Rainy Days

Yesterday and today have been almost steady rain, drizzle and fog. It's perfect weather for resting up from our trip to Chattanooga and catching up on small tasks like laundry and housecleaning.

I did not fill the hummingbird feeders before we left so I was surprised to see one small fellow still here, braving the rain to scold me. His feeder was quickly filled! I cannot remember if the hummers have stayed this late in the year before, but it seems odd, especially given the recent turn to cooler temperatures.

This cooling trend is so welcome. I am tired, tired, tired of sweating, of heat and humidity. It has not been a nice summer in my region. Either too much rain or not enough, day after day of temps in the 90's and humidity over the top. I have never been a fan of summer; last year was great, but this year I was ready to pack up and head to Canada. Well, not really, but their cool weather was sure tempting.

I packed several eBay packages yesterday. This one was the most difficult:

I ended up cobbling together several boxes to get one big enough. Now my fingers are crossed that it will make the trip to Massachusetts safely.

The other items sold recently included some Hofbauer Byrdes crystal coasters,

a mug made in Hungary by an obscure pottery (Barakonyi),

a vintage nurse's uniform,

a brass plaque of a palm tree, embossed with the words Saudi Arabia and some other words in Farsi or some other mid-East language,

a Heisey decanter with a married stopper (mis-matched but works),

and a chocolate brown Fiesta Ware tray.

I love the variety of things I sell. It takes time to research each one to be sure my description is correct. Today I received a message telling me that a pitcher I listed was not quite what I thought it was. I appreciate people who share their knowledge so that my listings are accurate. I try to do the same when I can.

Yesterday afternoon I worked on the upcoming ghost walk. I found several details I'd previously overlooked and that sent me back to my research and the computer to try to find more information. These stories are like a scavenger hunt, really, as I hunt for facts, details, and connections I may have missed. Sometimes I find I can develop a whole new story, and that's always satisfying.

Books, books and books. What would I do without my books? And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Before we left for Chattanooga I completed the last step of getting another CD finished: calling the production company and giving them my credit card number. The CDs should be here by the weekend or early next week. That makes two new ones this year! I am trying to catch up on getting my stories recorded as I haven't released a new CD in a long time. Look for another one in the spring of 2019, and possibly another in the fall of that year.

I have been listening to the news about the Supreme Court hearings and thinking about this moment in our history. So many women are now sharing stories of what has happened to them in the past, and why the did not come forward. I've had my own experiences and understand the reluctance. I remember feeling ashamed, and remember the boys/men involved each time making me feel like I was a prude, didn't have a sense of humor, thought I was too good for them, owed it to them, etc, etc. As a young girl, shy, sheltered and unsure of myself anyway, I could not even begin to bring myself to tell anyone. As a woman, I thought perhaps they were right--I was a prude and had no sense of humor. I feel for this judge, facing accusations from so long ago, and I also understand why the women may never have mentioned it before. I can only hope that this lady receives better treatment than Anita Hill did, and that both she and the judge will have a fair, objective hearing.

Well, back to work. I've had enough coffee to keep me going even though the rain makes me sleepy. Tonight, another fire like the one we had when we came home from Chattanooga? I think so.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

There and Back Again: Chattanooga!

It was a long, fun weekend with family, travel and most of all, volleyball!

Ally in the center

Granddaughter Allison has been playing ball for UT Chattanooga and this is her last season. This weekend her team was honoring miltary veterans, and since we have so many vets and currently serving military in our family, our daughter-in-law Jennifer decided to have as many as possible to come to Chattanooga for the event and for the start of the conference play-offs.

We had a blast. We got there in time for the first match of the series, and it was a cliffhanger event. Chat was down by 2 games, and if they lost the 3rd game, that was it. In women's volleyball, there are 5 games per match so three wins (or losses) determines the winner. But the Mocs as they are called came back to win the next three games. Whew!

