The Orlando Reunion 2008

by Patsy Reckart

The hills were alive with laughter and music on Saturday, August 2, when families and friends gathered together for the second Orlando Reunion. It was held the same place as last year, behind the Orlando Baptist Church which was formerly the St. Michaels Catholic Church, the property behind the church was the former Tom Godfrey property now belonging to his grand daughter, Pat Reckart, this property has been in the Godfrey family since 1918.

Left: Tom Godfrey, young and old.

Right, the Methodist Church, looking down the tracks from the Godfrey farm

It takes a lot of hard work in putting together a reunion started and we hope to see it go and grow for years to come, I don’t the number of the attendance but I would guess somewhere between 80 or 90, There were people there that was not there last year so that means the word is getting out about the reunion, so next year we hope to see more new faces.

George Blake welcomed every one and Pat read a poem called THIS LAND OF OURS. It was a poem she had written when her brother was in Viet Nam and she asked that everyone remember all the men in service and the ones who lost their lives fighting for you and me, following the Pledge of Allegiance, the blessing was given for all the bountiful food that was piled high on the tables. I always worry that their won’t be enough food and then I remember the story in the Bible where Jesus fed the crowd with seven loaves of bread and a few fish, there was enough for everyone and lots left over, so it was with us there was plenty of food and lots left over.

After lunch there was a short History of Orlando Community given by Donna Gloff of Michigan. She is the grand daughter of Oras and Edith (Skinner) Stutler, she is also the web master for the orlandostonesoup site on your computer, where you can read lots of history and stories about Orlando.

George introduced Peggy (Donaldson) Smith who is running for the House of Delegates. He also introduced the current officers.

Right: from the 2007 reunion, George Bard, Helen Jeffries, Charles Jeffries, Mary Ables Curtis, Mildred Morrison McNemar.

An election was then held to elect officers for the coming year of 2009, and they are President Marilyn Posey, Vice President Dochie Wymer, Secretary Betty Stout, Treasure and Historian Pat Reckart, Entertainment Marilyn Posey, and board members are John Jeffries, Sonny Wymer, Jerry Wilson, Ann Wiley, and Charlie Cole.

All the business being take of, now it was time for some fun. An auction was held with lots and lots of items auctioned off, Its always fun to have an auction and bidding against your friends just for fun whether its something you want or not. Some of the items sold was a throw quilt made by Doris (Riffle) Snyder, a crock pot donated by Peggy Smith, there were lots of glasses, crafts and candy and much much more, there was also a free will offering in which a good amount was received and the money received will go for expenses for the reunion in 2009.

The meeting was then turned over to the Slim Quinton Blue Grass Gospel Band, who entertained the crowd with their wonderful music, getting wound up in the music Pat and Marilyn showed the crowd they were not to old to kick up their heels a little bit.

Left: Marilyn's dad Harold Quinton Cole (left) and Charlie's dad Elzie "Slim" Cole (right), with their nephew Clarence Dolan on fiddle.

Marilyn (Cole) Posey and Charlie Cole make up the Slim Quinton Band and they both have roots in Orlando Marilyn is the great granddaughter of Aunt Duck (Lorraine) Bee and the grand daughter of Jim and Alta Bee and the daughter of Harold and Mary Lee (Bee) Cole. Charlie’s parents were Alvin and Elda (Lucas) Cole. Dock Blake joined in with them playing several numbers, Dock is also a former Orlando resident, his parents were Marian and Ethel Blake.

When the day was over everyone said they had a wonderful time and they would see us next year and I might add plans are already being made for the 2009 reunion.

Just me, Little Ole Pat
August 24th 2008

The School Which Nearly Flew

We are keenly aware that there are parts of our heritage that are of particular importance. The system of one-and two-room schoolhouses is one of those parts of the past. They were at the heart of shaping and strengthening both the children and the little communities along the tiny creeks and runs. This entry tells of the journey one old school house took in 1989, from the past to the future, thanks to the determination of folks like you and me.

Above are three sides of the schoolhouse, before the move. Notice the six windows on one side and the boarded up windows on the other side. Clifford Wine explains this below. Toward the bottom of this entry is a picture of the school building today.

