10 Years Ago
Week of June 23, 2016
RAZE Balloon Lands
In Maryland Yard
A balloon, released by the Pendleton County High School RAZE club on May 12, made it all the way to Annapolis, MD, over 200 miles away, before landing. Bryan Youngblood, PCHS physical education teacher and RAZE sponsor, was contacted by a former school teacher who reported finding the balloon in her backyard. Youngblood proceeded to have club members sign a card of thanks that included information about the school and RAZE activities.
RAZE is part of an anti-tobacco initiative that was designed to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco and its use. Youngblood commented that receiving word of the balloon’s final destination certainly brightened his day.
Week of June 30, 2016
Car Club
Visits Hatchery
“We meet every eight years,” Dave Alt remarked. Alt was referring to Franklin Gage, a member of the Antique Automobile Club of America’s regional touring group that visited the county on Tuesday.
Alt serves as supervisor of the state operated fish hatchery at Reeds Creek, a stopping point for the group’s annual event.
Gage last visited Alt at the hatchery in 2008 when he brought the Six-Cylinder Chevrolet Tour, a subset of the AACA, through the area.
The group includes 30 automobiles from nine different states.
Other stops on this year’s trip include Spruce Knob, Seneca Rocks Discovery Center, Blackwater Falls, Lost River Artisans Cooperative and a ride on the Potomac Eagle train.
20 Years Ago
Week of June 22, 2006
Project NOAH Endorsed By County Commission
It’s called “Project NOAH (No Other Angel Harmed)” for the late grandson of Dr. H. Luke Eye (who perished in a house fire in Harrisonburg), and the Pendleton County Commission and the Franklin Volunteer Fire Department hope this new program will be embraced county-wide.
The program began with a grant of $250 received by the fire department in Harrisonburg, Va.
That fire department wishes to share $100 with the FVFD to place smoke detectors in homes, particularly in homes where finances may be an impediment to the installation of smoke detectors.
Bland Honored
For Service to Schools
Mary Bland was recognized for 40 years of volunteering at North Fork Elementary/Circleville Elementary and High schools. The staff and students are grateful for all the time she has spent helping in the schools, as well as after-school events.
Bland was presented with a rocking chair from the Cracker Barrel.
30 Years Ago
Week of June 27, 1996
Frequent Rains
Slow Hay Making
Frequent rains have all but shut down hay making in Pendleton County this spring. According to local weather observer Gene Scott Hammer, rain fell on 12 of the first 23 days in June, with total precipitation amounting to 6.54 inches.
High temperatures at Hammer’s weather station averaged 77 degrees for the first 23 days in June.
Friends Run Area
Hit By Flooding
The Friends Run community several miles west of Franklin was battered recently on two different occasions by torrential rain storms which caused flooding and much property damage. Driveways were washed out, water collected in cellars and slides and debris blocked roads.
Four inches of rain fell in a short period on Sunday, June 16, and 2.7 inches fell in two hours on Wednesday, June 16, and 2.7 inches fell in two hours on Wednesday, June 19.
SUGAR GROVE
Times Have Changed—Bed With Clean Sheets Cost Four Cents
Prices for entertainment at hotels or restaurants were fixed by the county court in 1746. It was a breach of the law to charge more than that authorized price. A hot meal was 12-1/2 cents with a cold meal being eight cents. A bed with clean sheets was four cents while a feather bed with clean sheets was $6.00. Cider, per quart, in 1790 was 17 cents and in 1796, lodging for the night was 12-1/2 cents! The following fees were allowed in 1819 to the sheriff: hanging, $5.25; arrest, 63 cents; whipping a free man, 42 cents; putting a person in the stocks, 21 cents; killing a deer between January 1 and August 1, $5.00. Times certainly have changed since then in Pendleton County.
40 Years Ago
Week of June 26, 1986
State to Develop
Low Cost Housing Site
At Franklin
Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr., announced today an important development in his flood relief initiative. These new sites are located in Franklin, Parsons and Marlinton and bring the number of sites approved to seven.
The Housing Development Fund will convert the Franklin site from a temporary mobile home site into a permanent housing development with room available for 42 homes.
Governor Moore said, “These sites will provide families who lost their homes in the November disaster an opportunity to locate in a fully developed neighborhood.”
The seven subdivisions will provide 120 building lots with room to expand depending upon the demand.
50 Years Ago
Week of June 24, 1976
Local Nursing Home
Has Flag Raising Service
A flag raising ceremony was conducted Saturday afternoon at Pendleton Nursing Home in Franklin when a large new flag was hoisted to the top of a new flagpole which had been erected at the entrance to the nursing home.