More and more family arrived throughout the weekend until in the end there were 15 of us sharing a large Airbnb house: two of my sons, two daughters-in-law, five grandchildren--two with their partners, my sister Theresa and her husband, Larry and me. We came from all directions: two flew in from Los Angeles, one drove up from his vacation in South Carolina, several came from Northern Virginia, one drove in from National Guard duty in northern West Virginia, and then there were some of us from various other places in West Virginia.

I slept hard that night, so unusual for me when traveling, and woke early to get ready for the next day. Breakfast was a real feast of eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy, fruit and toast.

Then we were off to do a little exploring in Chattanooga. It's a beautiful, vibrant city, full of good retaurants, arts and crafts and things to do. The Tennessee River runs through the center of town and provides all kinds of recreation opportunities. We visited Coolidge Park by the riverside where the World Canine Disc Championship was going on. Fun to watch!

There were other dogs there too:

And then: an antique carousel! I love these things! I've visited two others, one in Mansfield, Ohio and the other in St. Augustine, Florida. Chattanooga's website offers this description of the carousel:

"This 1894 Dentzel carousel is a central feature in Coolidge Park. The antique carousel was restored by local master wood carver Bud Ellis and a devoted team of craftspeople and volunteers at his studio "Horsing Around" located near Chattanooga. The carousel provides a delightful old-fashioned experience with 52 whimsical hand carved animals, a calliope band organ, and ornate gold leaf benches."

Of course I had to ride, and a few other family members joined me. I mean, for $1.00, why not?

I didn't realize that when I took photos of the mirrors, I was photographing myself!

There was a pretty cool fountain too, but apparently it was already turned off for the season.

Grandson Jared and bro-in-law Jay horsing around with the lion fountain--there was a circle of various concrete animals.

Another feature I only got to see a little bit of (our time was limited) is a fantastic arched walking bridge that crosses the river. The bridge was full of people enjoying the river breezes.

The walking bridge

Along the riverbank on the opposite side I saw a large riverboat--next time, that's on my list to visit.

We were off to a tailgate party with the team parents then, lots of good food and conversation, and then it was game time. The Mocs were playing Furman this day, and easily won three games in a row, so chalked up another victory in the series.

Granddaughter Ally autographing a poster for Poppa Larry

We had discussed going out exploring again after the game, but with temps in the 90's we opted to go back to the bnb--a good decision as we then had plenty of time for visiting and catching up. We were off to bed late, after finally getting everyone in one place for a photo. The only one missing is a girlfriend, who took the photo.

It was a fine weekend, and I am so glad we were able to go. I was also glad to get home to much cooler temperatures and a nice fire in the fireplace.

I am proud of Allison, who worked hard for years to get her scholarship to  UTC, and I am happy that so many of our large family got to see her play.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Welcome, Autumn: Charms, Poems and Recipes

Although the temperatures do not feel like it, autumn in all her glory is just around the corner. Today, it was 91 degrees (F) and felt like full-on summer, but surely this will soon pass. I browed through some old photos to remind myself that yes, fall is coming. This one is of our road, taken a few years ago:

So, to get us ready for the season, here's a charm you may want to try that is supposed to be done around the autumn equinox:

"The following charm used to be thought effective if spoken during the time of the Harvest Moon--that is, the full moon occurring within a fortnight of the autumn equinox, September 22 or 23.

When you go to bed, place under the pillow a Common Prayer Book open at the part of the marriage service in which is printed 'With this ring I thee wed'. Place on it a key, a ring, a flower, a sprig of willow, a small heart-cake, a crust of bread, and the following cards: the ten of clubs, the nine of hearts, the ace of spades, the ace of diamonds. Wrap all these around in  handkerchief of thin gauze or muslin. On getting into bed cross your hands and say:

Luna, every woman's friend,

To me thy goodness condescend; 

Let me this night in visions see

Emblems of my destiny.

If you dream of a ring or the ace of diamonds, it means marriage; bread, an industrious life; cake, a prosperous life; flowers, joy; willow, betrayal in love; spades, death; diamonds, money; clubs, foreign travel; hearts, illegitimate children; keys, great trust and power; birds, many children; geese, remarriage."

