Yesterday continued the week’s weather of thunderstorms punctuated by periods of gorgeous sunshine, so we decided just to take our bikes out on the Rail Trail.

We biked from the park in Star City to Hildebrand Lock, stopping off at Mt St Brewing Company for lunch, and at Wamsley Cycles to get our bikes checked over, and to get a kick stand mounted on my bike.

The kick stand seemed a better solution than having Michael hold my bike every time I dismounted to go take a picture.

It was a gorgeous day, and we had a lovely ride.

Although I have three walking sticks, I’m considering getting one that collapses even smaller than the ones I have, that I can strap onto my bike. I wanted to get further off the trail to get a closer look at some of the water runoff areas (water falls when it’s been raining) but don’t trust my ankle enough without a stick.

And I think I just talked myself into it. :)

And if anyone is interested, this is the case I got for carrying my camera while biking. I chose a handlebar case, because it seemed the most protected if I took a spill.

Happy 150th Birthday to my favorite state!

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation.

Whereas, by the Act of Congress approved the 31st day of December, last, the State of West Virginia was declared to be one of the United States of America, and was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, upon the condition that certain changes should be duly made in the proposed Constitution for that State;

And, whereas, proof of a compliance with that condition, as required by the second section of the act aforesaid has been submitted to me;

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby, in pursuance of the act of Congress aforesaid, declare and proclaim that the said act shall take effect and be in force, from and after sixty days from the date hereof.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

The Naming of West Virginia

Other contenders for the state name:
Kanawha
Western Virginia
Allegheny
Augusta

There is within the boundary of the new State a large county of the same name as the one proposed for the State – the county of Kanawha, which has been one of the most prominent points within the boundaries of the new State. In looking over the United States, I believe we can find no instance where any subdivision of a state bears the name of the state itself. I believe – I have referred somewhat to the gazetteers, and from my recollection this is the case. Take it in the State of Ohio. We find no county, no town, no subdivision within that state bearing the name of the state itself.

The WV State Constitution

Constitution of West Virginia.
ARTICLE I.
THE STATE.
1. The State of West Virginia shall be and remain one of the United States of America. The Constitution of the United States, and the laws and treaties made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land.
2. The following counties, formerly parts of the State of Virginia, shall be included in, and form part of, the State of West Virginia, namely: the counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Pleasants, Tyler, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, Greenbrier and Monroe.
…

Five counties, Grant, Mineral, Lincoln, Summers and Mingo, were added later.

The State Seal

Joseph H. Diss Debar, an artist from Doddridge county, was chosen by the Legislature to prepare drawings for an official seal for the State of West Virginia. He submitted his drawings with an explanation of each detail. From these drawings, the Legislature adopted a seal which remains the Great Seal of the State of West Virginia to this day.

The seal contains the Latin motto Montani Semper Liberi, which means Mountaineers Are Always Free. A large stone in the center of the seal stands for strength. On the stone is the date on which West Virginia was admitted to the Union, June 20th, 1863. The farmer with his axe represents agriculture and the miner with his pick represents industry. In front of the rock are two rifles, crossed and surmounted at the place of contact by the cap of liberty, indicating that freedom and liberty were won and will be maintained by force of arms.

WV Facts

State Capitol: Charleston
State Animal: Black Bear
State Bird: Cardinal
State Fruit: Golden Delicious Apple
State Fish: Brook Trout
State Flower: Rhododendron
State Butterfly: Monarch
State Tree: Sugar Maple
State Insect: Honeybee
State Nickname: “The Mountain State”
State Gem: Lithostrotionella
State Soil: Monongahela Silt Loam
Official Colors: Old Gold and Blue

West Virginia State Flag

Birthday stamp!

WV Tourism
Statewide calendar of events
Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War – Erickson Alumni Center at noon

WV Sesquicentennial Page
WV State Parks & Forests – Visit some of our beautiful parks and forests
WV Division of Culture and History

Some pictures from some of our travels around the state.

Blennerhassett Island State Park (7/10/2010)

Dent’s Run Covered Bridge (9/11/2011)

Iron Bridge Over Cheat Lake (10/23/2011)

Prickett Fort Cemetery (10/30/2011)

Shepherdstown (4/6/2013)

Harpers Ferry (11/17/2012)

Morgantown was never proposed to be the state capital. It’s not one of the oldest areas of the state.

But it’s home, and I love it.

Central Elementary (1/29/2012)

Second Ward Annex (2/18/2012)

Main Campus (4/1/2012)

Stewart Hall (9/26/2010)

Stewart Hall (4/1/2012)

Sunnyside (3/23/2012)

Suncrest (12/15/2010)

Rail Trail (4/24/2009)

Suncrest

South Park (2/18/2012)

Arboretum (11/18/2012)

On Thursday, June 20th, West Virginia turns 150 years old.

As someone who grew up here, I tend to be (extremely) defensive about the state.

Here are some of the reasons why: these are things I regularly saw when growing up.

I know, you don’t get it. Let’s try a couple close-ups.

I grew up knowing that the people who made kids’ maps couldn’t be bothered to accurately represent my state.

“Panhandles? No one’ll notice if they’re missing! Just make it a weird shaped blob and stick it in there. It’s not like anyone’ll care!”

