Focusing on the resort and tourist community of Slaty Fork, Snowshoe Mountain, Cass and Green Bank

Vol. 6 No. 11
November 2007

Serving SnowShoe Mountain, Slaty Fork, Green Bank and Cass
"News you can resort to"

Second Section of
The Pocahontas Times
Post Office No. 436-640
ISSN No. 07388373

If it's going on in the county, you'll find it here
NOVEMBER
AROUND THE COUNTY
Thursdays in November • Wake up and see stars! • National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank • 304-456-2150 • gb.nrao.edu. Gather at the planetarium balloon every Thursday for a unique look at the sky. There is a $3.00 charge per person and reservations are suggested. Program begins at 2 p.m.
Nov. 2 • Film Fest Friday • NRAO, Green Bank, 304-456-2150 • gb.nrao.edu. The science-themed movie begins at 6 p.m. NRAO staff will be around to discuss the movie theme afterwards. Fun for the whole family.
Nov. 3 • Live Music: Trillium • Opera House, Third Avenue, Marlinton • 304-799-6645 • pocahontascountyoperahouse.org. This family performance incorporates dance, original music and fanciful costumes and sets. Hear and see Bridget dance through an autumn day with her dog as the wind and leaves play, geese migrate south for the winter, and an apple tree comes to life. It features a story by Courtney Smith, music by Lori Evans and choreography by Lorrie Monte, Becky Godby, Carli Mareneck & Samara Michaelson. The Lewisburg based group begins their performance at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $5.00 at the door..
Nov. 10 • Star Party on the Patio • NRAO, Green Bank • 304-456-2150 • gb.nrao.edu. Held during the new moon. NRAO staff will orient you to the star-filled sky and then view the night sky on the Star Party Patio. Bring optical telescopes and binoculars - you won't believe the view! Program begins 30 minutes before dark. Dress for a cool evening!
Nov. 20 - Live Music: Three Degrees of Hair, The Brazen Head Inn, Mingo. 304 339-6917, 866 339-6917 • brazenheadinn.com. Three Degrees of Hair represents a diverse collection of three musical talents. More than 70 years of combined musical experience makes for a truly unique and enjoyable interaction. Their individually diverse styles combine to bring both relaxation and excitement to the listening audience, like yoga for the ears.
Nov. 14 • High Tech Wednesday • NRAO, Green Bank • 304-456-2150 • gb.nrao.edu. Join us for a guided tour through parts of NRAO normally off limits to visitors, like lab areas where sensitive receivers are designed and built. Space limited to 15 per program; one hour and cost is $3.
Nov. 17 • Live Music: David Peterson and 1946. • Opera House, Third Avenue, Marlinton • 304-799-6645 • pocahontascountyoperahouse.org. David Peterson is a rare combination: a savvy independent recording artist and a bluegrass singer who cherishes tradition. His voice has that lofty quality that carries from mountain-top to mountain-top. It's powerful, complete and saturated with Bill Monroe and Jimmy Martin''s blues. He rolls into town with his 1946 Band at 7:30 p.m. with tickets available at the door for $5.
Dec. 1 • Live Poetry: Poetic Nightfall • Opera House, Third Avenue, Marlinton • 304-799-6645 • pocahontascountyoperahouse.org. The night will begin with an "Open Air" poetry reading where anyone who wishes to sign in may take the stage and read their original poetry. Come and read just for the fun of it. Unlike at a poetry slam, there will be no judging to add to the pressure of reading your work in public. The program will then be turned over to three featured West Virginia poets: Kirk Judd, Wolf Knight and Edward Kennison.

