This article originally appeared on Lapham’s Quarterly‘s Roundtable blog on November 29, 2017. Click here to read the full story. Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett moved to the United States to lay low. Although some have suggested they left England to avoid scandal—Margaret was both Harman’s…
This story originally appeared in the July 6, 2010 edition of the Charleston Daily Mail. In all of the obituaries written about the late Sen. Robert Byrd over the last week, there’s one detail nearly everyone made sure to include alongside his political victories and…
This story originally appeared in the June 4, 2012 edition of the Charleston Daily Mail. CASS — When something breaks on a train at Cass Scenic Railroad, whether it’s as small as a bracket or as big as a boiler, the men and women in…
This story originally appeared in the May 4, 2012 edition of the Charleston Daily Mail. Becoming a knight or lady of the Golden Horseshoe has never been a small feat, but winning the state history award now requires an even deeper understanding of West Virginia’s…
This story originally appeared in the May 7, 2010 edition of the Charleston Daily Mail. This morning, State Schools Superintendent Steve Paine will dub more than 200 West Virginia eighth-graders “knights and ladies of the Golden Horseshoe” for their knowledge of state history. But there’s…
This story originally appeared in the fall 2015 issue of WV Living. In the late afternoon, the men formed a loose circle on the Mountain Institute’s large wooden promenade. Some sat on benches, railings, and picnic tables, but most stood with their hands in their pockets,…
This story originally appeared in the spring 2017 issue of WV Living magazine. Angel Acevedo was known to Saturday Nite Wrestlin’ fans as Assassin No. 1 of the tag-team duo The Cuban Assassins. Richie Acevedo did not doubt his father’s stories about being Fidel Castro’s…
This story originally appeared in the March/April 2017 issue of Morgantown Magazine. A strange-looking visitor stopped by Jake Hutchinson’s Pickers Paradise shortly after the Fairmont guitar and antiques store opened in 2011. “He had that big beard split in two, one (half) was going to…
This story originally appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on Thursday, May 3, 2012. LANSING — Zeus has been growing in Mill Creek canyon for four centuries. The massive hemlock tree stood watch as white explorers moved in, replacing the land’s native inhabitants. Zeus was…
This column originally appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on January 2, 2015. I remember the day I became a coffee drinker. I stayed home from school with a blazing sore throat. That afternoon, as I laid on my grandmother’s couch in misery, I got an idea….