Ancient stone walls on Armstrong Mountain no old-timer's tale
If you grew up listening to the lore of old-timers in southern West Virginia, chances are you've heard of mysterious stone walls atop Armstrong...
How the West Virginia town of "Hundred" got its name
HUNDRED, W.Va.—There was a time in the 1850s, soon after completion of the B&O Railroad, when passengers would clamber to the car windows to...
Civil War-era mystery of Burning Springs remains unsolved
BURNING SPRINGS, W.Va. — Curious motorists traveling the valley of the Little Kanawha River southwest of Parkersburg may or may not stop at historic...
Some mysterious W.Va. rock features may have sacred origins
Editor's Note: If you're familiar with the outdoors in West Virginia, you've likely seen rocks piled in what might seem "the middle of nowhere."...
Three little-known facts about West Virginia's moundbuilders
The term “moundbuilder” is often used to describe two ancient cultures that archaeologists now know as the Adena and the Hopewell. These peoples lived...
Hikers, paddlers can visit New River's lost "Island of the Dead"
THURMOND, W.Va. — Victims of a smallpox pandemic that swept through the New River Gorge in the late 1800s may have been buried in...
Lost W.Va. saltworks known to only a few locals, adventurers
The legend of the lost Mercer Saltworks near the New River in southern West Virginia may be remembered now by only a few locals...
Bizzare 'Wild West' massacre erupted in Cowen, W.Va., in 1905
Cowen today is a sleepy town of 500, perhaps best known for its location near a quiet lake, but it was hardly so in...
Scholars debunk myth of prehistoric giants in West Virginia
This month, I had the opportunity to talk with the lead curator at Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex about a prevailing myth in West Virginia...
Word "hillbilly" once a term of endearment in Appalachia
According to some authorities, the word "hillbilly" was a term of endearment in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1800s, though it later developed...
Untangling the tale of frontier heroine Mary Draper Ingles
The tale of Mary Draper Ingles—of her escape from Shawnee captors and her return through the mountains—is in many senses the ideal American frontier...
Mystery surrounds lost Washington graves on Hurricane Creek
How did a great-nephew of George Washington come to be buried in a virtually forgotten graveyard in the Kanawha Valley near Winfield, West Virginia—more...