On The Mountain
For more info about any events at Snowshoe, call 877-441-4FUN or visit online at www.snowshoemtn.com
Early November • Snowmaking Begins! • With our nearly mile-high elevation, cold temperatures come early. Typically, Snowshoe sees many nights in early November drop below the freezing mark - and when they do, our snowmakers are ready to jump into action to start getting the slopes ready for opening day. There's no better way to start off the 07 / 08 winter season than hitting the slopes in November. Snowshoe is typically one of the first resorts in the region to open... so you'll get your "ski-legs" early and be prepared for an awesome season!
Nov. 22 • Opening Day. NOW winter time starts! Get ready for another great winter season. Weather permitting, Snowshoe opens for the season on November 22. Snowshoe Mountain Resort is a great place for a family vacation during the Thanksgiving Holidays! Get those skis and snow-boards ready, because we're kicking off another season of snow sliding at the biggest and best winter resort with the best early season conditions in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic. Be sure to stay tuned to snowshoemtn.com for the latest updates around snowmaking and opening day.
Nov 21-25• Thanksgiving Week • Celebrate the first holiday of the winter season with your family on the slopes of Snowshoe.

Coopers Rock Mountain Lion Sanctuary, near Morgantown, provides a safe haven for abused, neglected, and unwanted cougars.Visitors can view Tecumseh and others in their natural environment.

Photos courtesy Coopers Rock Mtn. Lion Sanctuary.

Cat Tales' in the Alleghenies

Drew Tanner
Staff Writer
      Officially, there are no mountain lions in West Virginia.
      One of the last in this state is said to have been killed here in Pocahontas County, near Tea Creek in the late 1870s.
      But don't try telling that to the scores of people who say they have seen the big cat with its rounded ears and long tail or heard its blood-curdling scream in the middle of the night.
      Belief in the persistence of panthers has deep roots in these parts. Long-time readers of The Pocahontas Times are well aware that the venerated editor and conservationist Cal Price firmly believed the eastern cougar still roamed the "endless mountains" of Appalachia -particularly the Allegheny highlands. Price often published reports of sightings, mauled livestock and that eerie, unmistakable cry.
      The big cat known scientifically as puma concolor cougar has a number of local monikers: cougar, puma, panther, painter, catamount, mountain lion and the like. Native Americans referred to them as "ghosts of the forest".
      Today, with numerous sightings but little hard evidence of their existence, that name seems particularly apt.

Mariah the cougar relaxes at CRMLS. CRMLS is an all volunteer facility that provides permanent homes to neglected cougars in their natural environment. Visit them online at cougarsanctuary.org

Photos courtesy Coopers Rock Mtn. Lion Sanctuary.

      The eastern cougar is one of 15 puma subspecies found in North America.
      Eastern cougars are described as large, unspotted, long-tailed cats. They may exceed eight feet in length, including the distinctive long tail. The cats generally weigh between 80 and 150 pounds, with males typically being heavier than females. Their body and legs are a uniform tawny hue, while their belly is pale reddish or reddish white. The inside of the cats' ears are light-colored, with blackish color behind the ears. Sometimes their face has a uniformly lighter tint than the overall hue of the body.
      Mountain lions were not uncommon in the Mountain State when early settlers moved into the area, and these cats were most abundant in the Allegheny Mountains, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The numerous Panther Knobs and Panther Runs found across the state speak to the animal's influence on early mountaineers.
      Cougars, as well as wolves, were the top predators throughout the forests of eastern North America. The European settlers who began arriving in the late 1500s were familiar with wolves but had no knowledge of cougars, which are unique to the New World.
      The unlucky animals were quickly viewed with the prejudice that Europeans had against all predators. At first, settlers thought cougars were African lions or leopards. Only gradually, over a period of about a century, did Americans realize that the cougar was a distinct species. Cougar folklore combined European ideas about predators with Native American knowledge, mixing psychological fantasy with biological fact. Not until about the mid-twentieth century were scientific methods used to study cougars and determine their true nature.

Mountain lions are as comfortable perching in trees as roaming the forest floor.

Photo courtesy freewildlifepictures.com.