See also
~ The teachers and students of Pine Run School are in the entry Teachers & Students at Pine Run

~ The Rev Doctor Homer Heater's website which tells of his early years in a similar school neighboring the Oil Creek community at homerheater.com.

by David Parmer
For nearly fifty years, the children of Pine Run and Indian Fork sat in their one room school house, barefooted in warm weather, "dressed in calico and patches on each knee," eager to learn from the dedicated teachers of the their little school and secure in their own neighborhood. Today that building sits in a park 14 miles away by the way Uncle Zeke’s buzzards fly, 30 miles by truck. Re-erected, repainted, refitted, and lined with school desks, the Pine Run School never looked better and sits as if ready to receive students for a new school year.

Pine Run is located about four miles northwest of downtown Orlando by Uncle Zeke’s buzzards. It is not in the Oil Creek watershed, which ends at Tully Ridge. It flows into the Little Kanawha via Indian Fork, then Sand Fork. Still, it has the address of Route 1, Orlando. Today this area seems closer to Weston and Burnsville, and it is hard to think of this area as part of Orlando. But when the trains still stopped in Orlando and the road to Weston still hugged the hills, winding up and down and around them, distances and the very shape of the land were different.

Here's the story of the school house. After the Lewis County Board of Education closed the Pine Run School in 1956, the property went back to the former owner of the land, the Heath family. Fonda (Heath) Pumpfrey became the owner of the abandoned Pine Run School. A solidly built building, the structure suitably served Mrs. Pumpfrey as a barn for hay, the storage of grain and other farming uses over the next forty years. The slate roof of the old school had a life of its own and kept the inside of the building free from deteriorating moisture.

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In the early 1990s, planners within the state park system of the State of West Virginia felt that the state park system should display a typical one room school house at a state park for both tourists and West Virginians in order that the visitors could experience the feel of education in West Virginia in the early 1900s. Two ladies from Gilmer County, Wilda (Mohr) Jenkins and Louise White, spearheaded the search for a one room school building for use at Cedar Creek. Since all West Virginia one room schools had been closed for nearly fifty years, the problem was to find one which still was structurally sound. After a search, the Pine Run School was selected as a possible addition to the state park because it was still basically intact.

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The building was about 24 x 28 in size and constructed of lap siding and a slate roof. A thick slate blackboard crossed the back wall of the school. The walls, ceiling and floor were of fitted tongue and grove lumber, the walls and ceiling of poplar and the floor of oak. A pot-bellied stove was situated in the middle of the large room, with a flue extending upward through the ceiling to the outside. A small cloak room was situated in the right rear corner of the building. A school bell was outside mounted on the front gable. A unique aspect of the school was the hand pump water well which was located on the front porch of the school. A former student, Clifford Wine, who grew up on Indian Fork and attended Pine Run School for nine terms, which included an extra year after the eighth grade, recalls that the floors of the school would receive an annual treatment of linseed oil as a preservative.

Clifford Wine also points out that at one time the school had windows on both sides of the building, but the school authorities determined that it was best if daylight came from over the left shoulders of the students as they sat at their desks. For that reason the windows on one side of the school building was boarded up.

Above left is a closeup of the porch showing the pump Mr Wine mentions.

To the right and below left the two parts of Pine Run school are being loaded for removal to the state park.

Will The Old School Fly?

The plan to move the school called for a steel frame to be constructed and put under the building. The school would then to be lofted airborne by a National Guard helicopter, and moved to the grounds of Cedar Creek State Park in Gilmer County, nearly fourteen air miles away. The school would then be re-erected, re-fitted with chalkboard, desks, a school bell and all of the other amenities of an early one room school in West Virginia and put on display. It was an interesting, exciting, and, a seemingly workable plan. Preparations for the great airlift were made and the day for the event soon came. The roof had been removed from the school down to the roof trusses. The steel frame had been built and put under the school. The National Guard helicopter and pilot requisitioned for the occasion made an appearance at Pine Run. However, after a reconnoiter of the site and a logistical review of the prepared building, the pilot determined that the task was too great for a move by helicopter and the mission was aborted. Thus, the school house which was to fly suffered cropped wings and remained on the ground.

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Maybe by Land

For close to two years the Pine Run School sat on the ground, open to weather and the elements, and deterioration sat in. Carl Carr, the owner of a construction company in Sand Fork, was aware of the problem encountered in moving the building. Carr proposed to remove the roof trusses and saw the building in half. The school would then be loaded onto a low boy and moved. By land, the distance between Pine Run and Cedar Creek is about thirty miles. The State agreed to Mr. Carr’s proposal, and the school building which was supposed to fly was to be moved by wheels instead.

