By Stephen Smoot
Picture what a “history hero” is like and Julie Taylor certainly fits the bill.
Taylor hails from Laurel, Maryland, but says “I feel like I’m from Franklin, even though I grew up in Maryland.” She showed that Pendleton County holds her heart by spending hundreds of countless hours painstakingly assembling a collection of a vast multitude of photos to better illustrate the unique and beautiful history of Franklin and Pendleton County.
For this, and other contributions to knowledge and understanding, the Pendleton County Historical Society nominated Taylor as a county “History Hero.”
According to Mary Johnson, History Day coordinator for the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, “West Virginia History Heroes are nominated by historical, genealogical, preservation, museum, patriotic, or like organizations from across the state.”
Taylor received nomination because she “has preserved thousands of Pendleton County photos.” Johnson added that “using social media, she found or identified photos of many World War I soldiers.” This gave substantial support to Brenna Mitchell’s work in recognizing county veterans who fought in, as it was called at one time “the Great War.”
She also has pitched in to work on “an exhibit for the 100th anniversary of the Franklin fire.” Taylor used her experience in graphic design “to help create a map of Franklin in 1924 . . . has designed a street banner to advertise the program, and is designing a Franklin Burn District walking tour brochure.”
Taylor’s roots run deep in the Franklin area. She said, “My grandfather was Burt Sites who owned Sites’ Chevrolet.” From the front door of the Boggs House museum, Taylor pointed out homes that her family had owned and built on adjoining lots to keep the family close knit.
“Sixteen cousins were door to door bedlam,” she remembered with a smile, but added, “It’s family. It’s home.”
Taylor started her collection three decades ago with Franklin themed postcards, eventually gathering together approximately 200. Then, she stated, “I found a Facebook group called Pendleton Pals.”
The project attracted help from several areas. Her husband took over much of the scanning. Later, Taylor met a county resident named Sherry Crigler “who shared with me her collection of photographs of old Franklin.”
Taylor says that she gets the greatest joy of “putting up an old photo of a person” that a family member recognizes. Then “it gets recognized and shared.”
“They’re not my pictures,” Taylor is careful to explain, adding that “all I do is posting.” Those who get the photographs to her, “they’re the ones who do the lifting.”
The historical society also held a meeting last week to go over progress on their event commemorating the Franklin fire. Mitchell led the discussion, outlining plans for the walking tour and what decorations would be used to mark areas lost to the fire.
“We want to put bunting on the doorways of the buildings that burned,” Mitchell stated, adding that she hoped that businesses would want to go along with the historical society’s plans.
Amber Nesselrodt attended the meeting and discussed how the Pendleton County Convention and Visitors Bureau would assist with marketing the event.
One of the keys to creating both an educational and engaging event lay in focusing on the personal stories. Mitchell said that “Mr. Calhoun had seven homeless grandchildren” as a result of the fire. “His daughter lost her home. She had five little children.”
The stories will link to a painstakingly assembled map of residences and businesses. Care was taken to examine records closely to make sure that the map had complete accuracy. Mitchell, Eddie Sites, and Taylor all shared how one of the main difficulties lay in pinning down the location of the town’s blacksmith shop at the time.
The historical society will likely perform this undertaking more than once. Mitchell said, “There’s so much work. It would be crazy to not do this twice,” indicating that they might do their presentation again for Treasure Mountain Festival.