      Because cougars are powerful predators, settlers feared for their own safety and for the source of their food and livelihoods: their livestock. Cougars were hunted, often with dogs, until they were believed extirpated in the eastern United States and Canada by about 1900. Widespread deforestation across the East in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the market hunting of deer herds almost to extinction during that same period, also contributed to the decline of cougars.
      The original distribution of the cougar was across lower Canada in the north to Patagonia, in South America. It was the most widely distributed land mammal in the Western Hemisphere. It was found in a variety of habitats, including tidal marshes, deserts, mountainous terrain and deciduous, coniferous and tropical forests.
      With the exception of Florida, the cougar has been extirpated from east of the Mississippi River since 1900, according to wildlife officials. In the west, it is still quite common in wilderness areas of the Rocky Mountain states and British Columbia.
      Here in Pocahontas County, the killing of the last cougar is credited to a party headed by Col. Cecil Clay. The September 29, 1927, Pocahontas Times gives a detailed account of the events that took place on Yew Mountain.
      Clay served in the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War. While he was badly wounded during the war -his right arm was off above the elbow and his left hand was disfigured by a minie ball- he was an avid hunter and had a specially-made Winchester rifle that accommodated his condition.
      The Times notes that the colonel "got on extremely well with the people of Pocahontas County" and was a frequent guest in local homes.
      Clay was also a capitalist who kicked off the region's white pine logging boom of the late 19th century. At the time Clay and his party encountered the Tea Creek cougar in 1876, they had actually set out in search of a coal seam discovered by a Thomas Galford.
      On their way, they found the carcass of a doe, partially eaten and covered up with leaves.

Native Americans referred to them as ghosts of the forest.

      Forgetting the coal seam, Clay, Galford and Frances McCoy returned to the spot with a muzzle loader and five hounds.
      After treeing the cougar, Clay made the shot by supporting the heavy gun on McCoy's shoulder and firing with his crippled hand.
      "Col. Clay took a careful aim and when the gun cracked it was apparent that the panther had been hit", the Times article recalled. "It seemed to spring away from the tree and it started to fall among the limbs of the hemlock. It afterwards appeared that the shot had struck and broken one shoulder. As the beast fell with its one good front paw it grabbed a limb of the tree and for a moment it seemed as though it would be able to maintain itself in the tree when that limb broke and down came the limb, panther and all."
      Before the gun could be reloaded, the dogs finished off the cougar.
      Even after that last confirmed kill, cougars continued to be sighted in the county.
      Just 11 years after Clay bagged his cougar, S.C. Baxter, of Stony Creek, was riding his horse near Elk when a cougar reportedly pounced upon them. The panther's claws tore into the shoulder of Baxter's mare and left three claw marks between four and nine inches long on Baxter's leg.
      In 1936, tracks in the vicinity of Kennison Mountain, Pocahontas County, were reported by workers from the U.S. National Museum. Although there are still sightings of mountain lions in the Mountain State, the DNR maintains that the source of these animals is difficult to determine. Two cougars captured in Pocahontas County in 1976 were western cougars that had been transported here and released. Subsequent sightings reported to the agency have also been escaped or released animals.

A cougar skull

Photo courtesy US Department of the Interior.

      Despite their troubled history, sightings of cougars in remote areas of the East never completely ceased. By the 1960s, sightings had increased to the point that the eastern cougar was believed to be possibly still existing and was included in the first Endangered Species Act in 1973. An official U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service search for cougar signs in the late 1970s and early 1980s turned up several promising scats, but technology available at that time could not confirm them as cougar, and no other confirming evidence was found. But in the 1990s, DNA analysis as well as other methods began to confirm field evidence of cougars.
      At least two groups have dedicated themselves to searching for evidence of eastern cougars and are eagerly anticipating the comeback of the once-reviled cats.
      After decades in Baltimore, John Lutz, 64, retired as the truck-enforcement chief for the city of Baltimore's transportation department in the summer of 2002 and moved to Maysville, West Virginia. There, he heads up the Eastern Puma Research Network, which, since 1983, has been gathering evidence to refute the governments long-standing conclusion that the eastern cougar has been extirpated. Lutz has collected data on more than 500 sightings in West Virginia alone since 1950.
      "My business is booming right now," Lutz said on a recent Monday.
      The previous weekend, he said he received more than a dozen calls ranging from the Virginias all the way up to Maine.
      Lutz can easily tick off a laundry list of who saw or found what, where, in recent months. In Pocahontas County, he has recently received a call from a Back Mountain Road resident and another near Cass.
      Promising leads, including pictures of tracks and plaster casts made from the paw prints, have turned up this summer in neighboring Pendleton County near Roaring Branch and on Mount Storm in Tucker County. Later in this summer and through the fall, however, Lutz has been bemoaning drought conditions that make finding a paw print nearly impossible.

