David Sibray

WEBSTER SPRINGS, W.Va. — Perhaps no county in West Virginia is as isolated as Webster County. Entirely mountainous, no expressway or U.S. highway ventures into it, and many densely forested sections haven’t been explored in years except by enterprising hunters and foresters. Only three percent of its 356,000 acres are in farmland—a remarkably small amount—and … Read more

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Historian and journalist Jim Comstock battled ceaselessly to keep alive the memory of the West Virginia “mountaineer”— the independent, Union-loyal resident of the state’s mountain regions. Comstock pointed out that misconceptions about them have developed over the years. They didn’t wear beards. They opposed slavery. And they were no friends to the … Read more