Traveling West Virginia: Johnny Shar's Big Dipper

While in Moundsville, WV earlier this week, we stopped in at an ice cream place I'd been to before. Not just any ice cream place, though! The exterior gives a hint at what's inside Johnny Shar's Big Dipper:

 Memorabilia of the circus and carnivals is the decor for the restaurant, and there is so much to see. Even if you only have one eye, like this weird creature standing in the roller coaster seats.

I haven't seen a bumper car in years. Larry said he rode in many a one of them in his younger days, but I think I only had the experience a couple times. I completely recall the fun of it though!

The front windows offer a view of the Grave Creek Mound, the largest Adena burial mound in West Virginia. Even though it was showering, visitors were making the trek to the top while I sat comfortably inside eating my double-dip cone.

Fun mirrors! We had some great laughs playing with these. There is a toy museum upstairs. I have not yet been up there but hope to do so on my next visit. Some places just need more than one visit to take it all in, you know?

The view in the opposite direction of the Mound is of the WV State Penitentiary, now a tourist attraction with daily tours and special programs. I visited there years back because my grandchildren wanted to go, but have no desire to go back. The place is just sad to me. All those wasted lives.

Lots to see here! If you want to go, just travel to Moundsville via WV State Route 2 or Ohio State Route 7 and follow the signs to the mound and penitentiary. Johnny Shar's is right across the street. Don't miss it!

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

Traveling West Virginia: Benwood and McMechen

I have presented programs at the library here for several years, but usually didn't have time to look around. Located just outside of Wheeling, West Virginia, the homes in these adjoining towns were mostly homes for workingmen's families. Wheeling was an industrial hub, right on the Ohio River with busy railroads, and home of Mail Pouch Tobacco, Wheeling cigars, cut nails, steel-making, pottery-decorating and many other industries. Industries spread south and the towns of Benwood and McMechen thrived during those years of expansion. Like many other towns, the departure of the steel and other industries caused depopulation and an economic downturn in the region. Today there seems to be some growth as new industries are opening their doors in the area, most notably an area of large stores and shopping developing on the east side of Wheeling. The Marcellus shale drilling activity is also bringing many jobs and new business to the area.

We happened up one street and found the McMechen cemetery, located near where the original settler Captain William McMechen's cabin stood.

As I looked around, I could see why he would choose this spot: it was far enough away from the Ohio river to avoid flooding and provided an excellent view of the opening of the hollow so that anyone approaching could be seen immediately. In those early days (1771) threat of attack by the Native Americans in the area was very real and there are several accounts of massacres along the river, including one near here, known as the Foreman Massacre. (The men killed in that attack are buried at the Mount Rose cemetery in nearby Moundsville--another cemetery I need to visit).

photo from Find a Grave

I learned at the library that McMechen was named after Captain McMechen, and neighboring Benwood was named after his son Benjamin, and is an abbreviation of Ben's Wood, the property Benjamin owned.
This stone intrigued me. Who was Grandma Williams? She lived a long life certainly.

The plant I know as Spanish Dagger protects an old stone.

There were several graves here with a cast iron cover like this one. I do not believe I have seen any like this, although I have seen some cast iron gravestones before. I suppose the opening was for planting flowers?

There is a certain charm in little towns like this one. Close-built houses, narrow streets, and empty storefronts that offer an opportunity to speculate on what businesses once operated within.  Town was quiet the day we were there. It was hot and rain threatened.

In McMechen, the fire department houses a vintage firetruck and a memorial to a longtime fire chief.

Some memorials have an eternal flame; this one is continually running water, and what could be more fitting for a firefighter?

We found three buildings painted with the Mail Pouch logo:

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

Grand Storytelling at Grand Vue

What a time we had! 10 storytellers, children from two schools, parents, teachers and general public, all joined together by stories atop a high windy ridge in beautiful Marshall County. Organized by Rich Knoblich with the assistance of Judi Tarowsky, the first-ever Grand Vue Storytelling Festival was all things a festival should be: fun, relaxing, inspiring, amusing, entertaining and educational.

We started off at the Moundsville-Marshall Public Library with a program called an olio--a concert that gave a taste of things to come the following day. I am no stranger to this library as I have been there several times over the years to tell stories for summer reading, for ghost stories, book talks and a writing workshop. The staff is always welcoming and they know how to set things up for a good program. Each teller shared a short story and the selections ranged from folktales to tall tales to stories from history.

We were at it again the following morning. It was a windy day, which kept us all comfortable in the outdoor shelter even though the temperatures were in the high 80's. The best comments of the day:

*One 5th grade boy sitting in front of me turned to his friend and said, with his face alight with pleasure, "I thought storytelling was going to be boring!"

*A teacher stopped me to tell me that she remembered hearing me tell stories over 12 years ago at a conference in Charleston--and could even tell me what story I told. When I asked her if she ever retold it she replied, "Oh yes, but not nearly as good as you!" Oral tradition, passing it on in the time-honored way (and I bet she tells it pretty well!).