So it was that the Pine Run School was loaded onto low boy trailers and moved to Cedar Creek by truck. Mr. Carr moved the building up the Indian Fork Road, then up Goosepen Road to Interstate 79, where he then headed south on the interstate to Burnsville. Getting off the interstate at Burnsville, Mr. Carr moved the Pine Run School through Gem, Copen and Cedarville to Cedar Creek State Park. Aside from a couple tight fitting bridges, and a couple of low hanging telephone lines at Copen and Cedarville, the move went slowly but smoothly for nine hours.

Next, two of the people who were there tell the story: first Carl Carr, then Wilda Mohr Jenkins.

Carl Carr Tells Us . . .

I remember well the move of the Pine Run School on Indian Fork to Cedar Creek State Park. After the National Guard had given up on the idea of moving the school building by air, I contacted Mr. Radabaugh of the State School Superintendent’s Office with a proposal. Mr. Radabaugh, who lived in the Cedar Creek area, approved the plan.
I was assisted in the movement of the school by Danny Self of Dusk Camp, and his helper Eric; by my father in law, Foster Batten who acted as a flagger and Dice Steele who also acted as a flagger.

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We removed the roof trusses from the building prior to the move. I noticed initials of former students carved on doors as we were preparing the building to be moved.

The movement of the building went fairly well. We went south on Interstate 79 to Burnsville, then through Gem, Copen and Cedarville. After getting the building to Cedar Creek, we re-erected the building on a prepared site. The old tongue and grooved ceiling had been removed or had rotted away previously when the National Guard had planned on moving the building. I was able to secure replacement yellow poplar tongue and grooved boards from an old elementary school at Sand Fork to replace the ceiling. The old red oak roof trusses which were removed as we prepared to move the building were so brittle that they snapped as they were removed and they had to be replaced.

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An old bell for the school was located in Clarksburg. I also built a flagstone walkway at the new school site and a monument commemorating the service of school teachers.
The old Pine Run School building would be an excellent field trip for school children in central West Virginia so that they could get a taste of what schools used to be in the days gone by.

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This is how the old school looks today, in its new home at Cedar Creek State Park. Click on it and the other photos to enlarge.

Wilda (Mohr) Jenkins tells us. . .

Pine Run School
If I Could Talk
By Wilda (Mohr) Jenkins

My door was closed in Nineteen Hundred Fifty-Six,
And I was loaded with hay and sticks.
For thirty years I stood idle as could be,

I was falling apart, it was plain to see.

.
Then one day a lady came looking for me
And my owner replied "just leave it be."

These people insisted…I needed preserved.
I thought, "this sounds rather absurd."

They looked at my windows…cracked and broke;
I think some felt it was only a joke.

Then came the day…I was finally sold,
"What do they want with me? Now that I’m old?"

They removed my roof which was made of slate
And I’m wondering…"What is going to be my fate?"

They cut braces and braced my walls
I guess they thought I was going to fall.

.
The helicopters from the National Guard
Flew over my roof and landed in my yard.

I listened as I heard them sigh
They were planning …to make me fly.

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This didn’t work and winter was coming on
And still they were singin’ the same ole’ song.

For two years I sat there…I was falling apart
My roof was all covered with plastic and tarps.

They said…"We’ll move you as you are."
Then came the day and this fine…Mr. Carr,

He ripped off my roof clear down to the square
I thought it was the end of me…I do declare.

They used wrecking bars and hammers with claws,
Sawed me in the middle with a big chain saw.

I just knew I was done for…I was filled with rain
And wished that I was still full of grain.

They loaded me on this great big truck
I wondered about the bridges…perhaps we’d get stuck.

Danny and Aaron worked as Mr. Carr’s side kick
They protected me…they knew the right lick.

We finally started down the highway, moving very slow,
The other half of me behind…still in tow.

We fought the bushes and the heat as well
And how we ever made it…I’ll never tell.

But after seven hours of sweat and fear
Cedar Creek Park finally drew near.

Once we got there my name some started to swear
I heard some say "What’s this pile of junk doing here?"

I was left there for a week or two
I was wondering "Now what are they going to do?"

It didn’t take long to put me together
New roof and all…to protect from the weather.

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My windows were done and they added new glass,
Finally I could stand here and do it with class.

My old paint was peeling and starting to fall,
So they scraped and sanded and washed me and all.

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The came my new coat of snowy white paint
These people worked hard I thought they would faint.

