In the course of my AmeriCorps service at the Morgantown History Museum (located at 175 Kirk Street, Morgantown, West Virginia), I have processed a number of collections. This process involves consulting the accessions inventory and locating the donated item (which can be time consuming). This is followed by tagging each item with a unique number, then scanning or photographing each item, and finally entering a description and image of each item in the Museum’s database. Of all the various collections, perhaps my favorite Museum collection is the Katherine Forman Sterling Faucet Collection. The Museum has many items and objects related to the Sterling Faucet Company, such as Sterling Faucet newsletters, corporate documents, and even a sculpture presented to a retiring executive. These items offer a corporate or a top-down look at the Sterling Faucet. The Forman Collection, however, offers a worker's perspective or a ground-up consideration of work at the Sterling plant. The now demolished Sterling Faucet Company plant was located along WV State Route 7 in Sabraton, a one-time suburb of Morgantown. Sterling Faucet began operations at the site in 1942 (replacing the earlier American Sheet and Tin Plate works, which ceased operations several years earlier). Katherine Forman joined the Sterling Faucet work force in 1963 and remained employed there until the plant’s closure on March 29, 1996. During Forman’s career at Sterling, she witnessed much change in the workforce, especially change related to women’s role in the workforce. Katherine Forman and her family donated well over one hundred items to the Museum in 2012. These items run the gamut from Sterling Faucet faucet parts, such as faucet handles to her Sterling Faucet windbreaker to a series of Dominion Post newspaper articles covering the period from 1989 to 1996 and reporting on the plant’s planned shutdown into its final days of operation. There are many other items of course, some of which are generic, such as, Forman’s service pins, with letters congratulating her on her years of service, but interestingly she also received a brass clock as part of a 25 year service award. Other interesting items include “swag” or awards from plant production competitions, including a pin back button with her picture on it, a Sterling Faucet coffee cup, and even a Mepps fishing lure. Because Sterling Faucet was a union shop, Forman was a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 6214. The Museum has her membership card and a woman’s watch awarded to her by the USWA for 25 years of service. Perhaps most interesting of Forman’s Sterling Faucet donations, are some of her tools and work gloves that she used at the plant, and perhaps the most interesting of all is her final time card, which is marked “The End.” This timecard adds a certain finality to her career at Sterling Faucet. The Katherine Forman Sterling Faucet Collection is an excellent collection which not only represents life as an employee at Sterling Faucet, but provides many insights into the career of a woman whose work experience spanned the 1960s into the 1990s. Lee R. MaddexLee Maddex served as the Preserve WV AmeriCorps member at the Morgantown History Museum during the 2021-2022 service term.
On the morning of July 16th, a group of volunteers set out in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve to spruce up the Kaymoor Top parking lot. The lot serves a large system of trails in the area and is one of the park’s most heavily used parking spaces. After years of wear-and-tear, it was time to give the lot a fresh face. The park’s phenomenal Roads and Trail crew spent the week prior setting the volunteers up for success by regrading the lot, putting down fresh gravel, and laying delineation timbers. Saturday, the group of volunteers finished out the project by giving the vault toilet a fresh coat of paint, pruning vegetation, seeding vacant ground, and staking down the new parking bumpers and border timbers. The group consisted of ten volunteers, including NERI’s Acting Superintendent, Jason Newman, as well as several other park staff members who helped to facilitate the event. Some visitors who were passing through to get to nearby trailheads also stopped momentarily to try their hand at driving stakes! Initially, the project was expected to run 8 am to noon, but the exceptional volunteer group surpassed expectations and concluded work half an hour early- just in time for the weekend recreation rush. In addition to improving visitor experience, this project ultimately contributes to a larger preservation effort being made at the site of Kaymoor, WV - a National Register site with several ruins that are exemplary of the area’s rich coal mining history. Kate CaplingerKate Caplinger served as the Preserve WV AmeriCorps member at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve for the 2021-2022 program year.