Cougar tracks, compared to large dog tracks.

      "Sometimes you have to wait," Lutz said. "Right now I'm waiting until Mount Storm picks up some snow. It's so dry in that area, an elephant could walk through a field and not leave tracks."
      With deer season upon us, Lutz is also hoping for a helping hand from the thousands of hunters taking to the woods in the coming weeks. A recent press release distributed by his organization encourages hunters to take their digital cameras into the woods with them should they find any paw prints, scat, or better yet, a cougar in-the-flesh.
      Mind you, shoot the camera, not the gun if you think you see the real deal. While cougars are officially believed to be wiped out in these parts, they are also officially still under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.
      The forests of Pocahontas County have, in fact, been the subject of an intense, methodical search for evidence of cougars in recent years. The Eastern Cougar Foundation, founded by West Virginian Todd Lester in 1998, conducted two rounds of remote camera surveys on the Monongahela National Forest in coordination with forest biologists and the DNR.
      During 2003 and 2004, the surveys netted around 1,000 photos of 339 bear, 104 coyotes, 43 bobcats and a mess of other critters, but zero cougars.
      Judging by similar studies that were conducted by scientists in search of jaguars and tigers, the Monongahela camera study had a 95 percent chance of getting at least one photograph per 1,000 "trap nights", even with a low population density, according to a report the ECF released following the study. Between 2003 and 2004, the cameras had a combined 5410 trap nights.
      "While we can not confirm cougar presence across our study site, it may be that we did not have high enough trap effort if cougar density was extremely low or if only newly dispersing animals are entering the area," the report states.
      Dr. Jay Tischendorf, the ECF's current president and a wildlife biologist who has studied mountain lion populations in the West, conceded that in light of the camera study, there appeared to be no cougars in the area.
      "On one hand, its mind boggling," Tischendorf said. "It seems so improbable that you would have so many reports, yet most of the time there is no hard evidence to tell you anything about what was seen."
      Even with the small population that exists in Florida, between 15 and 20 cougars were struck by vehicles last year, Tischendorf noted. In the Great Plains and midwest, where cougars havent roamed for 100 years or so, there have now been confirmed cougar roadkills.
      If mountain lions did indeed roam these endless mountains, Tischendorf believes at least a few would fall victim to West Virginia motorists.
      Skip Johnson, the long-time outdoors writer with The Charleston Gazette, believes that if the eastern cougar truly has been vanquished, such "newly dispersing animals," might eventually lead to cougars reestablishing themselves in the Appalachian chain, much as coyotes dispersing from the west have now made a home in these mountains.
      "I think that eventually, perhaps in 20 years or so, there will be a wild, breeding population in the East," said Johnson.
      The writer points to the Great Plains, where sightings increased until a breeding population had eventually established itself in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Wildlife officials in that state have even implemented a regulated hunting season. Sightings have also picked up in Kansas and Missouri, Johnson noted.
      In eastern West Virginia, Johnson believes conditions are right for the cougar to make a comeback. The abundance of white tail deer means an ample food supply for the predators, while the Monongahela National Forest offers an oasis in the East of nearly one-million acres of relatively unbroken habitat. Without a doubt, the coyote has caused consternation among farmers who have lost livestock to the animals. Whether or not people are willing to accept cougars in their midst is a whole other debate, concede those like Lutz, Johnson and the ECF.
      From a sportsman's perspective, Johnson said such a comeback would be exciting news, not unlike the rebounding of the state's deer and bear populations, or the reestablishment of trout in the North Fork of the Cranberry River.
      "If it is ever determined and everybody agrees that cougars are here, then that's the biggest wildlife story of the past 100 years," Johnson said.
      Both the Eastern Puma Research Network and the Eastern Cougar Foundation have hotlines and e-mail addresses to take reports of cougar signs:

Eastern Cougar Foundation, easterncougar.org; ChristopherSpatz@easterncougar.org; 845-658-9889
Eastern Puma Research Network, easternpumaresearch.com; epuma@hardynet.com; 304-749-7778.