They covered me all over both inside and out
And had I been human…I know I would shout.

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New wires for my old fashioned oil lights;
Finally I’m becoming a beautiful sight.

New porch, new roof and a big bell to ring,
I’m pretty well complete, I have everything.

Flue stones and a new chimney for smoke,
These people mean business and that’s no joke;

An old fashioned oil lantern…to guide your way,
It is hanging on my porch…it is here to stay.

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My desks are all reworked…they really look fine,
I was a lost part of history…one of a kind.

My blackboard and pot-bellied all in place
My whole being was given a new face.

A water cooler sets in the corner on a shelf
With an old tin cup, "please help yourself."

A big coal bucket black from coal
To be complete and old fashioned is my goal.

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New floor, new ceiling…just like I had,
I don’t know why…I was ever so sad.
I never thought I would be as good as new

So crisp and white…fresh as morning dew.

I want to be truthful as here I stand
I never dreamed I would ever look so grand.
I don’t have the words at my command

I hope by some means you can understand.

I’m not bragging…My appreciation I want to show,
I’m glad to be here in the park…I want the world to know.
I know I’m old fashioned…simple as can be,
My students dressed in calico and patches on each knee.

Although I’m simple and growing very old,
I think I’m rather pretty….with stories to be told.

Now that I’m fully preserved…I have a lot to give,
I would like to tell your children…how you used to live.

.
I thank you for your kindness and loyalty shown me
For placing me here for everyone to see.

Please come and visit me often…to teach is my desire
I hope that eager minds will come to me to inquire.

Comments

comment 1 by David Parmer

Check out the July 27, 1989 article from the Glenville Democrat from Charles McNemar It reported on the move of the Pine Run School to Cedar Creek State Park. The writer of the article, Wilda Jenkins, was also instrumental in the move of the school itself. Ms. Jenkins reported that Carl Carr, along with Danny Self and Aaron Bennett, moved the school building over a route of 49 miles and averaged seven miles per hour. Thanks, Charles.

The Pine Run School was also featured in an article in the May 1992 issue of Wonderful West Virginia magazine. According to the author, Maureen Crockett, the Pine Run School was built in 1910. The article mentions that a Committee for Cedar Creek State Park had been appointed to locate a one room school house to be re-located at the park and that the Committee, after some arduous bargaining, finally convinced Fonda Pumphrey to surrender ownership of the Pine Run school building for the park project.

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comment 2 by David Parmer
The Ben’s Run School (pictured to the right, was the last one room school in Lewis County.

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comment 3 by Donna Gloff

We believe this is the Rocky Fork school, Pine Run's close neighbor.

To the left, the exterior of the Rocky Fork school. Note the similarities with the Pine Run School.

To the right is the interior of the Rocky Fork school during one of the WPA adult classes.

These photos were taken in 1938 and are from a photo essay about the WPA.

Continuing a Musical Tradition

For samples of music of the area see:
Aug '07 B & O Train Meets Amos Henline’s Cow
Dec '06 The Ballad of Eugene Butcher

by David Parmer

Mention has been made within this website of the musical proclivities of the Henline and Blake families of the Orlando area. The Blake family of the Clover Fork area produced many fine fiddlers, as have the Henlines of Orlando. The musical talents of Sarah (Blake) Singleton and Red Henline, both of whom had roots in the Orlando area, have been featured in Goldenseal Magazine, a publication of the State of West Virginia.

Above left is Donald Lambert, Jr. playing his grandfather Bruce Brannon's violin. To the left are his grandfather, his grandmother Olive (Henline) Brannon, his uncle and his mom Joyce Brannon.

The Amos Henline family was the subject of the story about the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters on this website. One of the members of this group was Olive (Henline) Brannon, a gifted vocalist, who unfortunately died prematurely when she was but thirty two years of age. Olive was married to Bruce Brannon of Vadis in Lewis County who was also a talented musician in his own right. Bruce played violin in the Glenville State College Orchestra and from time to time joined the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters in providing musical entertainment.

