West Virginia

Name: Point Pleasant
Brand: Jason Bolte
SKU: 9780738544359
Price: 12.5 USD
Availability: InStock

The remote valleys of West Virginia resound with the echoes of history. The Mountain State was birthed by the cataclysm of a Civil War, a disunion presaged by John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry. The earliest twangs of country music sound from hills and hollers that eavesdropped on ten-thousand years of unrecorded speech. Read the transcript of West Virginia history, from the inauguration of Mother’s Day in Grafton to the aftershocks of the Silver Bridge disaster in our catalogue of West Virginia history books. [View all West Virginia books]

7 products

Sort

Point Pleasant

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Huntington Chronicles

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Huntington

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Forestry Sciences Lab in Mercer County

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Upshur County

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Marion County

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Preston County

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Point Pleasant

9780738544359

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

The Wyandot tribe called the area TuEndieWei, which roughly translates to "where the rivers meet," because of its position at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. George Washington referred to it as a "pleasant point" while he surveyed the land as a young man. He would later consider the town as the capital of the 14th American colony, Vandalia. While this colony never developed, it was nevertheless an important part of the American Revolution, as the first battle occurred at Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774, between Col. Andrew Lewis's Virginia militia and Chief Cornstalk's army of Shawnee warriors. The Virginians prevailed, allowing for colonial expansion west of the Ohio River. Over the next two centuries, Point Pleasant thrived as a major transportation center for river traffic. The rivers' history also includes great catastrophes, such as the nation's worst bridge disaster when the Silver Bridge fell in 1967, claiming 46 lives. Point Pleasant has always been a subtle crossroads of American history, with many triumphs and tragedies.

Huntington Chronicles

9781625859662

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Founded in 1871 by railroad tycoon Collis P. Huntington, the city of Huntington has a dramatic and colorful past. The mystery of the daring 1875 holdup of the town's premier bank was never solved, and many suspected the infamous James Gang. The 1937 flood was the most devastating in city history. Of course, Huntington has had its share of famous residents, including Dr. Carter G. Woodson, widely recognized as the father of Black History Month, and Woody Williams, whose bravery at Iwo Jima earned him the Medal of Honor. Amateur historian and local journalist James E. Casto compiles fascinating and unusual stories from his long career at the Huntington Herald-Dispatch.

Forestry Sciences Lab in Mercer County

9781467106085

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

John F. Kennedy was profoundly moved by the tragedy of generational poverty after touring southernmost West Virginia during his presidential campaign. Six months after his election in 1961, President Kennedy established the President's Appalachian Regional Commission with the governors of all eight Appalachian Mountain states. On October 12, 1961, the Mercer County Commission joined forces with the president and the US Forest Service to donate a portion of the former Mercer County Poor Farm to develop the nation's first Forestry Sciences Laboratory. President Kennedy selected well-known forester Frank Longwood as director, and Longwood assembled a group of forest scientists who were dedicated to the task of restoring and marketing the Appalachian hardwood forest. With the same dedication that rocket scientists applied to fulfill Kennedy's dream of sending an American to the moon and back, timber scientists restored and marketed the great Appalachian hardwood forest. The US Forest Service left the site in 2016 but worked with the Mercer County Commission, the US General Services Administration, and the National Park Service's Historic Surplus Properties program to establish a site dedicated to history and public service.

Upshur County

9780738513522

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Formed in 1851 from portions of Randolph, Lewis, and Barbour Counties, Upshur County, West Virginia lies in the north central part of the state on the Allegheny Plateau. Rolling foothills and waterways such as the Buckhannon River paint a picturesque landscape, while warm-hearted residents provide testimony to the benefits of living in such amicable surroundings. Upshur County revisits this area during its earlier days, when time seemed to move much slower and wagon squeaks and horses' neighs were common sounds in the towns and along the roads. It also brings the reader into present-day Upshur County, highlighting the industrialization that has taken place in more recent times. This volume celebrates Upshur's long and rich heritage by lingering on the stories and images of historical sites, which include the offspring of the sycamore tree in whose hollowed trunk Samuel and John Pringle lived for three years in the 1700s and the old courthouse that was damaged by fire three times in its first six months of existence. Readers will no doubt recognize many of the traditions captured in these pages, including scenes of street parades and the famous Strawberry Festival.

Marion County

9780738506944

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

A picturesque community in North Central West Virginia, Marion County is well-known for its winding waterways and rolling hills. Rapidly becoming a center for technological advancement, the county once depended on coal mining and oil drilling as its main industries. The near-depletion of these resources forced residents to seek new opportunities,
and their tenacity and willingness to forge ahead have helped maintain a community of which they and their children can be proud. This volume of vintage photographs and informative text sends readers back in time to the community''s defining days, the era in which Boaz Fleming lived with a dream of creating a new county and the period when coal, oil, and gas brought people into the area with hopes of fortune in their hearts. As the home to the first Father''s Day celebration and three West Virginia governors, including '"the father of West Virginia'" Francis Pierpont, this community lies at the forefront of the
Mountain State''s proud heritage. Long-time residents will no doubt recognize many of the street scenes and parades, while newcomers will delight in seeing their beloved community as it looked in days gone by.

Preston County

9780738543192

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Vintage images bring to life the pioneer era, the bustling development of the twentieth century, and the people who made it happen.

Preston County, West Virginia, is the only county in the United States with that name. It lies nestled into a corner of the state bounded on the north by Pennsylvania and the Mason-Dixon Line, and on the east by the state of Maryland. This scenic Appalachian region has a variance in elevation from a low of 870 feet to a high of 3,236 feet. With more tillable land than any other county in the state, Preston County is naturally a farming community, although mining, timber, recreation, and tourism are vital contributors to the county's economy. In this vibrant retrospective, local author Charles A. Thomas brings the county's past to life, covering the period from 1890 to the mid-1900s.t. We visit turn-of-the-century schools and mills, and see the trains and railroaders who made this area prosper in the late 1800s.