Tale of a Tired Storyteller: Rowlesburg

Yes, I did a little shopping here--added a storytelling "flipflop" doll and a Russian Matreshka to my storytelling props. I am always delighted at what I find in little out-of-the-way shops, and this one was full of surprises. (Thanks, Gloria!)

Hannah, as usual managed to find someone she knew or who knew someone she knew--in this case, it was the latter. The owner of the shop knew Hannah's gym teacher from last year. Here we were, almost 4 hours from home, and Hannah knows people. Go figure.

Downtown Rowlesburg is a quiet, interesting place. We looked for the site of the History in Review celebration that I was booked for, and soon found it--people dressed like the lady below kind of gave us a clue. Everyone we met was friendly, laid-back and helpful.

The town is celebrating its 150th year. The town was part of the Jones-Imboden Raids of the Civil War, and re-enactors were in full dress to stage the Battle of Rowlesburg once again for the crowds that gathered.

The girls had to look in the windows of the old schoolhouse in town. They were surprised to discover a bandstand and chairs--"It's a jamboree!" Hannah said. I htink she may be right--it might be one of those places so prevalent in West Virginia that offer weekend jam sessions for any musicians who want to play; usually country, bluegrass and the occasional old-time musicians show up and everyone has a good time.

Larry liked the interesting brickwork on the building.

It was a bad hair day all day--the wind off the Cheat River behind me was steady and kept it whipped into a, well, a mess, no other word for it. It was cold too! Temps never reached higher than 60, I think. I was warm enough while telling, but needed a jacket otherwise. Rowlesburg is in the deep mountains and further north than where I live, so the temperatures were a good 10 degrees cooler than we had expected. Must be wonderful in the summertime.

We had a good audience of children and adults. The location was a little awkward--a large open grassy space separated me from where most people were sitting. The grass would have been ideal for sitting, but the ground was still wet--and cold--from the rains on Saturday. Kids don't care, though. Several settled on the grass to listen. Afterwards, the organizer told me that some grandstand seating had been ordered for the space but never materialized. While the seating would have been a better set-up, I was close enough to the children to be able to read their reactions---essential to a storyteller--and the adults looked attentive and interested, and laughed at the right times.

I had been asked by the organizer to tell any ghost stories I knew about the town. I found two, both connected with the railroads that played such a large role in the development of the area in the 1800's. (I'll post both stories in a later post.)

I was glad to visit this town. it's been on my list of places to go ever since I read in our family tree that a relative had been a doctor in the town in the 1770's. He apparently had no offspring. Still, it was a family connection to West Virginia and to this place and I wanted to see it. What I found was a little jewel nestled between the mountains, the Cheat River and the railroad that still runs close by.

Haley and Hannah find much to do at the edge of the mighty Cheat.

Tale of a Tired Storyteller: Grafton

This is the future home of The Grafton 1-2-3, a coffeeshop that is owned by my friend MK Stover. I've been following her progress online and thought it would be fun to run into Grafton, sneak a quick photo and surprise her with it online. It's looking good, MK! I especially like the stonework, but I could see why it needed some shoring up.






Haley and Hannah spotted the caboose mini-museum to Grafton's railroading history.

The girls had to explore, of course, and so did Larry.









All Aboard!



My son Aaron has been telling me about the many brick making places there used to be in north-central West Virginia. He's recently hiked back to the former brick making town of Hammond, now a ghost town and not accessible by auto. In Grafton, there are still a few brick streets that have not been paved.


I will be back in the Grafton area on June 28th to tell stories at Tygart Lake State Park. MK, I'll stop by again to take a peek at your progress.








We left Grafton and headed east on US 50 towards our actual destination: Rowlesburg. I snapped a quick picture of this little cabin under renovation along the road, but this was one of the few times I didn't try to get Larry to turn around so I could get a better shot. After 20-some years, I know better than to push my luck.

Tale of a Tired Storyteller: Ramps, Mollymoochers and Goldenseal

Ramps: Yes, Larry and the girls found ramps all right. These are the red mountain ramps, extremely pungent and tasty--and memorable. If you've ever had ramps, you know how long the strong garlic-y smell will stay on your breath and oozing from your pores. But oh so good, and sought after by gourmet chefs everywhere. Also, according to Larry, another spring tonic (add it to the list we started with sassafras!).






A fine mess of ramps. These aren't for eating though--Larry plans to try to start his own patch on our farm. Ramps are not native to Jackson County, but we're hoping that if we find just the right spot we might be able to grow our own.








This is what Larry thought was goldenseal (or "yalluh root" as he calls it. the "ya" rhymes with "ca" in cat).

Was he right?

Nope. This is actually bloodroot, another herb prized by the native Americans for use as a dye for baskets and to make war paint; also as an insect repellent. When the stem is broken or the root pierced, it oozes red juice. This is a member of the poppy family, and the spike you see in the photo is a flower bud. It blooms a very lovely white flower similar to that of the mayapple.


So this plant will also go back into the woods in hopes of rooting it on our land. Larry said there was a very large patch of it on the mountain where he found this, so I didn't feel too badly about him pulling it.




After our research we are both clear on what goldenseal looks like and will be on the lookout for this old-time medicinal herb in our woods.

Here is a close-up of the bloodroot leaf.






The mushroom hunters return. Did they find anything? They look pensive, but actually Larry was telling Hannah about what his granny used to do with yellowroot.



But mushrooms?








Yep, they found some!


These were actually growing very near the edge of the highway.

We decided to try a quick hunt for the elusive morel when we saw two men, acting a little furtive, dart into the woods. One was carrying an old pan and it looked like it was full of something that could only be morels. So we drove a little further up the road and Larry popped over the bank himself. Luck struck quickly.


He only gathered enough for a good meal tonight. This picture is before I cleaned them and soaked them in salt water to drive out any bugs hidden in the cap's many folds.





Dinner tonight will be batter-fried morels, and ramps with fried potatoes. Completely off our diet, but completely in tune with the seasons of the mountains.

(funny, Spell-Checker doesn't know anything about mountain foods and herbs--it doesn't recognize yellowroot, goldenseal, mollymoochers, or bloodroot. Must not be from here.)

A Tale of a Tired Storyteller, Her Husband and Granddaughters

We had a long day today--a four-hour drive to a storytelling event, 4 hours there, and 4 hours home. Add another hour or so for Larry to hunt molly moochers and ramps, and six "turn around and go back, I want a picture of that" episodes and the day got a little long. Photos and more tomorrow.



I'll leave you hanging: did he find mushrooms? did he find ramps? was the plant he found really goldenseal (or yellow root, as he calls it)? Did he actually turn around every time I asked? Whose cell phone ended up in the washer when we got home?







Where is this place we stopped today, and why were we there?

Tomorrow morning it's off the doctor for me so he can tell me what the MRI of my knee shows, or doesn't show. Keep your fingers crossed for me.



As for the questions above, stay tuned...answers tomorrow afternoon.