This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on October 11, 2010. INSTITUTE, W.Va. – West Virginia State University, which first opened its doors in March 1891, is celebrating its 120th academic year this 2010-2011 school yearThe Institute school, which now has more…

This article originally appeared on NPR Music on July 14, 2021. In 2014 Sam Beam, the singer-songwriter better known as Iron & Wine, was looking for an unconventional way to promote an unconventional new record. Archive Series Volume No. 1 is a collection of cassette demos Beam…

This story was originally published in The Guardian on May 12, 2021. The New River has spent millions of years carving a bucolic gorge in West Virginia. It is now home to one of the most biodiverse forests on the continent. And while humans have…

This story was originally published in the August 2017 issue of Wonderful West Virginia. The rocky spine of Seneca Rocks. The Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park. The gleaming Capitol dome set against a kelly green mountainside. The New River Gorge Bridge, as…

This story originally appeared on the October 2017 issue of Wonderful West Virginia. Not much remains of the ancient stone walls on Mount Carbon except some piles of rock and lots of questions. This is a mystery story, but not the kind with private detectives…

This story was originally published in the February 2018 issue of Wonderful West Virginia. On June 14, 2017, smartphones around the world buzzed with the arrival of a new video from the Brave Wilderness YouTube channel. The 10-minute documentary carried a clickprovoking title: “NEW SPECIES…

This story was originally published in the March 2019 issue of Wonderful West Virginia. In early February 1839, subscribers of the Cincinnati Chronicle opened their newspapers to find a 4,000-word article about some strange happenings in Moundsville, Virginia. Two archaeologists were in the process of…

This story was originally published in the January 2018 issue of Wonderful West Virginia. Perhaps you’ve heard it—you’re walking through the woods, when a bass note suddenly breaks through the forest chatter. Whoop. The sound might not register at first but, in an instant, it…

This story was originally published in the September 2016 issue of Wonderful West Virginia magazine. The fish weren’t biting when Rick Burgess and his twin brothers Denny and Danny arrived at Spruce Knob Lake for a weekend camping trip in 1976, so Denny suggested they…

This story was originally published by The Guardian on February 10, 2021. It’s usually bad when West Virginia makes headlines. The state has a long, sad history of severe poverty, bad health outcomes, political corruption and disasters both natural and manmade. But by mid-January, some…