The ice cream cone/tepee seems to have found its final resting place on Elk Mountain on the former Hefner property. It is now owned by Greg Griffith.

Photos by Jaynell Graham-Awad

The story of the Roaming Cone

What is that thing?
Jaynell Graham-Awad
Staff Writer
Marlinton resident Keith Moore is a veritable fountain of knowledge when it comes to area history and trivia. Since his retirement from the WV State Tax Department, Keith has amassed quite a collection of pictorial history of the County. He stopped by the Times office the other day and I asked him what he was up to always a good conversation starter with Keith as he is always up to something. On this particular day, he was going to Elk Mountain to take a picture of the ice cream cone. I had always thought that it was a tepee, so once again, I learned something from Keith.
After some investigation, I found that this was not only an ice cream cone, but a traveling cone, as well. No consensus was formed as to who built this many-angled attraction. It is possible that it was built for the ADDs, that organization of girls who sold snacks and drinks to students and to the spectators at ballgames at Marlinton High School.

The cone served as a Tastee-Freeze on this corner of 4th Avenue and Main Street, Marlinton, close to the old high school.

Photos by Jaynell Graham-Awad

      This tepee, originally painted to look like an ice cream cone, is known to have had a life at the corner of 8th Street and 4th Avenue in Marlinton next to what was then a Conoco Station, now the home of Pocahontas Fuel. Mason May is remembered by some as the man who dipped ice cream from the gallons stored in a freezer at what appears to be Marlinton's first Tastee-Freeze.
      Moore has a most painful memory of this establishment, not that nickels were hard to come by for ice cream, but that on a frosty morning in the early 1940s he tried to lick the iron railing leading to the ice cream stand and his tongue got stuck. He was sure that it was when he was in the third grade. By the fourth grade he knew better.
      When it ceased to be an ice cream stand, Tom Burns, owner of Bumper-to-Bumper, said his dad, Fred Burns, Sr., who was operating the Conoco Station at that time, used the cone to house the kerosene pump and to store bulk oil for the station.
      Dotty Hiner Mitchell remembers the same or a similar cone at Mill Point at Cloonans Pure Oil Station at the intersection of Rts. 219 and 39. This building was recently dismantled, with the last business there being the Sparrows Nest. When Dottys nieces and nephews would come to visit in the late 1940s, they knew they could depend on Granddaddy Pete Spitzer to take them to ice cream corner at Mill Point for a treat.

The roaming cone once graced the yard of the former McClure home on 10th Avenue in Marlinton as a childs playhouse, and was much-used by the neighborhood kids.