Bruce and Olive Henline Brannon were the parents of Joyce Carole Brannon, also a graduate of Glenville State College with a degree in music. While a student at Glenville State College, Joyce, a gifted pianist and vocalist, was a member of the college orchestra and the college choir. Joyce has taught music in the public schools of West Virginia and has continued her love of music in community choirs and in church music in the Richmond, Virginia area for many years. Joyce has passed her love of music to her son, Donald Lambert, now an officer with the Henrico County, Virginia Police Department. A talented violinist, Donald, has displayed his talents on the violin with community choral groups and churches in the Richmond area. When he was sixteen years of age, Donald was selected to tour Europe with a youth orchestra as a violinist. The instrument Donald played with the orchestra was the violin used by his grandfather, Bruce Brannon, while he was a member of the Glenville State College orchestra and the Buzzardtown Tongue Twisters. Later, Donald was a visiting violinist with the Richmond Choral Society and was featured in concert as a soloist playing “The Arkansas Traveler.”
Musical talents heard by an early generation in the Orlando area have continued to entertain lovers of music of this day throughout this country by the generations which have followed.

Healing In The Hills

Appalachian medicinal herbs

were used by Native Americans
before Europeans
set foot in the New World.

~~~ ~~~
From the very earliest settlement

in the Oil Creek watershed
ginseng was foraged

& sold as a cash crop.

To the right is the north side of a forested hill in Orlando.

Many medicinal herbs are growing in Orlando. Most are deep in the woods on well drained hillsides (northern side of the hill preferred) while a few seek boggy land and don’t mind the sun as much. Here are four of the medicinal herbs found around Orlando. Three of the four, ginseng, goldenseal and wild yam, are native to these hills.1 The fourth, meadowsweet, was brought to this continent by the Europeans. All four of these herbs ~
~ are herbaceous perennials; that is, they die back in the winter and put out new shoots in the spring.
~ involve harvesting the root which, of course, destroys that particular plant.
~ have market value, if someone wishes to put some serious effort into it.
~ are non-poisonous, but be sure you know what you’ve got before you ingest it, and remember that too much of anything can be bad for you.
Below, on the left is ginseng, on the right is goldenseal and near the bottom, on the left is wild yam and on the right is meadowsweet.

Ginseng
John Sutton, in 1919, wrote "Furs, bear skins, venison hams and ginseng" were the first commodities the settlers of this area could use to exchange for their necessities, like gunpowder, lead, flint and salt" and "the great forests were a veritable bed of ginseng, black snakeroot [black cohosh] and yellowroot [goldenseal]."2

David Parmer tells us that among the ginseng hunters of Orlando in the 1920s were Burr Skinner, Hob Henline and Fred McCord.3 The third week of October was the favored time to search for the ginseng root. Burr Skinner and Fred McCord, in search of the valuable ginseng, would go all of the way to the Williams River near Cowen in Webster County. The south bound rail out of Orlando followed the Williams River for a while. That area remained much wilder than the well-settled, extensively farmed area that Oil Creek watershed was at that time.
See the July '07 entry Coal Trains for a map of the rail line from Orlando to Cowen.

Although highly regarded in oriental healing traditions ginseng is not recognized in Native American or European tradition to be medicinal. In the 1970s ginseng became scarce due to deforestation and over harvesting. It many places it's still considered endangered.

Goldenseal
In this region goldenseal seems to be the herb most generally respected and used for its healing properties. This is what the folks of Orlando called yellowroot.
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In the March '07 entry Orlando Home Remedies, David Parmer told us Clora Henline (1881-1957) kept a decoction of yellowroot in a jar on her kitchen table and would from time to time take a small drink to ward off the ailments and to give an appetite. Yellow root is prepared by finding and digging the root of the plant, simmering the root in just enough water to cover it, then straining and bottling the liquid. David also mentioned Arch Riffle (1887-1970) up Three Lick who would dig yellowroot, wash it good, and then eat it raw. Arch said, “it was good for you.”
Again, goldenseal became scarce in the 1990s due to over-harvesting and deforestation.4

Wild Yam 5
The yam puts out a trailing vine that climbs over everything around it, growing 15 feet long and more. It’s found growing in damp woods and swamps, thickets, roadside fences. Its small, greenish yellow flowers bloom in midsummer.

The tubers and roots are gathered in fall and dried for later herb use. A decoction of the root treats symptoms of menopause and PMS such as hot flashes, night sweats and mood changes. Decoction: Place 8 oz. chopped root in nonmetallic sauce pan, cover with water and bring to boil, reduce heat simmer for 20 to 30 min. Strain and store in refrigerator. Take in ½ cup doses twice a day. Do not store for longer than a year.

The tubers can be eaten like potatoes or yams, with seasoning. Are these the Orlando sweet potatoes that Bill Beckner talks about in the Nov '06 entry Sweet Potatoes?
See the Alternative Nature Online Herbal for more information.

Meadowsweet 6
This is a sun loving plant. It is also the only herb in this entry that is not native to this area, or even this continent. Europeans brought it with them. Meadowsweet grows in damp meadows, ditches, on river banks and in damp open woodland.

We have no indication that Orlando folk took any notice of meadowsweet. Perhaps this is because Orlando's culture remained essentially the culture of its pioneers, who settled here before this European transplant had a chance to move into the area? At any rate, it is an attractive, practical herb. Here are some of its uses.

Because of its fragrance, the entire plant has been used strewn on floors and the dried flowers are used as potpourri.

Because of its flavor the flowers are added to stewed fruit, jams and vinegars, giving them a subtle almond flavor. In the Old World it was used for millennia to flavor meads, wines and beer.

It has many medicinal properties. According to Wikipedia,
~ The whole plant is a traditional remedy for an acidic stomach.
~ For flu, the flowers make a comforting tea.
~ Chewing a small section of root is a good natural remedy for relieving headaches.

Because it is a European herb it has had wonderful superstitions attached to it, too.
~ It has been used in spells and charms for peace, happiness, love.
~ Fresh meadowsweet is arranged on the the altar when mixing love charms or performing love spells.
~ On August 1, in the old Lammas celebrations garlands of meadowsweet were worn to join with the essence of the Goddess.

See also the March '07 entry Orlando Home Remedies

