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When the leaves are off the trees, you can see this old oil derrick on the hill across the river from our farm. It’s on Frank’s place. He has a hunting cabin up the hill (his house is at the bottom), and this old derrick is just above it. These old derricks were supposed to be taken down, for safety reasons, but a few still exist, scattered in forgotten rural hills. (You can see our derrick, which is on our hill near our house, here.)
The derrick pictured above (in a photo I took last year when the leaves were off) is one of the derricks in this photo:
I think it’s the one I pointed the arrow to, but we can never decide for sure if it’s that one or the one just to the right of it. Trees blur the ridgeline these days and make it difficult to pinpoint a spot on photos of cleared hills. It’s always amazing to me to imagine the activity of the tiny bustling community, complete with school, church, several stores, boardinghouse, gasoline plant, and more that once existed here, and I feel envious of those who saw it then and grateful at least for their stories.
I love you "new" dishes. I am a blue and white dish person as well. I have collected Blue Willow for 60 plus years and also have the Brook Blue pattern and we use it every day, China was meant to be used. I remember when corelle fist came on the market, it was so popular, one reason it seemed like families were largerback then and there were no dish washers except us kids and we broke our share of dishes. Blue and white dishes set a pretty country table, they always look so fresh and pretty.
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Before WW II, West Virginia had a population of 3 million people. During the war, many people left to work in war plants in Akron, Cleveland, Richmond, Norfolk and Oak Ridge. Then, they stayed there. Also, soldiers returning from the war also moved out of state. The population dropped to 1.75 million. It has never significantly recovered. WV’s population is currently 1.8 million. The entire WV population spread out in these mountains is the same population size as the current City of Cleveland, Ohio.
The oil boom is over and mechanization has caused a severe drop in coal mining jobs. Also, much of our chemical industry has been moved overseas.
This is why whole towns such as Stringtown are now abandoned. Drive through any rural WV community and you will see abandoned farms and barns. It is kind of sad.
But, fortunately, some people like Suzanne hear the mountain’s call and return.
American by birth, West Virginian by the grace of God!
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