Why was this so maddening? Because we also grew up with this:

Go to about 9 minutes if you want to see what I’m talking about, though of course, the Pride of West Virginia is always worth watching.

And if you’re wondering why the stands are empty on the east side of the stadium, it’s because this was for the high school Band Spectacular, not a game.

And just for the hell of it, here’s a video of the band from 1978.

Sunday we went up to Coopers Rock and hiked around. Nothing strenuous, just getting out of the house and moving.

Sunday would have been my cousin Ben’s 33rd birthday. My aunt and uncle held a memorial hike along the Appalachian Trail on Sunday, but I’ve felt very uncomfortable recently around groups of people I don’t know, so Michael and I chose to hike up Seneca Rocks, which is one of the first places he climbed.

There are two ways to get up Seneca Rocks: climb the face or hike from the side. We–unsurprisingly–chose the hike.

Here are some views of Seneca Rocks:

This is the end of the hiking path: only climbers with proper gear are supposed to go beyond here.

We also made the slightly more arduous hike (because it’s not a path, but a trail) to the base of the rock. We came in from the left, so it’s looking up at the lower face on the far left. Here’s a look upwards.

This is a gorgeous stream running below the rock face. One of the nice things about visiting state parks is the water ways tend to be clean and clear and unpolluted (ie, not orange from acid mine drainage, which used to be the state of all the creeks local to Morgantown.)

Here’s the view from the observation deck:

And here’s a sign that caught my fancy. You could see several areas of erosion where people took “shortcuts.”

Since we made an actual weekend of our trip (staying overnight instead of just a day trip) we had our leisure to visit several of the parks and recreation areas.

Spruce Knob is West Virginia’s highest peak. We did not hike to the top, but instead drove (I believe it’s an 11 mile hike).

Despite being the end of May, it was quite cold–there was even ice on the ground under the observation tower. But it was also gorgeous, and there were not many people, so one could actually get a sense of the isolation of the area.

It’s nice to be in a mostly wild area, and not see or hear other humans.

Mind you, it’s not quiet in these areas–nature isn’t particularly silent–just peaceful.

Coming back down from Spruce Knob, we made the mistake of listening to the GPS, which kept wanting us to turn down roads marked “Private! No Trespassing!” or overgrown dirt roads.

On the other hand, it was an absolutely gorgeous drive.

We also took a short hike at Dolly Sods

We also saw many signs of Superstorm Sandy. There are some trails throughout the various state parks that are still closed, and we had to clamber over several downed trees on some of the trails.

And there was plenty of beauty to admire.

Perhaps my interest in decay is unhealthy, but it’s fascinating to see how quickly the monuments of man disintegrate.

At Seneca Rocks.

Cool Springs Park along Route 50. We’ve stopped here before. It’s still fascinating.

Played around with processing some of these pictures as black & white. Any thoughts?

On our first bike ride, we went around areas we normally don’t walk, which is how I got a closer look at the CPASS building.

If you’re a townie, this is going where St Francis High School went. As I was miserable in high school, I won’t lie and say I miss the old building, but it IS very strange looking. And the new building is going to be HUGE.

I put notes on the pictures, to orient you as to the surrounding structures.

Looking East

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Saturday was supposed to be gorgeous, so we hopped in the car and went to Shepherdstown & Antietam.

We spent most of the day (that wasn’t spent in the car) walking around Antietam, but we did stroll around downtown Shepherdstown. And ate two very good meals there.

Didn’t take my camera out much around Shepherdstown, except for the cemeteries.

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Almost no flowers this time of year, but Harpers Ferry still had some fall color.

I also found some interesting rocks:

And of course I found water.

This weekend we drove to Harpers Ferry.

For those of you not familiar with American History and/or the Civil War, Harpers Ferry is where John Brown seized the US Armory and Arsenal that was one of the events that brought the issue of slavery to, perhaps, a boil.

Of course, other things happened in Harpers Ferry, and the Appalachian Trail cuts through Harpers Ferry.

This is the building where John Brown and his group holed up. However, this is not the original location–the building has been moved multiple times, including, at one point, to Chicago.

Facing west.

Facing east, towards the Potomac River.

This monument marks the original location of the building.

The national park has images from the time of the Civil War posted about the city/park, and the fact this building was moved made it hard–initially–to orient the current city to what was in the pictures.

The fact that the two arsenals are ruins now, but were in the pictures, made it even more confusing to me.

But I eventually figured it out.

There are a LOT of ruins around Harpers Ferry. The ruins of St. John’s Episcopal Church particularly fascinated me, and I spent a lot of time wandering around them taking pictures. Enough pictures they’ll be a separate post.

Arsenal ruins: the park has signs with a picture showing the archeological dig of the foundation. The ground level here is about three feet higher than when the building was built.

Virginius Island is an abandoned area. There are ruins there of a water powered cotton mill and other water-operated machinery.

Ruins of bridge footers across the Potomac River.

Ruins of bridge footers across the Shenandoah River.

Stone stairs (here’s a picture that might give you a better idea of the steepness of the stairs.)

It was a gorgeous day, and the advantage of going in November, is there weren’t huge crowds of people.

In today’s mail:

Bravo Greatland Graphics, you just made my day!