Post by: Susan Chipley
Town: Morgantown
Website: Chez Mama

When I noticed that Bryan had chosen “Structures” as a topic for PWV, I instantly knew what I wanted to write about. Moorefield is in Hardy County, about 12 miles from Petersburg, my hometown. I have spent lots of time in Moorefield, as my grandparents lived there and I had many aunts and uncles who lived there as well. My great-great-great grandfather, Captain John J. Chipley, built two beautiful homes right in Moorefield. He was Captain of the Company H, 25th VA Volunteer Infantry and Company B, 62nd VA Volunteer Infantry for the Confederate army during the Civil War. He built his first house, which is on Rt. 55 (Virginia Ave. in Moorefiled). I absolutely love this house. It is beautiful.

The second house is on the corner of Winchester Ave. and Chipley Lane. It was built in 1905, and remained in the Chipley family until 1970. My dad grew up in this house, and when he was in college my grandparents decided it was too much house for the two of them. They sold it to a friend, Kenneth Chambers, who operated the house as a funeral home. (He and his wife lived in the house as well.) My grandparents bought a house directly behind it. I learned to ride a bike in the parking lot of the funeral home, and played in and around the house often. In the mid-80s, the Chambers sold the funeral home, and it has been operating as the Elmore-Chambers funeral home since then.

Moorefield is a very nice, small West Virginia town. It is full of large, beautiful homes. Many of them pre-date the Civil War. Most of the homes are very well-kept. Every year, during the last weekend of September, Moorefield has Heritage Weekend. It is a celebration of the history of Hardy County. Many of the homes are open for tours, with guides who know the history of the homes. It is very cool, and I would recommend a trip to Moorefield for Heritage Weekend. They always have a great quilt show, Civil War re-enactments, and a large arts and crafts show where artisans from all over West Virginia show and sell their goods.

Post by: Bryan Stealey
Town: Morgantown
Website: Reversing the Numbness

Last weekend was the first meeting of the Morgantown chapter of Grateful Dads, a group of fathers who get together with their kids and go on hikes, have picnics, etc. It was a small group, with only three dads and four kids, but you have to start somewhere, right? We had a really good time and will be meeting again in June. If anyone is interested in hiking with us in June, contact me at bryan@picturewestvirginia.com.

Our first get-together was at the Virgin Hemlock Trail, near Coopers Rock. It was probably as tough a trail as we’d want to tackle with small children. Thanks to some relatively minor human intervention, we were able to make the full loop. I love untouched wilderness as much as the next guy, but it’s cool that some trails have been made to be family-friendly, thanks to some tasteful, well-placed structures.

Annelies and Jude make the climb

No bridge, no cross for the wee ones

Chris and Alec make it across

Post By: Rebecca Burch
Town: Spencer
Website: Carpe You Some Diem

Every year, as the heat of the summer begins to fade and the leaves just barely start changing their color, my thoughts turn to festivals — the Black Walnut Festival, the Pumpkin Festival, Bridge Day, and countless others. My favorite is the Black Walnut Festival, in my hometown of Spencer, WV. RVs and cars line the streets for about a week before the festival, and all the traffic is a nightmare in our tiny town, but I don’t care. I live within walking distance (straight uphill to get home, but walking distance, nonetheless) to downtown, so I can go without a car for a weekend.

I love festivals because they are a celebration of each area’s personal flavor. Though the rides, the craft booths, the parades, the food stands, and the activities are roughly the same at each festival, they are all drastically different because of the people who make it happen. The real gold is in the local performers. Come to the Black Walnut Festival, and you’re likely to hear Jake Krack, a fiddler whose skill was beyond most adults’, even before he was old enough to speak into the microphone (and has only gotten better since)! Visit the art exhibits and you’ll find some amazing pieces by local artists Margaret and Peter Arabia. See the local talent at the rest of the festivals, and you’ll be amazed at how diverse our talents are as West Virginians, and how our rich heritage has colored even the youngest of our artists and performers — not to mention our craftspeople, farmers, and other talented folks whose handiwork gets the spotlight during festival time.

I love the exhibits, but I can’t think about festivals without thinking about carnival rides. I used to dream of carnival time year-round as a kid, and I just couldn’t wait to climb into one of these machines. And though I’ve never been trapped on one, injured, or experienced anything bad on one, for some reason I have developped this fear of carnival rides. I can stomach the craziest rollercoaster you can show me, but put me on the Spider or the Zipper, and you’re in for a fight. I can remember being consoled by my then-four-year-old eldest son on a ride called the “Blackjack” — he was patting my knee with his tiny hand and saying, “Mommy, you’re going to be fine. I’ll make sure you don’t fall out.” Of course, I have never lived this down. No matter how many scrambler rides I complete, I will always be the World’s Biggest Chicken for experiencing sheer terror on a ride
that my four-year-old found no problem with.

As much fear as I have toward riding these rides, I love to stand in the middle of all of them and watch my kids play. The best time is when the sun is just beginning to set and the carnival lights start to turn on. These machines are really works of art, with their old-fashioned paint jobs and intricate lighting designs. Of course, I love photographing them, too, and the more I learn about photographing lighted, moving objects in varying amounts of atmospheric light, the more I enjoy the challenge of getting just the right shot.

Black Walnut Festival Ride