-atom sugar molecule of gas and dust in 2000.
      Jewell has great expectations for the Green Bank Observatory, as well as the NRAO's other national sites. In Green Bank he believes "the research in the field of Astro-Chemistry will continue for many years to come."
      After all, there's still a lot left to learn.

The Opera House, as it stands restored today. Photo by Drew Tanner

Triple header of talent

New Englanders Harvey Reid and Joyce Andersen team up for an evening of eclectic acoustic music

Reid & Andersen
      One of the most potent duo teams in acoustic music, Reid and Andersen are both gifted instrumentalists, strong and versatile singers, and prolific songwriters, and are comfortable in a dizzying array of styles of roots and Americana music. They jump from show-stopping Celtic jigs and old-time fiddle tunes to house-shaking blues rockers, soaring gospel duets and achingly beautiful ballads.
      Reid's legendary acoustic and slide guitar work (he won the 1981 National Fingerpicking Guitar Competition and the 1982 International Autoharp Competition) make a perfect backdrop for Andersen's powerful fiddling, and they take turns on lead and harmony vocals to showcase a large and interesting repertoire of original, traditional and contemporary music. Reid and Andersen are married and have also teamed up professionally to record three CDs: Christmas Morning, The Great Sad River and Kindling the Fire. They form a rare and versatile musical partnership, taking to the stage with a rich and varied songbag, an arsenal of stringed instruments, and a deeply satisfying emotional purity, with a fresh northern New England sensibility, free from showbiz and pretense.

Audience favorite John McCutcheon returns.

John McCutcheon
      Audience favorite John McCutcheon returns for his third Opera House performance on Friday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 at the door. Acclaimed by The Oakland Tribune as "the Bruce Springsteen of folk music," McCutcheon is a multi-instrumentalist wonder and a master at leading into a song with a story. His performances are legendary events that reach into human doings and find strings that tie all of us together. Numerous reviewers have called him one of the most versatile and powerful songwriters of the 1990's, and his more than twenty record albums have been greeted with critical and popular acclaim.

The hot new North Carolina-based band, The Avett Brothers

The Avett Brothers
      The hot new North Carolina-based band, The Avett Brothers, bring their mix of old-time country, bluegrass, pop melodies, folk, rock n' roll, honky-tonk and ragtime to the Opera House on Friday, July 28, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 at the door.
      As a band, The Avett Brothers haven't been around for long. But for brothers Scott and Seth Avett, the project has been a long time coming. In 1998, during the time of the Avett's rock band, Nemo, Scott began getting together with some friends and other flat-pickers in Greenville, North Carolina, to play acoustic bluegrass and country music, and occasionally perform on the street. Having gained an interest in acoustic music after meeting Doc Watson at an early age, Seth joined in and they called the gatherings "The Back Porch Project" or "Nemo Downstairs."
      When Nemo fell apart in 2001, Scott and Seth fell back on the acoustic music they had been crafting, realizing that it was more accessible than Nemo's brazen, rock sound. And what began as a side project soon took on a life of its own, culminating in Country Was, their 2002 debut recording as The Avett Brothers.
      In the same year, upright bass player Bob Crawford became a permanent member of the band. With Seth on vocals and guitar, Scott on vocals and banjo, and Bob on bass and vocals, the trio recorded A Carolina Jubilee. Although they've remained true to their North Carolina roots, the brothers are currently on tour to support their most recent album, Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsville Sessions.
      The Opera House is located at 818 Third Avenue in Marlinton. Performances are very family-friendly. Children 12 and under are admitted free. For further information, call the Opera House at (304) 799-6645 or the Pocahontas County Convention & Visitors Bureau, 800-336-7009. For information on other upcoming Opera House events, visit pocahontasoperahouse.org.
      The 2006-07 Performance Series is sponsored by the Pocahontas County Opera House Foundation with financial assistance through a grant from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts. Financial support is also provided by Pocahontas County Drama, Fairs and Festivals.