The Upshur County Historical Society: An Occasional Newsletter was just published mid-April. The annual journal is dedicated to providing educational articles on historical topics related to Upshur County. As the AFNHA member serving with the UCHS this year, I had the opportunity to contribute an article on Bush’s Fort, the primary frontier fort in the region that would become Upshur County. Readers have requested an article on this topic for years, and so I was glad to help see that request fulfilled.
Over the years, the WV Governor’s Cup Ski Race has played an important role in the ski history of Tucker County, WV. Considered the longest running race throughout the southeast, Alpine Festival, Inc. will be presenting its 64th race in 2024. Racers will have a chance to win some amazing prizes and only a select few will get their names placed on the famous WV Governor’s Cup Trophy.
This year AFNHA is assisting the forest service in completing the National Visitor Use Monitoring Survey. Being a surveyor is providing a wonderful opportunity to travel around the state and enjoy the beauty of our forest as well as write a few haikus!
My year at Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge has been incredibly rewarding and something I will always remember fondly. I am very grateful for my time as an AmeriCorps member and I am lucky to have served at two different National Wildlife Refuges. I felt that I was able to learn more and really advance my skill set through my year-long position with AFNHA. I highly recommend AmeriCorps and AFNHA to anyone that is looking to get their foot in the door in the field of conservation and gain valuable experience.
This year for the first time the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center and the USDA Forest Service hosted 4th graders from Pendleton County for a day full outdoor recreation, cultural heritage, and fun! 56 students from the surrounding area visited stations set up on the Discovery Center grounds focusing on cultural heritage of the area and outdoor recreation activities in the hope to encourage more exploration of the public lands around them.
Elkins, West Virginia has the unique distinction of being home to many musicians who play traditional Appalachian “old time” music. Elkins is also home of the Augusta Heritage Center, a non-profit organization that began conducting music, crafts and dance workshops as well as concerts, dances and audio and video documentation beginning in 1973 and celebrating its fiftieth year in 2023. AmeriCorps Member Josh Wanstreet is helping Augusta preserve traditions through archives, music lessons, and more.
“This year as an AmeriCorps member has been one full of learning. I have experienced much of what I expected and an equal amount of things I did not expect, but am endlessly grateful for. One experience I anticipated with enthusiasm was the opportunity to work hands-on with an exhibit at the Randolph County Museum. As with any new job, however, crafting a museum exhibit, especially for the first time, can be an intimidating task.”
Few fields of study have the romantic appeal of archeology. I too began to dream of solving ancient mysteries and finding the sorts of artifacts that end up in world famous museums. With time these dreams were sidelined, but they never truly left. So, when I was offered a chance to help out in an archeological survey, in my role as an AmeriCorps member serving with the heritage program of the Monongahela National Forest, you could call it something of a dream come true.
The annual ArtSpring Festival celebration in Tucker County was a huge success this year with live music, a pop-up ArtSpring Shop in Davis, the Thomas arts walk, a pub crawl, food and so much more! This year, the Lantern Parade returned for the first time since Covid. As per tradition, the lanterns were created during a free workshop to the public and displayed proudly within the community during a parade throughout Thomas.
Sammy Ryder recently had the opportunity to participate in a plaster stabilization workshop at the Beverly Heritage Center. Chris Mills, a plaster expert, came to work on the second floor of the Crawford Building, which served as McClellan’s headquarters in Beverly. She worked with him for a few days learning about how to stabilize plaster and the proper way to uncover Civil War era graffiti.