~~~ ~~~

Many thanks to Melissa Dennison

who grows a lot of herbs on her large farm near Servia in southern Braxton County.

She was kind enough to suggest some of the

popular medicinal plants which grow wild in the Orlando area.

Comments
comment 1 David Parmer
Another noted Orlando ginsenger was John Gibson. John was a railroader who spent a lot of his spare time seeking ginseng and bee trees.


Footnotes
1. All three have been over-harvested from time to time. At the moment none of them are on the WVDNR list of endangered species but if you're thinking about doing some serious gathering, you will want to have a plan for replacing what you're taking. It takes years to grow harvestable roots.

2. Sutton, John D.. History of Braxton Countyand Central West Virginia. pub 1919, repub. 1967 by McClain Printing Co. Parsons, WV. pp. 207-208.

3. Burr Skinner was the son of the Reverend Alexander Skinner, grandson of the pioneer Alexander and Phoebe (Conrad) Skinner. (Reverend Alexander Skinner lived at Gillespie and was pastor of the Re-Organized LDS Church at Posey Run.) Hob Henline was the son of Lloyd and Mary (Slaughter) Henline and Fred McCord was the son of O. P. and Della McCord who operated the B & O Restaurant in the Wholesale Building in Orlando. David Parmer tells us Burr's nickname was Dan Patch, the name of a legendary racehorse who set records in 1905.

4. Jeanine M. Davis, North Carolina State University. "As early as 1884, dramatic declines in wild populations due to over harvesting and deforestation were documented. In [some states] goldenseal is an endangered species, making harvest from public lands illegal."

5. Most of this article was taken from Alternative Nature Online Herbal.

6. Wikipedia article on Meadowsweet

Orlando Floods

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Orlando, at the junction of the two arms of Oil Creek, the left branch and Clover Fork, floods maybe twice a year. It isn't the life threatening deluges that towns further down the waterways knew before the dams were built, (See the entry in Oct '06, Burnsville Floods.) The biggest problem these days is that the roads become impassable. If you know the area, you can usually find another way to get where you're going, but it might take you 20 miles or so out of your way. Still, nature shows its force, crops and property can be lost, and you've got a mess to clean up, especially if your buildings are not above the high water line.

Two floods are shown here. Neither was a record breaker for Orlando and neither resulted in loss of life, although the cleanup is never fun.

The top two photos, left and right, are from the flood of November, 1985. Both are taken from the The Rusmisell & Fury Addition on the hill looking down on Oil Creek near the red brick church. About where the white house is situated in the photo to the left, the Rush Hotel stood when Tom Jeffries was a boy. In a Feb '07 entry, Childhood in Orlando, Tom Jeffries remembers "going to the old [Rush] hotel building after the flood of 1950 with my mother and my Aunt Opal (Jeffries) McCrobie to clean up the lower floors. There was about an inch of mud on the floors. It was quite a nasty job."