A group of 5th graders who said, "We're all going to be storytellers!"

After the storytelling we went down to the town of Moundsville (home of the infamous West Virginia State Penitentiary, now closed and the site of tours, including ghost tours) for ice cream at this very cool place.

I mean cool in every sense of the word: The Big Dipper, it's called, and the dips were generous, the ice cream delicious and the decor totally rocked.

One of our group mentioned that his great-grandfather had been a warden at the penitentiary, and that every summer his grandmother used to stay with him, and get banana splits at an ice cream place. He ordered a banana split--and then we learned that this was the very place where his grandmother had bought her banana splits! Back then it was called the Marshall Dairy, I believe.

 Now that is a banana split! One day I will have to try one of those again. It's been years.

Moundsville has so much to offer, and I need to carve out time to take advantage of its many attractions. I've already toured the penitentiary with two of my grandchildren and hiked to the top of hte highest Indian mound east of the Mississippi River, but there is more to see. Like the Marx Toy Museum, the Circus Museum housed on the upper level of the ice cream shoppe, the zipline at Grand Vue Park, and the paranormal museum downtown.

Talk is already underway about a repeat of this small but successful first effort. Even if I am not selected as a teller, I will be there, I hope, as a listener and as a tourist in Moundsville. And yes, I plan to try the zipline too!

Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

A Storytelling Day

It started early. The alarm went off at 6:00 am, time to hit the floor and get ready. Shower, breakfast, animals taken care of, emails sent, lights off and a few more things loaded in the car. We were out the door by 7:30 and on the road to West Virginia's Northern Panhandle.

The quickest route is around the ridge and down Trace Fork, nine miles of beautiful twisty road until we reached the 2-lane highway that took us to the interstate. Now I know that it takes 2 1/2 hours to get to Moundsville; I've driven it many times. It's a little less if we go out by Trace Fork so I knew we had plenty of time to get to the library and set up by the 11 am showtime. Just to be sure I checked the GPS. And she said it would take 3 hours! I tried to recall--was that really true? Surely not; it takes 3 hours to get to Wheeling, another 30 miles up the road from Moundsville. Still, I was nervous. Maybe I didn't remember correctly? I did remember one time when I was hurrying to get to Moundsville and got pulled over for speeding! (A warning only, thank goodness.) Was I mistaken about the time?

Then the heavens opened and rain poured like an open hydrant. For miles. We slowed to 40 mph and I worried some more. The rain stopped, traffic picked up. It seemed to be taking forever. But we reached one of my mileposts (Sistersville) in only 5 minutes more than the usual time. Was the GPS wrong? Could that be? I turned her off and trusted my memory. Sure enough, we pulled into the library's parking lot only 10 minutes behind schedule at 10:10 am, with plenty of time to unload, set up for the program, visit with the library staff, prepare the craft and greet the audience. We started at 11 am, right on time. Yep--the GPS can be totally wrong.

We had a blast at that program. I say we because there is so much audience participation in my programs that it feels like we create the stories and the fun together. I also say we because Larry is usually with me, usually driving, unloading, helping me set up, taking pictures and just generally being indispensable. I remember the days of doing the programs without his help and am so appreciative of all he does to smooth my path. It's a team effort.

Today's programs included a craft activity--making a blue dragon. I had all the parts cut out. The librarians put all the parts into the main puppet body (a blue paper bag) so it was easy to hand out the craft and give instructions. Two small daycare groups took the craft back to their centers to complete. My blog friend Jessica was there too! One day I will not have to rush off and we can really visit.

About 35-40 blue dragons later, Larry and I packed up and headed to the next library about 20 minutes up the road. We set up again, got the craft ready and were ready to greet the audience by the 1:00pm showtime. This group also included a daycare group and I was impressed by the expert childcare management skills of the leaders of the groups at both libraries. One of the librarians from Moundsville came over too and helped with the craft activity. This was a smaller library, and the meeting room was packed. A sign of good publicity and public faith in the library's activities!

Stories today ranged from Africa to Tibet to Mexico to the United States to China, with a welcome song in Arabic and a closing song from Africa (both from Ella Jenkins' recordings). We also sang the days of the week in Spanish and learned Spanish words in La Hormiguita. Chants, movement, puppets, and more songs rounded out the action-packed 40-minute story sessions. We used rhythm instruments with the closing song, talked about rainsticks and matryoshka and daruma dolls and just had a great time.

As we drove home through Moundsville, I remembered that our friend and fellow storyteller Tom Tarowsky worked at the Cockayne house, a historic restoration project that includes an Indian mound in the back yard of the house that had been in the same family for 150 years. We stopped in on the chance that Tom was there; he was and we had an unofficial tour of the home. Never have I felt so strongly the presence of a person no longer living. It seemed that the home was infused with Sam Cockayne's presence. Should you ever be in Moundsville, WV, do stop by this fascinating piece of history. The Grave Creek Mound and the old West Virginia State Penitentiary tours are the main tourist attractions but the immediacy of history really comes alive in Sam Cockayne's home. Perhaps it was Tom's depth of knowledge that made it so?

