20 Years Ago
Week of March 17, 2005
‘Passion Play’ To Be Filmed Professionally In North Fork
The Christian Motorcyclists Association, which is headquartered in Hatfield, AR, is coming to Pendleton County for Easter this year.
The CMA is sending the individual in charge of the organization’s video department to film professionally “The Passion Play,” when that amateur, yet almost especially scaled and locally applauded production, is being performed for a live audience at the North Fork Baptist Church on Rt. 33 between Riverton and Seneca Rocks.
National Park Proposal To Include Seneca Rocks
A resolution in the West Virginia Legislature is calling for the creation of a “High Allegheny” national park.
The national park, should it ever be established, would include Seneca Rocks in this county but would primarily be made up of state parks and other scenic attractions in Tucker County.
Simpson Home Is First of Its Kind In West Virginia
Last Thursday, Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity dedicated its 63rd house, built in partnership with Bertha Simpson, and in memory of her late husband, Charles Henry Simpson.
The Simpson home is the first Habitat house in West Virginia built under the CBA program in cooperation with Congresswoman Shelly Moore Capito.
The program is designed to produce new, affordable, single family homes, to strengthen the network of affordable housing supporters by partnering members of Congress with local Habitat for Humanity affiliates and to highlight the importance of volunteerism.
30 Years Ago
Week of March 16, 1995
SUGAR GROVE
Study of Buttons Reveals Fascinating History
Button boxes unlock nostalgia…what treasures are tucked inside them! There is much fascinating history behind buttons. For instance, Queen Victoria popularized the shiny, black “French jet” buttons. Women thought they were such a bit that they’d sew as many as 200 on one dress. The velvet button was a “perfume button.” A lady would apply a dab of perfume to its backing and they would be kept pleasingly fragrant all day! The china buttons were printed with a matching pattern to the fabric bolts which were then complimentarily sold. These were then made into shirts for husbands, aprons, wrappers for babies, jackets and quilts. Then, there are the “Charm Strings” which were strung buttons by unmarried girls. They believed that when they added the 1,000th button to the strand, they’d meet their Prince Charming. Then, too, there are the button replicas of cats, apples, and ships…the metal button pictures depicting animals for boys, nursery rhymes for girls and historical events for adults—popular a century ago. Buttons are a pretty reminder of the past…a lovely memory accent.
40 Years Ago
Week of March 21, 1985
Five Pendleton Students Will Participate In All State Chorus
Five Pendleton County students will join other West Virginia tenth through twelfth grades to form a 300-member All-State Chorus in Charleston next week.
The All-State Chorus, Band and Orchestra are among the activities during the annual conference of the West Virginia Music Educator’s Association. The culmination of the festival is the public concert by each of the above groups on Saturday afternoon, March 30, in the Charleston Civic Center.
Those attending from Franklin High School, under the direction of Lois Byers, will be first soprano, Sheri Bowers; first base, Johnny Hevener; first alto, Amy Hoffman; and second soprano, Melissa Sites.
Representing Circleville High School under the direction of Kendra Rightsell will be Phyllis Arbaugh, second soprano.
Yesteryear in Pendleton
By Janet H. Conrad
Sometimes in March one awakens to find the deepest snow of the year, and all the world seems closed and silent. Only recently did my husband tell this episode of his early school years.
Just such a snow was on the ground and ammunition for the snow forts in the form of snowball had been completed to freeze overnight.
A plan to mystify the teacher had been carefully developed by the older boys. The teacher was elderly and absent-minded and followed one pattern each day. At lunch time he leisurely strolled to the lower end of the school grounds.
The older boys chose a third grader, who was younger, smaller and always ready for fun. This was my husband-to-be. His job was to climb into the attic and pack the snowballs around the stove pipe, while a look-out watched the teacher.
The work was quickly completed and an innocent group of boys were ready and anxious for “books” after the lunch hour.
The teacher filled the long iron stove with chunks of wood for it was a cold day. Before long “zing” a drop of water fell and evaporated, soon splash, hizz, sizzle — more drops of water followed.
“My word, what’s happening?” exclaimed the teacher. Everyone looked around (especially the boys).
The teacher said, “The roof must be leaking” and outside he went to investigate. He returned and reported, “I can’t understand it. There isn’t any more snow around the pipe!” The boys agreed — it did seem odd.
I can well imagine that the teacher could have picked out the guilty party, for I am sure, certain boys were very studious that day, but the sparkle of mischief in their eyes would have given away their secret!
Precious as are all the seasons of the year, none so rejoices the heart as spring. There is about spring a gladness that thrills the soul and lifts it up into regions of spiritual sunshine.
DAHMER
When God created the heavens and earth, He commanded that there be light — a lesser light to rule the night and a greater light to rule the day. As a boy the writer found no difficulty with the day, but sufficient light to read was a different matter. There was no light switch to flip. In the writer’s home when lighting the lamp, a match was used.