Harvest moon, 2010

While I am not planning to try this charm, I would truly hope that there is no marriage, death or remarriage in my future! I'd take the children, travel and joy, though.

One of my favorite writers is Thomas Hardy. I know he's out of favor these days, but I am still a fan. One poem I particularly enjoy is his Night-Time in Mid-Fall.

It is a storm-strid night, winds footing swift through the blind profound; 

I know the happenings from their sound; 

Leaves totter down still green, and spin and drift; 

The tree-trunks rock to their roots, which wrench and lift 

The loam where they run onward underground. 

The streams are muddy and swollen; eels migrate to a new abode; 

Even cross, 'tis said, the turnpike-road;

 (Men's feet have felt their crawl, home-coming late): 

The westward fronts of the towers are saturate, 

Church-timbers crack, and witches ride abroad. 

And another by Hardy:

Autumn in King's Hintock Park

Here by the baring bough
  Raking up leaves,
Often I ponder how
  Springtime deceives,---
I, an old woman now,
  Raking up leaves.

Here in the avenue
  Raking up leaves
Lords' ladies pass in view,
  Until one heaves
Sighs at life's russet hue,
  Raking up leaves!

Just as my shape you see
  Raking up leaves,
I saw, when fresh and free,
  Those memory weaves
Into grey ghosts by me,
  Raking up leaves.

Yet, Dear, though one may sigh,
  Raking up leaves,
New leaves will dance on high---
  Earth never grieves!---
Will not, when missed am I
  Raking up leaves.

A bit of a melancholy note in this one, perhaps, but then Hardy's work tended that way usually.

And finally, to get you in full autumnal spirits, a recipe for mincemeat. If you have never made it, take my word, it's delicious. I preserve mine in jars, and process by modern requirements. Here's a recipe I posted eight years ago (I've been blogging quite a while, it seems!):

About 20 chopped green tomatoes--sprinkle with a tablespoon of salt and let sit for one hour, then drain the tomatoes,cover with boiling water and let sit for about 5 minutes; drain again. NOTE: You can omit the tomatoes and add more of the apples  and other fruits.

1 orange--grate the rind and chop the pulp
Mix the tomatoes and the orange in a large saucepan. Then add:
12 apples, chopped fine (peel or not, it's up to you)
1 pound of seedless raisins
1 1/2 cups of chopped suet (I know, I know, sounds weird. I've actually made the mincemeat without it and liked it quite well).
2-3 oranges
1-2 lemons
3 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed firmly
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon each ground cloves and nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Cook the mixture until it's boiling hot. Pour into hot sterile jars and seal. Process pints at 10 pounds pressure for 25 minutes. This recipe makes about 10 pints.

You can vary the amounts, add lemon, nuts, golden raisins, etc. It's really up to you; just be sure to keep the proportions of ingredients the same to have great-tasting mincemeat.

For more autumn ideas check out some of my older blog posts:

How to make dried apple and orange garlands

Pumpkin recipes

Fall weather superstitions

Sources:

Hardy, Thomas. The Complete Poems of Thomas Hardy. Macmillan, London: 1976.

Radford, E. Encyclopedia of Superstitions. New York: Reprinted by Greenwood Press, 1969.

The Autumn Book: A Collection of Prose and Poetry Chosen by James Reeves. William Heinneman, London: 1977.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Sad Angel: Adamsville Cemetery

I got so intrigued by the Sliding Hill ghost story that I asked my grandson Jared, who is visiting from Los Angeles, to go with me to explore the area. I can't say there is a lot to see--a country highway that borders the railroad tracks that hug the riverbank, small towns and rural homes and farms. But Jared is an adventurer and an explorer, and as intrigued by strange tales as I am.

We drove up Sliding Hill Creek Road, turning here and there, meandering for miles and just looking at the countryside. 

On Sliding Hill Creek Road

We ended up back on the highway, miles from our starting point, in a community called Clifden which  has its own strange story. According to the lady at the diner where we stopped for lunch, there is (or was) a house in the town where the walls just started crying one day. Literally. Water began seeping out of the walls for no reason anyone could discover. She said that the woman living in the house at the time wrote a book about it, but I have not yet found any information about the event or the book. A story for another day.