We had two more stops to make: the Goodwill in Moundsville is one of the best :) I found a lovely kerosene lamp for $1.99, two small handcarved wood faces for $.49 each, white linen placemats for $.49, a black tin tray for $.49, and a few other neat things. As we drove south, we passed many barges on the Ohio River, heading north with their loads of coal, and this train with its many empty cars, probably getting ready to load that coal and head off to power plants somewhere.

Next stop: the Wells Inn in Sistersville for dinner.

We arrived too early for the prime rib dinner, a real deal at $12.95. We ordered from the lunch menu and Larry's Mad Cow Angus burger would have to be seen to be believed. I opted for Cottage Pie. The food and coffee was excellent, and the waitress was just superb. It did my heart good to see so many people in and out of the Inn. A Red Hat Society group was there for dinner as were quite a few other people, and gas drilling men who stay at the Inn were in and out. It was a bustling place. If you've read my blog for a while you know I love this old Inn and its history, and was ecstatic when it re-opened in the past year. I hope it continues to thrive.

As we cruised down the interstate toward home, the gas warning light came on. We'd been having so much fun we hadn't even noticed we were low on gas. We pulled off at Rockport, and since this happens to be Thursday it also happens to be auction day, so of course we stopped in at Blosser's Auction after getting gas. The place was packed. Good sofas and chairs were selling in the $20-$50 dollar range while we were there. We didn't see anything we wanted to stick around for so we left and continued homeward. As we pulled into home, the rain caught up again, but not before we unloaded.

Now it's quiet, the rain is gone, the car is resting and we're recuperating from a very full, fun day. Tomorrow is the West Virginia Folk Festival. I'll be in the Singing Tent at 3:30pm. I hope I see you there!

The Last of Summer Reading Programs

This week was the end of my summer reading performances at libraries, and also the end of the Stories at the River's Edge summer programs. A few pictures of this week's programs:

At West Union, we told stories at the Lions Club building to about 50 children and adults. Here raccoon tells his story once again. This puppet is such a ham! He loves an audience, that's for sure.

Raccoon was joined this summer by Pirate, who helped me tell the story of Jean LaFitte the Gulf of Mexico pirate who helped the US win the Battle of New Orleans, and whose gold is supposedly still hidden in the bayous and swamps of Louisiana. My father often told us about the ghost ships of Jean LaFitte; apparently the pirate isn't resting easy and still comes in search of his gold.

The West Union library is housed in a former opera house and librarian Cathy Ash makes optimum use of the space available to her. Programs at West Union are always well attended. It's a pleasure to see some of the same children from past years, growing up and getting taller than I am.

Raccoon is getting in trouble at Center Point Library! This small, very rural library is really a community center, and the programs usually attract a diverse age range; everyone participates and has a good time.

Later we all got moving with the song "A Sailor Went to Sea." Can you do the oooo-wash-y-wash?

At Moundsville Library, the last sand dollar necklace crafts were made. One little guy, the son of one of my online friends, actually bit the sand dollar, thinking, I suppose, that it was a cookie!

The kids worked hard on their necklaces and I was glad to see the last of the beads being used up. Vicki and Susan at the Moundsville Library made me so welcome. Thank you, ladies!

I was thrilled to meet fellow blogger and friend Jessica of Country Whispers, who came with her daughter Katie for the program. What a pleasure it was to finally meet her in person. And she is just as nice in the flesh as she is online. I wish I had thought to get a picture of us together, but I was so busy getting the program going and finished that I did not even think of it. Next time, Jessica!

So summer reading wraps up. Next week I'll be gone all week to Elkins, WV to learn all about Irish ballads and how to sing them, I hope.

Tomorrow, though, I will be working hard to make pickles of the latest batch of cucumbers and salsa from the very ripe tomatoes I haven't yet had time to deal with.  What if more ripen while I'm gone? I hope friends and family enjoy them!

Storytelling!

A few shots from Monday and Tuesday:




A tale of tales!

Grace played the wood xylophone for a story.

Clayton helped with set-up.

Talking about Anansi and the time he stole all the wisdom in the world. The thumb piano adds a nice touch to the story and introduces children to a different instrument. This program included several Anansi stories; since the libraries' theme this summer is bugs, Anansi the spiderman is a natural. I tell the kids this guy is the original spiderman. He doesn't wear a red suit or climb tall buildings, but he's very tricky!

Another Anansi story about how spiders got their thin middles.

This has been a fun program, with so many story possibilities. I've only scratched the surface (with stories of mosquitoes, fleas and such, maybe I'm playing on words here!).