Cody Straley
Cody Straley is a historian and writer from Kenova, West Virginia. He is currently the National Register Coordinator at the West Virginia Historic Preservation Office.
Community revives one of West Virginia’s long-neglected Black cemeteries
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Every year around Veterans Day, Professor Josh Keck leads his Mountwest Community and Technical College students and other volunteers on a cleanup at Huntington’s forgotten cemetery. There are several prominent burial grounds within the city,...
Monument to coal baron in W.Va. hidden deep within New River Gorge
QUNNIMONT, W.Va. — The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia is a treasure trove of sights, where forested mountain walls conceal ghost towns, industrial ruins, and lost historical gems. An overlooked monument in the gorge Some sights require...
The writer who captured Appalachian tragedy—and couldn’t escape it
MILTON, W.Va. — Breece D’J Pancake soared like a meteor through the American literary universe in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Kurt Vonnegut wrote of him, “I give you my word of honor that he is merely the best writer—the most sincere writer I’ve ever read.” Who...
Dreamland murder-suicide house in Kenova, West Virginia, demolished
KENOVA, W.Va. — Every summer for nearly a century, people have flocked to Dreamland Pool in the small city of Kenova, West Virginia. On US-60 in Wayne County, it’s the first landmark drivers encounter when entering West Virginia from Kentucky. It’s also the region’s...
Biggest Yet! Warwood becomes West Virginia’s largest historic district
WHEELING, W.Va. — In a landmark moment for historic preservation, the Warwood Historic District in northern Wheeling has officially become the largest area in West Virginia ever nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. This condensed, working-class...
W.Va. celebrates record number of National Register nominations
CHARLESTON. W.Va. — Two-thousand-twenty-four has proven record-breaking for historic preservation in West Virginia. Twenty sites, buildings, and districts were nominated to the National Register of Historic Places—the highest number in 18 years. The listings cover a...
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Cody Straley
Community revives one of West Virginia’s long-neglected Black cemeteries
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Every year around Veterans Day, Professor Josh Keck leads his Mountwest Community and Technical College students and other volunteers on a cleanup at Huntington’s forgotten cemetery. There are several prominent burial grounds within the city,...
Monument to coal baron in W.Va. hidden deep within New River Gorge
QUNNIMONT, W.Va. — The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia is a treasure trove of sights, where forested mountain walls conceal ghost towns, industrial ruins, and lost historical gems. An overlooked monument in the gorge Some sights require...
The writer who captured Appalachian tragedy—and couldn’t escape it
MILTON, W.Va. — Breece D’J Pancake soared like a meteor through the American literary universe in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Kurt Vonnegut wrote of him, “I give you my word of honor that he is merely the best writer—the most sincere writer I’ve ever read.” Who...
Dreamland murder-suicide house in Kenova, West Virginia, demolished
KENOVA, W.Va. — Every summer for nearly a century, people have flocked to Dreamland Pool in the small city of Kenova, West Virginia. On US-60 in Wayne County, it’s the first landmark drivers encounter when entering West Virginia from Kentucky. It’s also the region’s...
Biggest Yet! Warwood becomes West Virginia’s largest historic district
WHEELING, W.Va. — In a landmark moment for historic preservation, the Warwood Historic District in northern Wheeling has officially become the largest area in West Virginia ever nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. This condensed, working-class...
W.Va. celebrates record number of National Register nominations
CHARLESTON. W.Va. — Two-thousand-twenty-four has proven record-breaking for historic preservation in West Virginia. Twenty sites, buildings, and districts were nominated to the National Register of Historic Places—the highest number in 18 years. The listings cover a...