After leaving Clifden we turned back toward Sliding Hill, stopping on the way at a graveyard I've passed many times but never had time to visit. 

Check out the orb in this photo. I didn't notice it at the time, but now I'd like to go back and look at that gravestone the grave is centered over.

This is the Adamsville Cemetery, as I learned after a long search--it is not listed on Find-A-Grave, or if it is, it is under another name. The cemetery is not being maintained very well, as the grass and weeds were about a foot high, but we waded in anyway.

Yet another bright orb. Usually I can attribute these to dust, but today there was no dust at all;
the grass was still wet with dew.

I have wanted to stop at this cemetery because of this monument:

This angel has caught my eye so many times over the years, and this time I was determined to stop and take photos of her. And would you believe it, I forgot to get the name of the person buried in that plot. So I will have to stop again sometime. Which I will not mind doing. When a cemetery has become a forgotten place, it feels all the more important to stop and visit, a mark of respect for those beneath the soil.

In the center of this graveyard is a stonewalled enclosure made of large cut stones. I believe this might have been the original cemetery and that there was a church down below at one time. Few of the graves within the walls have markers but their presence was obvious when I walked across the area--the ground was sunken in regular intervals. 

Other sites apparently once had wrought iron fences around them; some of the fenceposts are still standing but the fences are missing.

One of the remaining fenced plots

One grave, far up the hill and against the treeline, particularly interested us. The parents' names, Charley and Emma Martin, were clear, as were their birthdates and that of their married daughter. 

There was also a son, Charley Jr, who was buried here. Oddly, there were no death dates for the parents or the daughter. I searched online in West Virginia death records for them and even googled the names but found nothing. Did the family move away after the young son died? How very lonely his grave if that is the case.

In searching for this cemetery's name online, I found another graveyard in the area that I will need to visit one day: the Welsh Cemetery. Suprisingly, Welsh immigrants ended up in Gallipolis, Ohio, and apparently several made their way across the river to West Virginia. We noticed at least one grave in the Adamsville Cemetery that listed place of birth as Wales. So far from their home.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Who Haunts Sliding Hill?

Salt furnaces. Coal mines. A beautiful river. And a murder.

Sliding Hill, located in Mason County, West Virginia, has been the site of all of the above.

Sliding Hill is located between the towns of New Haven and Mason, not far from the community of Hartford. Today it is a quiet little place; most residents of the area probably work at the nearby power plant. But in its heyday this stretch of the Ohio River was teeming with people and excitement.

The towns of New Haven and Hartford were named, as you may have guessed, by settlers and entrepreneurs who came to the valley of the Ohio from Connecticut, and named the new settlements after their old homes. In 1856 salt works were built in the area. 

photo of the Jackson Salt Works, from http://www.wvgenweb.org/mason/hartford/hart.html

Processing the salt required coal to fuel the furnaces, so coal mining also became a big industry. With the location of Mason county on the Ohio River, shipment of the salt via steamboat was an easy affair, and the coming of the railroad in the 1880's expedited exports even more. Dairy farming became a growing industry in the rich river bottoms as well. 

In 1774 a major battle in Lord Dunmore's War occurred at Point Pleasant, VA (now West Virginia). This battle officially drove the Native Americans back across the Ohio River, although raids continued for years after the Treat of Camp Charlotte was signed. 

One of the stories about the haunting of Sliding Hill is loosely connected to the fort at Point Pleasant (Fort Randolph). According to this story, an army paymaster was making his way along the river to the fort, carrying with him a quantity of gold with which to pay the soldiers at the fort. A gang of robbers set upon the paymaster and killed him. Hearing soldiers approaching, the thieves quickly left the area, after first hiding the body and burying the gold. Legend has it that the gold was never recovered, and that the area is haunted by the ghost of a man walking along the road.

A dark spot along the road. "Perfect place for a murder," was Jared's comment.

