Volume 14 , Issue 41

Pendleton County, (West) Virginia - 1910-12

In chapter XVIII of History of Pendleton County, West Virginia, by Oren F. Morton and published around 1910 to 1912, we learn that Pendleton was divided into three well defined valleys, with broad, timbered ridges lying between.

Along the South Fork there was found a narrow ribbon of fine bottom land, extending very near the entire length of the county. This ribbon was cores-sectioned into a rapid appearing of well-tended farms. Through the six miles of Sweedland valley, and up Brushy Fork, Stony Run, Big Run and Hawes Run were tother series of farms of less productive soil and very much less extent. To the east of the river there was an otherwise unbroken forest rising tot he crest of Shenandoah Mountain, and used only as a wood reserve and as pasturage. To the west was a much narrower and more rugged belt of woodland.

At a place called Sugar Grove was a hamlet rather than a village, where there was a church, two stores, blacksmith shop, gristmill, resident physician and a half dozen dwellings. There was a store, mill and postoffice there before 1860, but there had since been a nearer approach to the characteristics of a village. Ten miles blow was Brandywine, the name a reminder of Revolutionary settlers who fought in the battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. This is where the only thoroughfare front he east of any importance reached the South Fork.

In the early 1900's there were but five houses in the place. The number rose to a bout 20 in consequence of a plant being located there for the manufacture of walnut bark extract. After a few years the works closed down, but the houses generally remained occupied. Here were two sotre buildings, modern church building and a schoolhouse of two rooms, also. Three miles below was Oak Flat, where we find little else than a store and a resident physician. Three miles still further down, and at the entrance to Sweedland valley was the historic name of Fort Seybert, applied to a store and postoffice, a blacksmith shop, and three dwellings. Within the radius of a mile were two churches, schoolhouse and a well settled neighborhood. From each of the four points along the river, roads cross the South Fork Mountain.

On the tableland beyond the mountain summit, as at Deer Run, the Dickenson settlement,a nd Mitchell and Dahmer post offices, were clusters of hilly but good farms with limestone soil. The double valley of the Thorn was in the nature of a pocket, the lower course of the stream being walled in with steep hills. At the heads of the two Thorns, the valley becomes broad rather than narrow, presenting the aspect of a tolerably smooth and well settled plateau, the watershed between the sources of the Thorns and those of the Bullpasture and Cowpasture being a pair of insignificant cross ridges.

The South branch was unlike South Fork and presented a series of ovals or pockets. These detached river bottoms grew larger as one went northward. A mile below Franklin the river gave up an apparent purpose of climbing the valley of Trout Run, which opened int he same direction as the stream pursuing. It broke abruptly through a ridge to cross a pocket of bottom land. Just below Upper Tract it turned aside from what would seem its natural course down the broad, open Mill Creek valley, the water-parting between the source of the smaller stream and a bend of the larger being scarcely perceptible. The river then entered a long and picturesque defile, at the right summit of which may be seen a long, perpendicular cliff, where lies the entrance to an extensive cavern.

Apart from the county seat the only centers of population in this valley were Ruddle and Upper Tract. The former, at the mouth of Hedrick Run, had a store and several houses, and nearby a church and a mill. Upper Tract, overlooking the bottom known by the same name, though having less than a dozen houses, had the air of a village center. It had three churches, store and a schoolhouse of two rooms.

Circleville took its name from a Zirkle who once kept store there, had more the genuine appearance of a village than any other place in Pendleton save the county seat itself. Two stores, mill, hotel, several minor concerns, church, and a schoolhouse of two rooms together with about ten dwelling houses, made a very compact appearance. The river was crossed by an iron bridge. Riverton was about six miles below, and a hamlet with an air of newness. Macksville was a few miles beyond Riverton with its store and mill was like Fort Seybert the trading point for a well settled neighborhood.

The roads of the county were fairly good, and on the leading thoroughfares the automobile was frequently seen. yet the three rivers were spanned by only four wagon bridges and in very high water crossing became impossible.

The Pendletonian farmhouse was generally commodious. Very many of the log houses of an earlier day were still in use and contained the broad fireplace that was once universal. The modern whtie painted dwelling was also very frequent. The telephone was of general occurrence, both in the newer and the older homes.

Whatever their ancestry, the Pendletonians of 1910 & 1912 were practically homogeneous in blood and even more so in manners and customs. In demeanor they were plain and straightforward, and exceptionally free from caste feeling. A closer approach to social equality would be difficult to find elsewhere in America. They were industrious and thrifty, and awake to the desirability of comfort. Modern furniture, musical instruments, articles of ornament, and potted plants were as likely to be seen int he weatherbeaten farm house as in the modern cottage. In his home the dweller in these valleys was the most hospitable of Americans. The visitor from abroad was not viewed as a stranger, but was made welcome to tale and lodging. The native citizen had numerous friends and relatives who had gone out to make homes in the newer states or in the railroad towns. Of those who remained were some who worked a portion of the time int he industrial communities without. In going or coming, a walk of forty miles a day across mountain and valley was not unusual among those hardy mountaineers.

The typical Pendletonian was a blending of German, Scotch-Irish and English with a small infusion of the Irish, the French, the Dutch and the Welch.

The Englishman was of the same blood as the German, yet a quite different person. The American citizen of British ancestry was very unlike his English cousin. The Americanized citizen of German ancestry was quite as unlike his German cousin. He was in fact but little distinguishable from the American of British stock. His patient and successful industry and his good mental qualities rendered him a superior citizen. But wherever the descendant of the German settler permuted his tendency to clannishness to stand int he way of his Americanization, he feel below his opportunities, and wa the loser by doing so.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---