The three photos at the bottom here are from a flood in February 2004 which was not nearly as high. The upper left photo below is looking east, up Clover Fork, from in front of the store. The lower left photo turns around and faces west, showing the warehouse on the left. Notice that the cement foundation of the store is built far above this high-water line and the pilings the warehouse is built on hold the wooden floor above the damages of this, and most, Orlando floods. On the right you are looking on the other side of the bridge across Oil Creek, looking west toward Oil Creek Road, coming in from Burnsville. The top of the creekbed is well below the water line. Even the rail road tracks and the road are well below water, as are the floors of the homes that sit next to Oil Creek.

Thanks to Sandy (Burgett) Conrad for both sets of photos.

Kilmarnock Farm: The Kids On Clover Fork

Kilmarnock Farm

Bob and Ann Craven moved to Orlando from New England nearly 30 years ago. They started out as business and education professionals but chose to maintain the farm lifestyle because of their love for farming and raising sheep. They purchased a farm on Clover Fork and moved their animals and fiber business to the hills. It was a big change. At their web site they say "The first ten years of our being farmers in the Mountain State were spent trying to settle in and get accustomed to farming in a very unique and different terrain. We discovered that fencing hilly terrain and managing animals in this environment differed greatly from what we had been used to. We now feel that we are entrenched here along with our flocks of colored and white border leicesters and angora goats..."
The Cravens produce a fantastic range of high end fibers and fleeces in a range of natural and dyed colors as well as white. Some of their homespun yarn is pictured to the left.

Their border leister sheep are the heart of their farm, shown here in winter.

"We have both colored and white stock in addition to cross bred sheep that have been fiber experiments. Our flocks are sired by registered border leicester rams. We have found these animals to be healthy, hardy and low maintenance. We run our sheep as closed flocks that are disease free. Our lambs and fibers are sought after by fiber artists. In addition, we also sell a number of meat animals. "

Kilmarnock Farm is cited on the National Geographic Map of Appalachia

We're still searching for the builder of the Civil War era house at Kilmarnock Farm. John Carney tells us that in the early part of the 20th century his cousin's family, John and Agnes (Kilker) Carney, owned it

See also the entry for June 19, '06: The Ups and Downs of Sheep Farming

Sweet Potatoes

One of grandma Edith (Skinner) Stutler's crops was white sweet potatoes. It seems there's a certain kind of sweet potato that folks grow in central West Virginia that you can't find in the Detroit area. That isn't unusual. In family farming, seeds (and in this case sprouts) for spring planting are taken from last fall's harvest. They are not necessarily the varieties Burpee chooses to market. Grandma grew varieties of vegetables that are now coming back on the market as "heirloom" varieties; her low acid yellow and orange tomatoes, for example.

Bill Beckner picks up a winter's worth of local sweet potatoes at a Weston fruit & vegetable market every fall. Another of the Detroit area cousins has them shipped to his home each fall.

Bill tells how helping our grandmother with the sweet potato planting was a rite of spring that he remembers fondly. Sweet potatoes are planted differently from most crops in that its the green sprouts rather than seeds or eyes that are planted. The kids are sent into the newly greening brambles and woods to find branches and twigs to use to shelter these tender little plants from the elements until their root systems get established. Don't you know grandma must have done the same thing as a kid?

Wikipedia makes it clear why sweet potatoes would be a part of a West Virginian family garden. "Sweet potatoes are often considered a small farmer's crop. They grow well in many farming conditions and have few natural enemies, pesticides are rarely needed. They can be grown in poor soils with little fertilizer. . . Because the rapidly growing vines shade out weeds little weeding is needed, allowing farmers to devote time to other crops."

At the top left is a photo of sweet potato vines.
The photo of sweet potatoes with different colored skins and flesh was taken from the Internet to demonstrate the variety that is available even in commercial sweet potatoes.
To the left is a photo of our grandmother, Edith (Skinner) Stutler.
To the right is a photo of grandpa Bill Beckner with another variety of home grown sweet potato.

Academy, Highland & Church Streets (Not to Mention Cemetery Road)

Roger Conrad provides this map of the Braxton County part of Orlando proper. Oil Creek Road into Orlando from Burnsville, turning sharply left on its way to Roanoke, has been colored dark red and the land belonging to the two churches, the white clapboard Methodist Church and the brick church that was St. Michael, are highlighted in yellow.

The area within the open triangle formed by Oil Creek Road is a bluff shown from the side in the photo below the map. The photo was taken from downtown Orlando, east of the bluff.