The new flagpole and flag were provided by the Women’s Auxiliary of the nursing home. The auxiliary under the leadership of Mrs. Virginia Rexrode, president, has accepted a number of challenges at the home. Some have required sizeable amounts of money. A quality piano was provided for the solarium. Money is authorized for large print hymnals. Rhythm band instruments have been furnished. A shopping cart will make possible the long-needed “Country Store.” The auxiliary recently gave a sizeable contribution to the Garden Club to help with their landscaping expenses. All these projects are a tribute to the members’ sacrifice of time, effort and finance.
Community support has made the auxiliary a success. Bake sales are one avenue for funds. Readers of The Pendleton Times have responded most liberally to the requests for assistance. Dues from members also provide income.
County Girl
Wins Dance Marathon
Carol Bolton, formerly of Brandywine, has been named the winner of the 1976 Cancer Dance Marathon held at Allegany Community College in Cumberland, Md. Ms. Bolton and her partner, Ray Spataro, danced for 24 hour and collected $1,500.
The total amount raised in the marathon was approximately $7,600 and all proceeds were donated to the Maryland Chapter of the American Cancer Society.
DAHMER
The Arlin Dale Jamison family moved from their home near the town spring to their new modern brick home on Halls Hill.
An early custom was when people moved to another location, the first animal to be moved was the hog, because it roots forward and the last thing to be moved was the chicken, because it scratches backwards.
Forest Trails
Offer Hiking
The Dry River Ranger District on the George Washington National Forest, Bridgewater, Va., does more than just fight wildland fires.
Recently trail crews have maintained approximately 25 miles of forest trails. Bech Lick, Clay Lick and California Ridge are three of the trails receiving maintenance this year.
Most of these trails were established back in the 1930s by the CCC program and used effectively in the firefighting program. They wind upslope off the valley floor providing some of the most scenic views in the Shenandoah Mountain. They are favorable for hiking, backpacking, camping, etc.
International Botanists Visit Area
International botanists recently visited the Monongahela National Forest on a nine-day tour of the Northeastern United States. Thirty-nine scientists from this country and 13 other countries were on the bus tour.
This members of the International Society for Vegetation Science were meeting for the North American Assembly of 1976.
The bus tour started at Valparaiso University, Indiana, then through lower Michigan, south of Cincinnati, Ohio, east to Parkersburg and Spruce Knob. From there, they traveled northerly through Pennsylvania to Tupper Lake, New York.
60 Years Ago
Week of June 23, 1966
EDITORIALS
Area Offers Many
Attractions – – –
During the past weekend a group of teenagers under the supervision of several Shepherd College professors used Thorn Spring Park as their headquarters for a science field trip to this area.
During the few days that they were here, they visited Spruce Knob and Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County, the Cranberry Glades and the radio astronomy observatory in Pocahontas County, and the Spring Run fish hatchery and Smoke Hole Caverns in Grant County. Other places in the area they probably would have found interesting if they would have had more time are the Naval Radio Research Station at Sugar Grove, the Brandywine Recreation Area, Seneca Caverns, Smoke Hole, Dolly Sods, the Sinks of Gandy and many more.
It is a shame that the facilities at Thorn Spring Park are not more fully utilized. It took a great deal of effort and interest on the part of many people and many organizations to provide them, but no matter how fine a park we have, it is no good unless it is used.
70 Years Ago
Week of June 21, 1956
$5,955,722
Worth of Products
Sold Off County Farms In ’54
The value of products sold in 1954 by operators of 1,322 farms in Pendleton County was $5,955,722, according to a preliminary report of the 1954 Census of Agriculture published by the Bureau of the Census, U. S. Department of Commerce.
The value of all crops sold was $155,145 and included $117,970 for field corps, $804 for vegetables, $36,371 for fruits and nuts.
The value of all livestock and livestock products sold was $5,676,607 and included $70,307 for dairy products, $4,302,795 for poultry and poultry products, and $1,303,505 for livestock and livestock products.
The value of forest products sold from the county’s farms was $123,970.
EDITORIALS
To Prevent Flood Damage – – –
One of the largest engineering projects that has involved Pendleton County in recent years is the South Fork Watershed Program. The biggest feature of this project is the construction of retaining dams across tributaries emptying into the South Fork River. According to present plans, 20 of these dams will be built, five of which will be in Hardy County, 14 in Pendleton and one in Highland County.
The construction of these dams will cost a tremendous amount of money—far more than could be raised locally. It has been estimated that each of the dams will cost in the neighborhood of $50,000, and that the entire program will cost several million dollars.
The funds for this type project are provided for by Public Law 534 passed by Congress in 1944. The law provides, however, that before a watershed program may be authorized, the benefits to be derived from it must exceed the cost.
So far as the South Fork Watershed program is concerned, government engineers have made a careful study of the area and they have reported that such a program in this area would result in a savings of millions of dollars to farms and other property along the river. According to their report, the savings would amount to far more than the cost of the program, therefore the project is feasible.
