By Dwight Williamson It was the summer of 1972 and the almost unbearable scorching heat was taking its toll on the “boys of summer” — better known as the “Porch Sitters.” Most of us who had spent nearly our entire lifetimes congregating every day and night on the concrete porch of Island Creek Coal Company’s […]
A guardian angel from 1972 Read More »
By Dwight Williamson Like many Logan Countians who grew up in coal camp communities, we often referred to our little coal camp areas as numbers. For instance, when I was growing up and a school teacher or someone else asked me where I lived, I would answer by saying “16 Mud Fork.” It was never
Remembering the Community of Holden 22 Read More »
By Dwight Williamson The Ohio, Guyandotte, Tug, and Big Sandy rivers, as well as Indian trails, were no doubt the first avenues of travel into the lands of what was centuries ago simply known as the unsettled mountains of western Virginia. Mostly Scotch-Irish settlers hailing as protestant immigrants from Northern Ireland, who had been looked
Early Travel in Logan County Read More »
By Dwight Williamson Although it might be difficult to pinpoint any one particular year in Logan County history as most significant, the year of 1963 has to stand out as a very important time in the annals of local history. A few things of paramount interest at the time include the worst flooding in the
Recalling one of the worst floods in Logan Read More »
By Dwight Williamson The steam was still rising from the concrete porch of the company store following the downpour that came on a very humid late June afternoon at Verdunville, which like just about every other hollow in Logan County during the 1960’s, was filled with the fun-loving spirits of young people whose world consisted
By Dwight Williamson In one way or another, we all are making history just by existing. However, for people who really study history, the quote, “Nothing has really happened until it is recorded,” most definitely applies. So,—let it be written and let it be said—that Logan County history is being made right before our eyes—in
History before our eyes Read More »
By Dwight Williamson The closing of so many Sears’s stores across the nation, including the one at Aracoma near Logan and the Charleston Town Center Mall location, is sad to see in these turbulent economic times. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Logan County is suffering badly. Vacant buildings in the
The journey of Logan’s Woman’s Club Read More »
By Dwight Williamson Nearly every single one of us, whether it is people at Amherstdale of Buffalo Creek near Man; Crawley Creek of Chapmanville; Buck Fork of Harts Creek; Hewett Creek in Boone County; Gilbert Creek in Mingo County, or any of the many coal mining company towns spread throughout the region, all have one
The old custom of ‘funeralizing’ Read More »
By Dwight Williamson It once was a thriving community which even included a bowling alley and a movie theater. Gone with the coal dust wind is the community of Sharples, which no longer has a school of any kind in the Logan County territory that includes the areas of Clothier, Kelly Hollow, Dobra, Mifflin, Blair,
Remembering some of the coal camp communities Read More »
By Dwight Williamson Imagine this: It is a hot sultry day in late August of 1921 in bustling downtown Logan as you await the afternoon edition of the only real source of local news for Logan County -The Logan Banner. Paperboys with their canvas bags strapped across their shoulders full of newspapers fresh off the
Don Chafin and the Battle of Blair Mountain Read More »