The big surprise to a casual visitor is that there are three named streets up on that bluff! Back in the day there seemed to be only Oil Creek and Clover Fork Roads in Orlando with actual names. Wonder how the names came about. Highland Street makes sense because it is, after all, on high land and Church Street is probably where the United Brethern Church was. But where did they get "Academy"? Was the 3 room Orlando school located there?

A nice little neighborhood thrives on that Braxton County bluff overlooking (the former) Downtown Orlando. The Skinner/Stutler cousins meet there on Labor Day Weekend. (Shown in photo below.)












P.S., while we're talking about street names, regarding Downtown Orlando (located in Lewis County, east of this Braxton County Orlando map):
A sign posted downtown declares the (only) street running off Clover Fork is named Cemetery Road. While it does go past the road to the cemetery, couldn't they have named it Dolan Street or Confluence Road? Or Oras and Edith (Skinner) Stutler Parkway?

Orlando of the Lakes

Orlando is at the center of the Lakes District of West Virginia. This is not an Orlando my grandparents would have recognized; this is not an Orlando that I can easily recognize.

In the late summer when I visited as a kid, Oil Creek didn't have enough water to swim in. Even when it had rained the water, clean as it may have been, always remained the same color as the earth on its banks and not very appealing. The little brooks running out of the hollers were sparking clear, but they were just wading deep- okay only for chasing crawfish and minnows or washing the car. We did have Falls Mill. As I recall, it was a pretty long trip on the mid-20th century roads, but as the photo to the left shows, it was a wonderful place to spend the day.

When the Army Corps of Engineers remodeled central WV in the 1970s and '80s they dammed the Little Kanawha River just before it reaches Burnsville (the Burnsville Dam) and the West Fork River before it reached Weston (Stonewall Jackson Dam) and created huge breath-taking lakes & wilderness.

For more on the Army Corps of Engineer's remodleing See the Oct. 17, '06 entry The Flood of August, 1939

Now, fifteen to thirty minutes up I-79 or Oil Creek Road is Jackson Lake with its extensive wildlife preserves, recreation areas and miles of lakes, in various stages of development. Fifteen to thirty minutes to the south Burnsville Lake presents different but equally wonderful recreations.

This is how West Virginia Tourism sees this area, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Gilmer counties:
"In a place where tradition is a part of everyday life, the past can seem remarkably vivid. It's especially true in two Mountain Lakes locations where the 19th century lingers in the landscape and in local memory. Both are on the Civil War Discovery Trail.

"The Mountain Lakes call you with a soft voice. For flatwater fishing, sailing and motor boating. For canoe trips along the meandering Elk and Little Kanawha rivers. For trout fishing in crashing spring torrents. For world-class whitewater.

"This is the rural heartland of West Virginia, where traditions are sheltered and celebrated in dozens of community festivals all year long. The center of the Mountain State is one of West Virginia's most abundant wildlife regions Hunters will find white-tailed deer, wild turkey, waterfowl and small game, as well as expanding black bear population.

"The county seats of the region still have slow-paced, old-timey business districts where antique stores and specialty shops await your discovery. As you drive the region's country roads, you'll find nooks and hollows full of homegrown herbs and wines, crafts and yesterday's treasures. West Virginia's most famous product, glass, is also available. Masterpiece Crystal in Jane Lew is a working glass factory, and both Weston and Jane Lew have glass specialty stores and outlets."


See also
Oct. 17, '06 The Burnsville Flood of 1943

Photo top left: 45 years ago at Falls Mill: cousins Rick Hawkins and Nancy Stutler
Photo middle right:Jackson Lake today.
Map is from WV Tourism website (Orlando is in the lighter blue section, the Lakes Dstrict, in the center.)
Photo below right:Burnsville Lake

Orlando Today: Glass Craft

West Virginia glass, from Weston in particular, is a world of translucent beauty. The ready gas to fire the furnaces began this industry in the early 1800s. Globalization shifted this industry's foundation but there remain skilled and creative artisans who continue the tradition.

Sandy Conrad of Orlando is one of these artisans. She sells her work at craft fairs throughout the region. A sample of her engraving is shown here. Not she also works in woods. Check out her beautiful stuff at http://www.glassnwood.com/

Here's a picture of Roger and Sandy (Burgett) Conrad. By the Bye, the ancestors of both of them include most of the original settlers of the Oil Creek Basin.