We the People, Power of Place
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
New Germany State Park: Raising Maryland’s Alps

When Western Maryland was a mysterious and distant territory to most Americans, for German immigrants, it felt just like home. Among the villages they settled in, one in present-day Garrett County came to be known nostalgically as New Germany. Today, this village is the location of New Germany State Park. Over a century after its settlement, New Germany hosted the first ski resort south of the Mason-Dixon Line and earned the region the moniker of “Maryland’s Alps.” In between the first German settlers and the ski resort, the land was transformed and made anew. To return to its alpine reputation, New Germany has witnessed the rise and fall of timbering, the growth of scientific forestry, and the snowballing success of outdoor recreation.

New Germany State Park: Raising Maryland’s Alps
Democracy and Justice
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
Education and Community at Paw Paw's Black ...

After nearly 100 years since its construction, the former Paw Paw Black School continues to convey its historic association with the Town of Paw Paw's education and social history. For more than 25 years the building served to educate Black students, and as a place of social gathering for the small number of Black families in Paw Paw who lived in the vicinity of the school. The building remains largely unchanged since that time. The important role the school played in Black education and the Black community led to the building being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024. 

Education and Community at Paw Paw's Black School
We the People
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
Elizabeth Dye Walker’s World of Transportation: ...

When Elizabeth Dye Walker lived in the Old Stone House of Mineral County in the beginning of the twentieth century, getting around employed a diversity of methods. It could mean a horseback ride, a horse-drawn buggy, or taking the Twin Mountain & Potomac Railroad. Where the railroad once ran, across the Northwestern Turnpike from the Stone House, now lies a trucking facility. Elizabeth Dye Walker’s childhood in the Stone House was colored by these various modes for motion, the resilient horse-drawn buggy and sled, a fruitless fruit-filled train, and a peculiar horseless carriage.

Elizabeth Dye Walker’s World of Transportation: Getting Around Before the Automobile
Power of Place
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
Traveller’s Rest: Travel in the Stagecoach Age

If you’re driving down Route 50 through Mineral County, blink and you might miss a curious stone structure on the side of the road. If you were a stagecoach passenger peering out from your horse-drawn carriage this L-shaped building would be a cause for celebration. In the age of horse-drawn wagons and carriages, travel was no small feat and the people who relied on Traveller’s Rest viewed the process of getting around fundamentally different from today. For them, the landscape of the Appalachian Forest could be wild and unpredictable and the journey itself was always far from mundane.

Traveller’s Rest: Travel in the Stagecoach Age
Democracy and Justice
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
J.R. Clifford: A Pioneer of Equality and ...

John Robert (J.R.) Clifford was a trailblazing African American lawyer, educator, and activist whose work continues to inspire the fight for justice. Clifford's landmark legal battles, including the landmark ruling on November 16, 1898 in Williams v. Board of Education of Fairfax District, highlight his profound impact on civil rights and democracy.

Forest Abundance

Tracing Bison in the Appalachian Forest

Tracing Bison in the Appalachian Forest

The history of bison in the AFNHA unfolds like a windy trail that aligns with a stream of human change. Their presence and proliferation in the region was first blazed by indigenous tribes who brought a fire regime to the Appalachian forest, creating and maintaining the savannah and meadows that invited, hosted, and fed migrating buffalo. When European colonists came to West Virginia, they found much needed salt by way of the bison. Yet the settlers' domineering conception of the New World broke the balance between humanity and bison leading to their abrupt extermination in West Virginia. The cars and locomotives that now traverse these paths of least resistance owe a great debt to the herd-minded engineers they now succeed.

Seneca Rocks: The Forest's First National Recreation Area

Seneca Rocks: The Forest's First National Recreation Area

Today all can explore Seneca Rocks because it is public land that sits within the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area, the first congressionally designated national recreation area established by the USDA Forest Service. Modern-day visitors to the Seneca Rocks Unit of the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area appreciate the unique amalgam of geological history, rich culture, and fruitful recreational opportunities. Although the rock face is wont to steal the spotlight, the diversity and wealth of culture associated with the area is equally - if not more - deserving of it.

Old Growth: Historic Trees of the Appalachian Forest

Old Growth: Historic Trees of the Appalachian Forest

Let’s spend some time thinking about the organisms that have stood tall for well over 250 years. That’s right- we’re talking about trees. There are some trees in our region that have existed for over 250 years or are descendants of trees that play a role in history - from the Pringle Tree in Buckhannon to Cathedral State Park.

 

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