The morning after moving to Wheeling, I woke up early to drive to Morgantown for a cemetery preservation workshop. Beyond being a place of final rest for loved ones, cemeteries are invaluable repositories of local history. From who was buried there, in what location, what materials were used to construct the monument, to what was written on their epitaph, much can be gleaned from a visit to a local cemetery. I have long used headstones to corroborate genealogical research, especially when inconsistencies in spelling or dates may occur. The workshop began with a tour of the grounds. Jon’s passion and expertise were evident as we walked around admiring the headstones. He explained different monument styles, trends, and noted obvious conservation work that had been done in the past. Members of Monument Cleaning & Repair, a volunteer organization in Morgantown, also shared with the group the conservation work they had conducted. Following this tour, we gathered around a group of headstones and Jon explained the basics of safely cleaning headstones. He stressed the importance of using a cleaning solution appropriate for the headstone as well as soft, natural bristle brushes. Occasionally wooden sticks may be needed to clean out impressions. After returning from lunch, we went into monument resetting. This process can involve setting the headstone to the base with a mixture of putties and lead wedging, or can just involve “shoring up” the entire fixture to counteract the natural settling or erosion of the ground. The first project our group worked on was gently digging around a headstone with a base and placing gravel underneath so that it sat level. Then the headstone was placed over the gravel, and the earth around it was filled back into creating a more even surface. The second project our group worked on was resetting. Using wooden wedges and old sections of fire hose as cushions, we were able to move heavy stone monuments, clean the contact surfaces, and use adhesive materials to reattach stones to their bases. Shortly after this I hopped in my car and drove back to Wheeling. Although I wish I had stayed for the second day, the road trip was catching up with me. This workshop was a lovely “welcome” to service year in West Virginia! kate wietorKate Wietor served as a Preserve WV AmeriCorps member for Wheeling Heritage during the 2021-2022 program year.
On June 20th, 2022 Dr. Thomas Jordan, and Dr. Jeffery Dick from Youngstown State University joined me and several AmeriCorps volunteers at the Old Hill Cemetery in Weston to start our long awaited Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) project to document the upper portion of the cemetery. This technology is used to look under the ground and can be used to measure a variety of things. In our study we used a lawnmower-esque GPR machine to push across the landscape, dropping down to depths of 10ft, looking for adipose air. Adipose, commonly referred to as ‘fat’ in the human body, leaves a very specific signature of the GPR readings that can be used to detect human bodies at various stages of decomposition under the ground. For our purposes, GPR was necessary to properly survey our cemetery and document graves in a location that had no headstones and no prior documentation. The reason for this is it was historically an African American Cemetery. This theory, formulated by Kristen Bailey and myself, was recently confirmed in an Oral History I conducted on African American history in the town and Lewis County more broadly. The importance of documenting this section of the cemetery cannot be overstated. Preserving African American history in West Virginia is important to give voice to an underrepresented population. The volunteers who came out to help with this GPR project really made the difference in how much of this survey we were able to get done in one day. A huge storm the night before knocked down several massive trees, blocking off some of the property and destroying some of the older headstones. With the quick action of our AmeriCorps volunteers, and local volunteers like Robert Weaver who came out to the cemetery last second with his chainsaw, we were able to move all the debris and completely survey the area of the cemetery we had planned to go over. While the results of this survey are still being gone over by the professionals at Youngstown State, no doubt the findings will be monumental for the preservation of African American history in our county. Without the time commitment and resources from Drs. Jordan and Dick, the manpower from our AmeriCorps volunteers and the quick thinking of locals like Mr. Weaver, certainly none of this would have been possible. Jamie BillmanJamie Billman served as a Preserve WV AmeriCorps member for the Weston Historic Landmark Commission during the 2021-2022 program year.
