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Morgantown - Part 1
Written by: Janet Pope
Photography by: Donald
They take a trip through West Virginia into Appalachia and discover a world hidden among the mountains: a college bigger then most cities, clean air and friendly people with hearts big enough to love it all and still have room for visitors.
Morgantown, West Virginia
For weeks before our trip, all I kept humming was John Denver's, "Country Roads take me home, to the place I belong – West Virginia..." That song and an all too brief trip a while back to Parkersburg, was the extent of my familiarity with West Virginia. I discovered early on, in my career as a travel writer, that the smaller or more obscure destinations always proved to be the most fun and certainly the most adventuresome. Naturally, when you plan a trip to Las Vegas for instance, you know what you are going to get - casinos, shows, lights and excitement. Not that that's bad, it's just predictable.
Whenever we have ventured off to an American city where we have never been before, the unknown and thus the adventure seems to await us. There is something exciting about discovery, and Morgantown proved this theory true. Our hotel, the Historic Hotel Morgan, is centrally located on High Street, the downtown area. Built in 1921, the hotel, though completely renovated with large guest rooms, still maintains a lot of the 20s charm. There is a large ballroom downstairs for banquets and parties, but the eighth floor, the original ballroom is magnificent, and now serves as a restaurant. It has been broken up into quaint smaller more private, dining areas, and it exemplifies old world elegance with a "flapper- feel."
The main floor of the hotel houses a breakfast area, with a complimentary substantial breakfast served daily, and it is here that we began our day. Morgantown has many distinct attractions to lure the visitor, and one of them is adventure. Adventure would be our theme for the day. Don was extremely excited for weeks about this travel assignment, since he saw white water rafting on the itinerary. I on the other hand, am not particularly outdoorsy. My idea of an outdoor activity is browsing open-air flea markets and the closest I get to a physical sport is bowling... and oh, the sweat that I can work up! With that said, I was anticipating this leg of the trip with mild interest and major fear.
After my first cup of morning tea, we met our guide for the day, Jack Thompson from the Morgantown Convention and Visitors Bureau. Not wanting to express my nervousness, I put on a brave smile, and we were off to Mountain Stream, on the Cheat River. On display were photos of groups riding the peaks of the waves. Some had faces of sheer delight, others showed utter fright. All the while, Chris, the owner oohed and aahhed at each photo and said what fun it is. My heart was racing, and my palms were sweating, but I was still trying to look cool in front of the group. Ooh the torment of peer pressure!
Next, we were given life jackets, helmets and release forms to sign in case of injury or death. Now terror really began to fester ...but I was still determined to go forward. Why? I’m not sure. After I passed 50, I kept thinking it’s now or never, every time I attempted something new.
Our guide Rocky sensed my uneasiness.
I asked how he got the nickname Rocky, and he said something about his knack for hitting every rock on the river. Perhaps he delighted in seeing me turn white. Well fast forward to the end of the ride and I am obviously around to tell the tale. It was not as I feared. Yes, there were many bumps in the river, and I was often doused with waves, but it was fun and relaxing in an adventuresome sort of way. The scenery was utterly unspoiled and serene. I am teased for mentioning, "being a Brooklyn Girl" so much in my stories, but I really can’t resist, because being a girl from Brooklyn, the peacefulness and the beauty of the river was a real treat, far from city streets and the familiar traffic.
As part of the outing, we pulled over and ate lunch on a boulder by the shore, with only an occasional deer or buzzard to distract from the serenity. Did I say buzzard?
Well I survived.
I was a success story. I landed after about three hours being on the river, and I loved every paddle of it. We had two seventeen year olds in our group who took out individual pontoon canoes and, after we went through a rough spot of water, Rocky would turn our craft around and we would watch them capsize- that was fun too, in a guilty kind of way. Though tired, we showered, changed and checked out a quaint B & B on our way to Arthurdale. In a little town called Kingwood, there is an old doctor’s house called the Preston Country Inn. Built in 1857 as a gift to his wife, the house has become a country Bed and Breakfast that is really in the country. While most business is done on the weekends when dinner is served, during the week it is used as a retreat from the world and a place to relax. Next-door is the Calico Cat, a unique gift shop for just the right something to say, "When I was browsing, I thought of you!"
Arthurdale, next on our agenda, is a depression-era town nurtured by Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1933, Eleanor came to visit the area concerned about the living conditions of the coal miners of West Virginia and their families. Most were living in shanties with no indoor plumbing, and the children often worked at a young age in the mines, unable to attend school. Mrs. Roosevelt even found youngsters playing in raw sewage and tacking newspapers on the walls to keep the cold out.
She was a visionary and her idea was to form cooperative communities, Arthurdale being the first of 200 begun around the country. She literally took the idea and ran with it, creating a pottery area, cannery, nutrition classes, a tractor factory, medical aid, and even a school that would be of service to the homesteaders
Since the depression lasted through the 1930’s, it left many people not only out of work but also in need of help with housing, schooling, medical and living issues. Mrs. Roosevelt wanted to address all of these needs and Arthurdale was a solution.
When visiting she often brought her husband, the president, her friends and various prominent citizens of the day. The project really was ahead of its time not only in its communal aspects, with all of the homesteaders working towards a common goal, but also in the equal education the boys and girls received.
Both took classes like "spinning, weaving, and wood working". Arthurdale ran its needed course from 1933 to 1947. At that point, the federal project no longer was funded and the homesteaders were given the option of buying their property and home. The communal aspects slowly disappeared.
In 1984, Arthurdale celebrated its fiftieth anniversary as a community, and the children of many of the original homesteaders began to see their historical significance. The residents and descendants formed the Arthurdale Heritage Foundation and today they own eight buildings on almost 112 acres where house tours are given and history is on exhibit.
We found it a fascinating story about the power, influence and vision of Eleanor Roosevelt. Currently about 86 percent of the residents are Arthurdale descendants. Our host, Jennifer Bonnette, is the director of the facility. Her grandparents were the last of the original homesteaders to live in the village. She had an enthusiasm that showed a great sense of responsibility for the town, her family history and her position as a "caretaker of history".
After our too short visit, we headed back to the Hotel Morgan for a quick nap and to freshen up before dinner. Dinner tonight was at the Glasshouse Grille in the Seneca Center, a building converted from a glass factory to a shopping boutique. The restaurant is upscale with cozy eating areas, stained glass room dividers, a prize winning wine list and a diverse menu. For an appetizer, Don had the smoked West Virginia trout that he described as moist, very smoky, and delicious. I want to eventually write a book called "Soups Across America", because no matter where we go, I always end up trying the soup. Here the shrimp bisque was both creamy and flavorful. The main course for me was Chicken Alfredo and Don had the lamb special of the evening. Our meals were fabulous but another highlight was "the flights" – three small glasses of different wines giving a sampling of the wine list in a complimentary fashion to the dinner. For dessert, Don especially liked his fresh mint ice cream pie. He said it felt like brushing your teeth and eating dessert in one swoop.
Now we were beyond exhaustion and stuffed so we headed back to get a good night sleep in our hotel. Tomorrow we plan to explore Morgantown a little more.
Day 1 - Morgantown
Day 2 - Morgantown
Day 3 - Lewisburg
Day 3- Part 2 Greenbrier
Day 4 - Lewisburg
Day 5 - Pocahontas County
Day 6 - Part 2 - Pocahontas County
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