Photos by Jaynell Graham-Awad

      At some point in the early 1950s, Dr. Theodore McClures wife, Lillian, better known as Sally, bought the 4th Avenue ice cream cone and it was moved to 10th Avenue to be used as a playhouse for her children. Alice McClure Rogers, now of Elkins, said that her mother was always doing neat things for them and this playhouse, which even had electricity, was well used by the children in the neighborhood.
      Her memories of those years in the ice cream house with her friends and her dog, Lassie, prompted her to try to buy it years later for her son. But, by that time, it had found its permanent home on Elk Mountain.
      Heather McClure Godbold, of Fredrick, Maryland, remembers that it was painted like a beautiful house and even had hardwood floors. She and her friends would have bake sales at the ice cream house and then go to the 5 & 10 to spend their money.
      While this was a playhouse for the younger children of Marlinton, including Joe Smith, Jane Wilson Pitzer, Niki McLaughlin Felton, Dinah Astin Hefner, Debbie Sheets Guill and others, it was an arena that allowed Alice and Heathers older brother, Teddy, to hone his skills as a painter. That ice cream cone, come playhouse, was his first painting job. Ted remembers the cone as an attractive little dwelling which drew much attention and many photographers. Ted went on from that interior painting job to paint houses, providing him with an income as he worked his way through college, first at Marshall, then Peabody, culminating his education with a Doctorate from the University of South Carolina.
      Sometime in the 1960s, Henry Hefner acquired the cone and moved it to its present location on Elk Mountain. According to the Hefner family, when Greg and Jill Griffin, the current owners, purchased the Hefner property, they requested that the cone be made a part of the deed.
      This traveling ice cream cone/tepee triggers memories, has had many homes and many uses and still attracts much attention and many photographers.
      When I traveled up Elk Mountain to take a few pictures on a Sunday afternoon, I observed a pick-up truck turning around at a drive-way just below the cone. As I took my pictures, that same truck pulled off the road behind me. Nicole Holcomb, of Summersville, had made her friend, Chad Stover, turn around and bring her back to get a picture of that interesting thing. After giving her a brief history of the traveling cone she said to Chad, Now, aren't you glad I made you come back?
      As it was peak season for the changing colors of the leaves, traffic was fairly heavy that Sunday afternoon. In the short time that I was there, several cars passed by with at least one passenger in each vehicle pointing out the tepee.
      Having talked to folks in Marlinton, Maryland, South Carolina and Florida who shared their memories, I am convinced that there is more to this story. But one thing is clear as ice cream has been and will always be this traveling cone remains a real treat!

Chestnut Ridge Country Inn, a new bed and breakfast in Dunmore.

Photo courtesy Chestnut Ridge Country Inn

New B&B makes its mark in Dunmore

      Chestnut Ridge Country Inn is a new bed and breakfast in Dunmore. Paula and Larry Garretson purchased the old Brock farmhouse located on the "Dunmore Loop" across from the Dunmore United Methodist Church in October, 2006, They were sold on the farmhouse with the spectacular scenery, a history dating back to the 1890s and its proximity to all the great attractions in Pocahontas County.
      Guests can relax and enjoy the three porches, the beauty of the surrounding hills, the lighted fountain and the firepit.
      Chestnut Ridge B&B offers four guestrooms with private baths, a common room with fireplace, formal dining room with seating for 12, and wonderful beauty, what they call 360 degrees of eye candy.
      Guestrooms have been named for the surrounding hills - Peters Ridge to the west, Griffin Ridge to the south, Snow Ridge, providing a view of Snowshoe, and, of course, Chestnut Ridge to the east, from which the name Chestnut Ridge Country Inn originates.
      The Garretsons love people and wanted a retired lifestyle while working for themselves in a small business; they have since learned that being in business for themselves is more than a full-time job. But they believe they've made the right choice since they opened in June of this year, they have been pleasantly surprised by the number of guests who have stayed at the B&B, and how friendly each of them has been.
      Guests love the character of the B&B, from the comfort of oversized rooms and queen beds, to the delicious breakfasts that are served at Chestnut Ridge.
      The Garretsons had been searching for a bed and breakfast to buy for three years, before purchasing the farmhouse in Dunmore. Larry is a retired mechanical engineer, and Paula is retired from customer service. She is pursuing her WV license for massage therapy, already active in the field prior to relocating from Pennsylvania.
      They have renovated the farmhouse, adding a kitchen in the rear; the old kitchen is now a formal dining room. The common rooms original stone fireplace, used for both a heat source and as the center for cooking, now has a gas insert for heat and ambiance.
      The old dining room is now a guestroom with an electric fireplace insert in the old stone fireplace. The old entertainment room has been converted to a guestroom with an oversized bath, including a five foot shower with double shower heads.
      The four bedrooms upstairs were remodeled to two guest- rooms and owners quarters. The family suite has two bedrooms and a renovated bathroom with the original clawfoot tub. The second guestroom is a bedroom, and its private bath was added when the second floor kitchen was removed; the back bedroom is Garretsons living quarters. There, they opened the second floor and restored the back stairway for access to this area.
      During all of the renovation, the Garretsons were careful to retain the character of the house including the original windows, three-foot doors throughout the house, the original pine floors and the original wood siding.
      In the short time they've been in West Virginia, they have fallen in love with the state, the county and the town of Dunmore. They love the beauty of the area and the warmth of the people that live and work here. They have sometimes been overwhelmed at how friendly the folks here are and their willingness to help.
      Other B&B owners in the area, and in other parts of West Virginia and Virginia, have been very supportive, offered advice and help in the startup of the new B&B business.
      Single guestrooms are offered at $90/night. The two-room suite is $110/night, with a full breakfast included. They welcome singles, couples, or families with children to come and enjoy the attractions or to just get away from their busy lives.
      All of the rooms, the farmhouse and surrounding scenery can be viewed at their website: chestnutridgecountryinn.com. Larry and Paula Garretson can be reached anytime at 304-456-4280.