The gas light and Aladdin lamp came later producing a degree of togetherness seldom experienced in the home today. Regardless of what light source was being used, it was important to get as close the source as possible for best illumination. It was a very common sight to see a father, mother and children tightly grouped around a small table with children playing around their feet on the floor. Conversation was usually soft as there was no stereo blaring and no telephone to introduce on attention.
When outside chores required illumination, you didn’t pick up a flashlight, but took the lantern down from a nail, checked to see if it had sufficient oil for the mission, lighted it with a match by raising the globe, adjusted the wick and went about your business.
This oil light provided the light by which the writer studied his lessons during his early school years. It was by such light that his mother darned his socks and patched his pants. It, too was the light his father used to try to figure out a way to make an honest dollar for his family during the Depression.
50 Years Ago
Week of March 20, 1975
Auxiliary Organized For Nursing Home
An auxiliary to the Pendleton Nursing Home to provide services needed at the home was organized March 13 at a meeting at the nursing home.
The auxiliary will provide programs to interest and entertain the residents each week consisting of birthday parties, recreation, musical groups and visitations.
The auxiliary also will provide the nursing home with materials and equipment for use by the residents such as sewing machines, both electric and treadle, piano, lap robes and reading materials. The auxiliary will operate a small store where residents can purchase personal supplies of writing paper, stamps, bath powder, candy, etc.
16 Now in Nursing Home
Sixteen residents have moved into the Pendleton Nursing Home since its opening March 3. The home has been accepting approximately five persons per week. Vacancies still exist in the nursing home and applications for residency are being accepted.
DAHMER
The voice of the barred owl which may be pleasing to the bird lover, but to some may sound eerie, is again to be heard on Sharp Ridge.
North Fork Mutual Telephone Co., serving the communities of Circleville, Riverton, Onega and the surrounding countryside is one of the few hand-crank telephone systems in the United States. It recently made headlines in the Los Angeles Times, in California on March 9, 1975.
Just when the first Sunday School class came into existence in Pendleton is not clear to the writer. The writer has in his possession, a Sunday School lesson sheet, the subject was “Jesus Brought into the Temple,” and the date was Feb. 2, 1890. Estella Dickenson Dahmer attended Sunday School on Dickenson Mountain in the year 1905.
60 Years Ago
Week of March 18, 1965
100 YEARS AGO
By LON K. SAVAGE
Editor’s Note—The following is one of a series of articles on the Civil War. Each weekly installment covers events which occurred exactly 100 years ago.
Lee, In Desperation, Plans Final Attack
There was only one long, slim chance for the Confederacy, Gen. Robert E. Lee reasoned 100 years ago this week.
Around him were the remnants of his once-powerful Army of Northern Virginia, now reduced to 60,000 ragged, famished but stubborn men stretched out over a 30-mile battle line from Richmond southward to beyond Petersburg. Feeding his army and the people of the two cities was a long railroad coming from Danville, and it could not last long.
Opposite Lee’s line waited the huge, powerful army of Ulysses S. Grant, 120,000 men, armed to the teeth and ready for full battle. At that very moment, Grant’s men were pushing southwestward, to cut that last railroad into Richmond.
If this were not bad enough for Lee, Federal Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was coming up from North Carolina with another 80,000 to 90,000 men—men who would be on hand for battle within weeks. Opposing Sherman was a little army of 30,000 Confederates under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.
There was that one last chance—the last hope of the Confederacy—that ran through Lee’s mind. It was to hit Grant a quick, sharp blow, break his line and force him to fall back and regroup. Then, perhaps—and this was hoping for a lot—Lee could slip his army out of Petersburg, head into North Carolina and join forces with Johnston. The two Confederate armies, he hoped, then might be able to defeat Sherman before Grant could catch up; once having beaten Sherman, they could turn on Grant.
There was some reason to hope for success. The North had long since grown sick of war and one more Union defeat might bring peace on terms the Confederacy could accept. It meant giving up Richmond, the capitol of the Confederacy; it meant that the Confederate government itself, would have to flee. But it was better than waiting for starvation. It was the only hope.
As Lee mapped out his plans, the fiber of the Confederacy was falling apart at every seam. Down in Alabama, Federal Gen. James H. Wilson began a raid, heading for Selma and the Confederacy’s last important munitions center outside Richmond.
Two days earlier, Federal Gen. Edward R. Canby began another raid on Mobile, to clean up Confederate resistance there. And late in March, Gen. George Stoneman raided from East Tennessee eastward into North Carolina and Virginia.
All of this brought upon Lee the realization that his army must move or perish. Early in the month, he had discussed the possibility of abandoning Richmond with Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. Now he was not sure the time had come to take that step, but he was sure the time had come to make some move.
On March 24, Lee gave orders for an attack by some 30,000 men against Fort Stedman, a bulwark in Grant’s line just east of Petersburg.
Next week: Fort Stedman