Recently at the Randolph-County Public Library a woman came in and asked at the front desk if the library had some books on local history. I overheard her request and took the opportunity to tell her about my AmeriCorps service project. Since placing the majority of books in the library’s entire collection in storage as a result of water damage around the beginning of 2022, the only books currently available for checking out are all fiction. The woman stated that she was in town from California to visit family and had taken a trip on the tourist train in Elkins earlier in the day and was interested in local history. I was more than happy to show her how to access the material I have digitized on the library’s website and she was extremely interested in learning about the project. That alone was rewarding for me as it’s been a bit of a challenge to garner interest in the project. A few days later she returned and we talked some more and to my surprise she stated that after reviewing one particular book I had digitized, ‘Chronicles of Border Warfare’ by A.S. Withers, she purchased a copy locally from the Elkins Depot Welcome Center. We discussed the book for a bit and how it was especially interesting because of the areas where the book primarily takes place, north-central West Virginia and eastern Ohio. Interest in local history by the general public, as far as I can tell, is admittedly limited, so this occasion stood out and hopefully there will be more interest generated in my service project in my next year of service and perhaps she will spread the word about the project to friends and family who are also interested in local history. I hope to achieve this by planning some days to demonstrate the project to the public and continuing to put the word out on social media which could result in having more similar great stories to share as a result. josh wanstreetJosh Wanstreet is the Preserve WV AmeriCorps member serving with the Elkins-Randolph County Public Library during the 2021-2022 service year.
At the end of March 2022, Preserve WV AmeriCorps members participated in a windows restoration project at Pricketts Fort State Park in Fairmont, WV. Restoration was completed on five of the windows in the Job Prickett house. The farmhouse was constructed in 1859 by Job Prickett, the great-grandson of Captain Jacob Prickett, and it is located just outside the recreated 18th century fort. The first portion of the project consisted of a two-day workshop led by Derrick Smith of Belmont College and the Smith Family of Workshops LLC and Kellie Ahmad of Rust Belt Restoration LLC. Preserve WV AmeriCorps members were joined by AmeriCorps members from the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area and members of the public for the training. During the workshop participants received instruction on window anatomy, repair tools and techniques, and the care of historic wooden windows. The group then worked to assess the condition of the Job Prickett house windows and remove those selected for restoration work. Instructors Smith and Ahmad then led the group through hands-on training in the process to remove old glazing, clean the glass panes, remove the paint and make any necessary epoxy repairs, replace the glass panes, re-glaze the windows, and then prime and paint the sashes. After two-days of training, Preserve WV AmeriCorps members completed two additional workdays to sand, repair, and re-glaze the ten window sashes (two per window) under the guidance of Kellie Ahmad. The first day the members worked on removing the old glazing from each pane and cleaning each piece of glass, sanding the sashes, and making any necessary repairs. After letting the epoxy repairs dry overnight, on the second day members finished sanding and scraping the sashes, replaced any broken panes of glass, and re-glazed the windows. By the end of the workdays the group had all ten sashed finished and set up for drying as the glazing takes several weeks to set up and completely dry. Three weeks later, in late April, three Preserve WV AmeriCorps members returned with Kellie Ahmad to paint and reinstall the restored windows into the Job Prickett house. At the end of a long day of painting and scraping paint off the glass panes, the group reinstalled the five windows back into place. Through this training opportunity AmeriCorps members learned hands-on restoration skills and provided important volunteer service to Pricketts Fort to assist them in preserving their historic structures. dr. kathleen thompsonKathleen (Katie) Thompson serves as a Preserve WV AmeriCorps member for the Clio Foundation during the 2021-2022 service year.