Sliding Hill Creek, a little muddy after all the recent rain.

Two things in this story seem odd to me: first, that the paymaster should have been traveling alone. Surely in those dangerous times, when attacks by Indians were common and the route was a lonely one, there would have been at least one other man with the paymaster. Second, how in the world would there have been time to hide a body and bury the gold? Why would they have buried the gold anyway, if they had time enough to get away? 

The second story of a haunt in the Sliding Hill area was reported in this old newspaper article:

This version, the murder of early settlers who were traveling by canoe and stopped to camp on the riverbank, makes more sense to me, although the statement that they had "much gold" with them seems odd. Why would one carry a lot of gold into the wilderness? Still, it could have been true. It seems unlikely, however, that the robbers would not have come back for the rest of the gold. With so few people in the area, what would have prevented them from recovering it? 

Whichever version is the true story, the belief that an area along the road by Sliding Hill is haunted seems to have been well established. And the sightings reported sound frightening indeed. I suppose we will never know the truth of the story, who was killed and when or by whom.

I wonder, are the ghosts described as horrific haunts on Sliding Hill still wandering, or have they settled gently into their graves after all these years? 

I suppose I will never know the answer to that, either. Only the river would know, and she's not talking.

Sources:

Rizer, Chris. "Operating coal mine still in 1921 on Sliding Hill."  Point Pleasant Register. 22 June 2018.

Stealey III, John Edmund "Salt Industry." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 26 October 2010. Web. 17 September 2018.

"Sliding Hill Ghost." Teresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State. 

"A Haunted Spot." The Weekly Register. Pleasant, Mason County WVA. 15 January 1896.

Wikipedia. "Lord Dunmore's War."  


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

The Pringle Tree: An Old Tale Leads Me Home

I'm not referring to the crunchy chips in tubular containers here, but to one of West Virginia's most interesting stories: the tale of two brothers who once lived in a tree.

Pringle Tree--this is the third generation tree, growing in the same location as the original tree

The Pringle brothers were very early settlers in what is now West Virginia, and the pair of them attained some notoriety over the years. I've written a bit about them before, but recently when browsing a big book of local county history, I happened on something that surprised me. Apparently descendants of the famous brothers ended up in my county (Jackson) and operated a grist mill here. That unexpected local connection to their story sent me off to do more research to verify the claims in the history book.

But first, let me introduce you to the Pringle Brothers. Of Scottish descent, Samuel and John were the sons of one William Pringle. They boys were born in Philadelphia; later they were to live in what is now the eastern panhandle of West Virginia on the South Branch of the Potomac River. As young men they enlisted in the British army during the French and Indian War and were stationed at Fort Pitt in western Pennsylvania. Apparently the Pringle brothers did not enjoy militay service and in 1761 the two of them, along with their friends William Childers and Joseph Lindsey, left the fort and struck out into the wilderness.

The men traveled around a bit, exploring the country around the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. By 1762 they were living in a settlement along Looney's Creek in Grant county where they were captured. The Pringles escaped and eventually ran into a a trapper named John Simpson, for whom they worked for a few years. But after a violent quarrel in 1764 at Horseshoe Bend of the Cheat River, the brothers and Simpson parted company. Simpson continued south and west to the headwaters of a river he called the Elk, and the river retains that name to this day.

The Pringles also went south and found themselves in a pleasant valley where they decided to stop and settle along a little creek they named Turkey Run. The area was uninhabited by European settlers at the time and there was still danger from the native population, but the hunting was good and the brothers found a large hollow sycamore tree which would work well for them as a home. The only problem was that the tree was already occupied by a female wolf and her cubs! The wolf moved on, however, and the brothers moved in. According to stories passed down, the tree was about 10-11 feet in diameter inside; a man could, one account said, swing a split rail in the space without striking either side of the tree.

image from http://fourkings.freeyellow.com/Pringles.html 

So there the brothers settled. As time passed, their supplies dwindled and they realized they needed to find more. John offered to go back to the South Branch area to restock. There was some worry about being captured as a deserter, but the brothers had little choice--without ammunition they would surely starve. John took a good many animal pelts with him to sell, and he left his brother with two of their remaining shells so that Samuel could restock his meat supply if needed. Imagine having only two bullets between you and starvation! It speaks well of the brothers' marksmanship if they felt this would be enough. As for John, he had no road and was traveling over unknown territory inhabited with mountain lions, bears, wolves and hostile natives. But his years as a backwoodsman stood him in good stead.