An action scene from Trillium Performing Arts Collective's original production of Bridget's Wild and Wonderful Adventure

Photo courtesy Trillium Performing Arts Collective

Opera House serving up a terrific family show and a top-notch bluegrass act

Barbara Elliott
Contributing Writer

Bridget's Wild and Wonderful Adventure
      The Trillium Performing Arts Collective, a Lewisburg-based dance and performance art company, brings its original production of Bridget's Wild and Wonderful Adventure to the Opera House on Saturday, November 3.
      Reviewing the premiere production at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg last year, violinist Adam DeGraff wrote:
      "Courtney Smith's story was just right for the audience of children and parents. Bridget and her dog, Miss Marple, see with their ears and hear with their eyes. They see, hear and dance with geese, wind, leaves and even an apple tree. The problem is that Bridget's video game playing babysitter doesn't see or hear any of these things, which really bums out Bridget and Miss Marple. But Bridget's youthful enthusiasm and heartfelt belief in what she sees eventually convince her benighted babysitter to open her eyes and ears to a whole new world."
      A five-member ensemble of musicians shares the stage with the dance and provides delightful accompaniment to the goings-on.
      The show features original music by Lori Evans and choreography by Lorrie Monte, Becky Godby, Carli Mareneck and Samara Michaelson. The imaginative set design is by Courtney Smith.

Dave Peterson and 1946

Dave Peterson and 1946 capture the essence of why bluegrass was so direct and compelling in its original form
Photo courtesy Dave Peterson

      Dave Peterson is a rare combination: a savvy independent recording artist and a bluegrass singer who cherishes tradition. His voice has that lofty quality that carries from mountain-top to mountain-top.
      It's powerful, complete and saturated with Bill Monroe and Jimmy Martin's blues.
      A Boston native, he's not somebody who would have been issued a bluegrass license at birth. But Peterson learned the music from a deacon at his church. When he got serious about the mandolin, the guitar and bluegrass music in 1995, he left his track from becoming a minister to pursue music. Now Dave preaches bluegrass with a missionary zeal. He brings his musical message to the Opera House on Saturday, November. 17.
      He also writes songs, an important and challenging characteristic for a preserver of tradition. On his new CD, In The Mountaintops To Roam, you'll hear him sing an insightful tour of the year that gave birth to bluegrass and to the name of Peterson's band--"1946."
      It comes down to this. Dave Peterson and 1946 capture the essence of why bluegrass was so direct and compelling in its original form, and we're still enjoying its complicated reverberations years later. In his music, you can count on hearing the sound of the Big Bang itself, and that makes him a worthy part of the American musical firmament.
      The Pocahontas County Opera House is located at 818 Third Avenue in Marlinton. Tickets to all performances are $5. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. For further information, call (304) 799-6645. Persons with disabilities are encouraged to attend. Special seating can be arranged by calling in advance.
      Performances at the Opera House are family friendly and open to all. Keep posted on upcoming events at the Opera House website, pocahontasoperahouse.org.
      The 2007-08 Performance Series is sponsored by the Pocahontas County Opera House Foundation. Financial support is provided 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.
      Additional support is provided by Pocahontas County Drama, Fairs and Festivals.

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