The Taylor County Historical and Genealogical Society hosted a clean-up of the Bluemont Cemetery on Saturday, April 9, 2022. The project was led by Megan Nielson, the current 2021-2022 Preserve WV AmeriCorps member. Each AmeriCorps member is required to complete two civic service projects in the community that they are serving. Ms. Nielson was born and raised in Grafton, West Virginia, and wanted to find a way to bring pride to her hometown, especially before Memorial Day. Assisted by the Taylor County Historical and Genealogical Society, Taylor County Corrections, and Leer Mine, Ms. Nielson and those who volunteered picked up any trash and tree limbs that littered the property. Ms. Nielson felt this project was important because of the depth of historical graves that are located in this cemetery. You can find the husband and a son of Anna Jarvis, the woman who established Mother’s Day, and the man who reportedly did the autopsy on John Wilkes Booth. It is also believed that there are individuals who died in the Buffalo Creek disaster buried here. The history that surrounds Bluemont Cemetery is vital to the pride of Grafton, West Virginia. The cemetery itself was donated by a Mr. Blue. Grafton, West Virginia has a rich history that is consolidated within this one cemetery, including an African American woman who endured Jim Crow, but had her forgiveness etched onto her grave for all to see and know her story. Despite the cold weather during the clean-up, it was successful thanks to the hard work of the Taylor County Corrections volunteers and the dedication of the members of the Taylor County Historical and Genealogical Society. In the coming months of the 2021-2022 term, Ms. Nielson is excited to begin work on her second Civic Service Project and figure out how she can effectively serve the residents of Grafton. Megan NielsonMegan Nielson is the Preserve WV AmeriCorps member serving with the Taylor County Historical and Genealogical Society during the 2021-22 program year.
The Monroe County Historical Society was fortunate to be able to present a program for the March 15th meeting of the Monroe Connections CEOs. The lesson for the group was “Fashion through the Decades,” which focused on fashion from 1920-1990. AmeriCorps Member V. Pontius brought a few items belonging to the Monroe County Historical Society for display. These date to about 1890 and are believed to have been donated by Hal Peterson. These items are an excellent illustration of how the ladies would have one pattern and the dressmaker would be able to create a variety of items. The distinctive pattern of the pinking shears hint that these items had the same dressmaker. The items also illustrate how the ladies could decide where the “stays” or “bones” of the garment could be sewn into different places. The garments on display illustrated the different construction options used to create differing bodices from the same pattern. In the first years of the 1890’s decade, the fashion was to have sleeves with a small vertical puff at the shoulder. The huge puffed sleeves that are often linked to this decade declined in fashion in 1895. Women tailored their outfits to have an hourglass shape. Around 1897, the designs began to slowly favor the straight-front corset. vernessa pontiusVernessa Pontius is the Preserve WV AmeriCorps member serving with the Monroe County Historical Society during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 program years.
When I first began my AmeriCorps service term at the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in September, I immediately began helping with a preservation project at Grandview, one of the most popular areas of the Park. This project primarily involved restoring 30 stone hearths, a handful of which were built in the 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Concurrent work was also performed on Grandview’s entrance pylons, culvert, and shelter 1 with its respective CCC built fireplace and chimney. This undertaking began as a project proposal by the Gorge’s 2020-2021 AmeriCorps member, Moira Gasior. The project was soon backed by the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC), who, on September 13th 2021, sent a masonry crew to the site to provide professional support. Following initial condition assessments and documentation, preservation of the hearths began with demolition, a phase of treatment where obstructive mortar and poor joints were chiseled away. The stones were then repointed and, if need be, reset. New fireboxes were reconstructed at an angle to promote water runoff and mitigate future moisture damage. Lastly, new grills were anchored and installed. Intentional removal of biological growth on the surface of the stones was avoided so as not to disturb the natural patina of moss and lichen which had accumulated over time. Depending on the severity of deterioration, preservation of one hearth could take up to a week to complete, not including the 10 days of covered curing time afterwards. Some hearths required minimal intervention, with only the removal and repointing of shallow cracked joints and the relaying of fireboxes. Others, however, quickly fell apart due to failed joints and missing mortar, sometimes requiring