Old postcard of the tree

On reaching civilization John learned that the war was over and there was no need to stay in hiding. He stayed the winter on the South Branch and returned to Samuel in the spring with the good news about the war being over. I imagine Samuel was glad to see John; his supplies were running low and he had used one of the bullets trying and failing to shoot a deer. Fortunately he'd had better luck with the second bullet and felled a large buffalo so he'd had enough food to tide him over. 

The brothers returned to the South Branch and told about the beautiful land where they had been living; several families decided to go back with them with a view to settling in the area. By now it was fall of 1768, however, so some of the men went with the Pringles to see this land rather than risk taking their families on the journey with winter approaching. Those who went with the Pringles were William and John Hacker, Alexander and Thomas Sleeth, John Jackson (grandfather of Stonewall Jackson) and his sons George and Edward, Thomas Hughes and his son Jessie (who would later gain renown as an Indian fighter and scout), John and William Radcliff and John Brown. 

These men liked the valley of the Buckhannon River so much that they stayed long enough to file claims for their chosen land. Then they returned to the South Branch and made plans to return in the spring. The men did return, cleared land, planted crops and erected shelters before once again returning to the South Branch. They came back in the fall to harvest their plantings, but sadly found the crops destroyed by buffalo.  Finally in Spring 1770 settlers began arriving in the Pringle brothers' wilderness paradise. 

Samuel Pringle's grave (from findagrave.com)

Among those settlers was one Charity Cutright, who was to become Samuel Pringle's wife. Samuel and Charity remained on the land along Turkey Run and even lived in the sycamore tree for a few years after their marriage. They had five children. Samuel lived to be 101 years old and was buried at Philadelphia Church Cemetery in Upshur county, West Virginia. (apparently this cemetery was later renamed Hampton Cemetery). John married Rebecca Simpson, sister of the trapper John Simpson, and moved to Kentucky. 

Samuel Pringle and Charity had three sons and two daughters. The oldest son, William married Nellie Rollins and had 15 children Their son John married a woman named Rhoda Casto and moved to Jackson county in 1818. John owned a grist mill at the foot of Salt Hill near Fairplain, and also made furniture. Another son of William Pringle, Aaron Pringle, also moved to Jackson county. Perhaps the fertile land here and lack of too many people in the county at that time made it attractive to these sons of the wilderness.

Pringle Cemetery, Fairplain, WV. From wvgenweb

So a story that began in the time of the French and Indian War took me down a trail that led right here to my home county. Some descendants of the famous Pringle Brothers of the Sycamore Tree probably still live here in Jackson county, and I hope they continue to pass down stories about their fascinating ancestors. After all, how many of us can say we are descended from men who once lived in trees?

Sources:

Bice, David. The Pringle Tree. Illus by Charles Fry. Jalamap, 1977.



Comstock, Jim. West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, vol 19 (POC-REV), pp 3901-3902.

Cutright, W.B. The History of Upshur County West Virginia From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time  1907  Chapter XVIII.

Jackson County Historical Society. Jackson County West Virginia Past and Present, pp 178-179. Walsworth Publishing, 1990.

McWhorter, Lucullus and Connelley, William E. The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia from 1768 to 1795: Embracing the Life of Jesse Hughes and Other Noted Scouts of the Great Woods of the Trans-Allegheny  1915.

Tenney, Noel W. "Pringle Tree." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 22 October 2010. Web. 15 September 2018.

Gilchrist, Joy. The Pringle Brothers and the Sycamore Tree. JaHacker's Creek Pioeer Descendants

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.