High Hopes for a New Cash Crop

This story originally appeared in the August/September ’16 issue of Morgantown Magazine. Susanna Wheeler prefers not to divulge the location of her summer garden. She’ll admit it is planted on WVU property, but that is as much information as she’s comfortable giving out. “We don’t…

A Creek Runs Through It

This story originally appeared 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. Denny suggested they try their…

At River’s Bottom

This story originally appeared in the August 2016 issue of Wonderful West Virginia magazine. At first, no one knew exactly what was happening, or why. But one fact was clear—lots of things were dying in Dunkard Creek. Division of Natural Resources fisheries biologists Frank Jernejcic and…

Making the Stage

This story originally appeared in the summer 2016 issue of WV Living magazine. Arrive late to a show at the Jerry Run Summer Theater and you can hear the music as soon as you open the car door. Low frequencies seep from the uninsulated walls, drawing you along the worn grass path…

Appalachian Distillery makes moonshine, legally

  This story originally appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on Wednesday, August 27, 2014. RIPLEY — Dwayne Freeman makes his moonshine almost the same way as the old-timers. He uses big sacks of corn and a kettle connected to shiny copper lines. There are a few minor differences,…

Whatever happened to Randolph Scott?

This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Friday, May 30, 2014. Donald Moore knows everything there is to know about film projectors. He’s sold bunches of them over his half-century running Moore Theater Supply Company on Lee Street. When a repair…

Sushi and exotic fish shop makes for odd but apt combo

This story originally appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on Wednesday, May 28, 2014. It could be an uncomfortable experience, enjoying sushi in the middle of an aquarium shop. There are all those very-alive fish, just bubbling along while you enjoy a dish of very-recently-alive fish….

Swiftwater Cafe adds catering, general store

This story originally appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on Wednesday, May 21, 2014. Last Friday morning, the folks at Swiftwater Cafe were already hard at work on lunch. The long metal prep table in the restaurant’s new catering kitchen was filled with fruit, sandwich…

Play helps director heal

This story originally appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on Thursday, March 20, 2014. Carrie Kirk was acting angry. In a pivotal scene in the Kanawha Players’ production of “Extremities,” Kirk’s character Terry is in the middle of a heated argument with her roommates when…

Stay Cozy

This story originally appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Blink, and you might miss Kin Ship Goods’ new headquarters on Lee Street. The company recently relocated from Louisville, Ky., to a tiny two-story building sandwiched between the former Stone &…