multiple stones to be reset. Two weeks into the project, a voluntary week-long workshop was sponsored by HPTC at Grandview for members of NERI staff and other National Park Service affiliates. Participants engaged in lectures and learning modules and were provided hands-on guidance by experts in the field of historic brick and stone masonry. This project was initially expected to take six weeks but was extended to accommodate the preservation of additional fireplaces. After nearly two months at Grandview, work officially concluded the week of October 25th. Not only do these hearths have historic significance as CCC built structures, but there is also a great deal of public sentiment towards them. During this project, I heard recollections from visitors who had come to Grandview back in its heyday - when the shelters were always busy, the trails were lively, and every hearth had an occupant. It was an extremely popular excursion for families and friends. In expectation of spending the whole day there, groups would have to get to the Park early to secure a good spot. However, as time progressed and tourism within the Park decreased, so did the use of these hearths. This led to a lack of maintenance, causing many of them to fall into disrepair. Some of the hearths were forgotten entirely as they resided farther in the woods and eventually became reclaimed by nature. According to reports, tourism at Grandview increased by 300% last summer, likely due to the Gorge’s newly obtained designation as a National Park. To this effect, there was no better time for this project to happen. Our daily work at Grandview never saw a shortage of visitors, many of whom showed interest and appreciation at our efforts. People would often approach us with questions or comments about the work. Some of the hearths which were freshly preserved saw use almost immediately after being uncovered. Overall, the consensus about this project from both the Park and public seemed to be an air of excitement at the possibility of reviving what once was. Kate CaplingerKate Caplinger served as a Preserve WV AmeriCorps member for the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve during the 2021-2022 program year.
On a brisk cold fall night, walking down the brick paved streets that make up Main Street, you can hear the Elk River flowing. This leads me to imagine what it would be like to live in Sutton when it was the most productive and the town was thriving. I can imagine our little town bustling with the sound of horse hooves hitting the brick, industry, and people. The very people who created the foundation of what I call home, Sutton West Virginia. The rich history and events that took place in this small community are much more than a recollection, but a story that begins with the very bricks I stand on. Sutton was first settled in 1792 by Adam O’ Brien and is the geographical center of the state, only to be burned to the ground nearly 50 years later. The fire left destruction and only six buildings with structure intact. Rebuilding almost from scratch, Sutton remained a small county seat until the timber industry developed and Sutton became a commercial center. Throughout the years Sutton has been home to many businesses. The store fronts thrived with businesses such as pharmacies, restaurants, retail shops, banks and even motels. Among some of the first settlers to Sutton were the Carpenters. Jeremiah and Benjamin Carpenter settled in Sutton and shortly after were killed by American Indians. To this day and many generations later the Carpenter family still reside in Sutton and have owned the motel that resides in the historic district. Sutton's Main Street is filled with original buildings and a lot of them are still being used today. Specifically, the courthouse which is for the entire county and is in the center of downtown. Built in 1882, this is one of the earliest remaining courthouses in West Virginia. It was the second brick building built in town. Across from the courthouse is home to the Landmark Studios of the Arts Community Theatre, built in 1886 as a Methodist church and renovated as a theatre in 1988. Sutton's historic district has always held importance to the community and consists of eleven square blocks. Residences date predominantly from the mid-19th century to early 20th century. Sutton's historic district was hit with yet another devastating fire in 2005. It destroyed 3 major buildings, one of those being the Braxton Newspaper. The privately owned buildings were donated to the town with hopes of restoration. It is our hope to use the building's façade and build a community park within the structure. Plans have been started and grants have been applied for. The community park would be such a great asset for our community while keeping the historic district intact and as beautiful as it once was. Whether it be the beloved courthouse or a building that has no great significance other than the bones itself, each one comes with history and the longing to be found and appreciated again. briar williamsBriar Williams served as a Preserve WV AmeriCorps member for the Sutton Community Development Corporation during the 2020-2021 program year.
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