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NEXT MEETING: Monday, November 28, 7:00 p.m. at the
Huntersville United Methodist Church.
Drew Tanner will present a program on Wet Plate Photography.
Sunday, October 23 at Pearl S. Buck
Birthplace. Hillsboro at 4 PM
Present: B.J. Gudmundsson, Gail Hyer,
Matt Tate, Alison Fleming, Moffett McNeel, Donald McNeel, Brent Moore, Jane
Price Sharp, Ruth Taylor, Susie Landis, Sarah Sanders, Bill McNeel, Denise
McNeel, Chris Smith.
The meeting date was moved to Sunday
afternoon so that we might tour the Birthplace by daylight.
Tim Van Reenen, director of the
Birthplace led us on an interesting tour of the home. Several of the members
had never visited it before and Timothy’s tour was informative and
entertaining, so that those of us who had been there several times, learned
little-known facts about the house and the Stulting family.
We held our business meeting behind the
Sydenstricker House and Ruth Taylor provided us with delicious refreshments.
We appreciate the hospitality of both Tim and Ruth.
Matt called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. Denise read
the minutes of the September meeting and they were approved as written.
(Ruth, Matt).
The treasurer’s report is attached. It
shows 94 memberships, but Susie and Sarah (our supreme recruiters) presented
5 more memberships and then Monday one more renewal to bring our total to
100, which is far more than we have had for several years. The museum
cost us over $4000 to run this year, while we took in just under $3,000
(sales at the museum were down $300, a common trend in these difficult
economic times.) Fortunately, our book sales at the Way We Worked brought in
close to $2000, so we are in the black. Having spent $600 on Blackhurst
books, we have a supply which will last several years and our outlay for
brochures will cover next year’s, too. Also, we usually sell quite a
few books for Christmas through the Pocahontas Times. The financial report
was accepted. (Denise, Moffett). There was some discussion about finances.
Bill asked the group to give input about insurance. Currently we are due to
pay $1099, which gives us liability + $86000 for the building and
$45,000 for contents. There was discussion whether we should reduce the
content coverage, since the local historic objects are not replaceable. This
would reduce our premium to $500. We can decide this at the next meeting.
Bill will check and report back. Bill is preparing an application for money
from the Snowshoe Foundation. He also reminded us that the greatest need is
for work on the roof of the museum and that Bob Jacobson has offered matching
funds for individual donations.
The Way We Worked, which our
organization sponsored and served as the fiscal agent for, closed on Saturday
and was an unqualified success. Gail announced that 2,925 people visited the
exhibit and attended the accompanying locally- organized performances
and activities. The ark, built by Dennis Driscoll and friends, will be
moved to the museum grounds and become part of the exhibit there, when the
museum reopens in the spring.
B. J. suggested that no meetings of the society be held
January thru March since there was little interest last winter. This was
agreed to. She is particularly interested in having meetings in the
upper end of the county and will work on this over the winter.
Bill announced that next month’s meeting will be given by
Drew Tanner on tintypes. It was suggested that this be held in Huntersville
and Susie and Sarah agreed to set this up.
The meeting adjourned at 5:55 PM (Chris).
However 8 of us adjourned upstairs in to the Sydenstricker
House where Brent showed us old photographs of Raywood and Dunmore. It was
agreed that we need to have a meeting in Dunmore on Dunmore’s history next
year (perhaps a hayride). He also showed us two handwritten documents, one
from 1775 ( a land deed under Patrick Henry, governor of the
Commonwealth of Virginia) and the other a payment for the use of two horses
for 3 days in 1861, signed by General Millroy. These belonged to
Brent’s ancestors. We also got to look at the honorable discharge medal of
Brent’s Great-Grandfather Little at the end of the Civil War.
Moffett asked for help locating accurately the Black
School House and Church on Seebert Road, since the Landmarks Commission is
trying to get these on the National Register of Historic Places. Ruth has
also been working on the cemetery, since the first Black Forest Service
superintendent and his wife are buried there. We are unsure where the
first Black school in Pocahontas County is located. Input would be
appreciated.
We adjourned a second time at 6:35 PM.
Denise McNeel
Secretary
Monday, September 25 at 7 PM in the
Auditorium of the Municipal Building.
Members in Attendance: Moffett McNeel, Jane Price Sharp,
Denise McNeel, Bill McNeel, Matt Tate, Ashley Fleming, Ruth Taylor, Rob
Lister, Joanna Lister.
It was a good thing that we had decided to have our
program, visiting the Smithsonian Exhibit together, since the people mainly
involved in The Way We Worked were exhausted after so many Historical
activities and so much work. The traveling exhibit included several
interactive displays, but the greatest interest evoked was in the Pocahontas
section on the history of the logging industry in Pocahontas County. The
committee had gone through over 4,000 pictures in our collection to choose 80
to be displayed here and in the libraries. These had been blown up and
printed out by Dr Krefft on the Art Guild’s super copier and are superbly
displayed in magnificent wood cases, expressly made by Denis Driscoll. People
discussed the grand opening the previous Monday, the amazing range of
accompanying activities and the steady stream of visitors, peaking on the
Saturday of the Autumn Festival with 439 in one day. The West Virginia
version of the exhibit will move on October 22 to Weirton, and then on to
Morgantown, Lewisburg, Point Pleasant and Elkins. The Pocahontas County
display will move to Linwood Community Library for the ski season.
President Matt Tate brought the
business meeting to order at 8 PM-the minutes were approved (Bill, Joanna).
The financial report revealed that we are in the black.
This helped considerably by our having received 88 sets of application dues.
There were special cheers for the Huntersville Traditions Day group, ably led
by Susie Landis, who brought in 28 new memberships…and are still working on
it. We have had increased book sales, not only having hawked our merchandise
at the museum, but also at TWWW,Cass, and the Hillsboro Hunter Lesser
Civil War lecture and will be taking them to Huntersville and to the Opera
House on October 1 (We have ordered some Louise McNeill books to sell at the
birthday celebration) and to Traveller’s Repose on October 8. Bill also
reported that we had purchased about $600 of Blackhurst books. Nancy
Woolridge was recognized for donating the money for the new railing installed
at the museum, although the need was repeated for a ramp. No-one volunteered
to be responsible for that.
Denise and Bill worked the museum 9-6 PM on the
Smithsonian Museum Day and Rob and Joanna worked the Sunday at the Museum.
Next week Denise will keep the museum on the Saturday and Michelle on the
Sunday. Many members are serving as docents at TWWW as well, which is open 32
hours a week. Attendance last year at the Museum was 955; currently we have
had 859 visitors, despite having opened later in the summer. We are now only
open on weekends; as we have early cold weather, we are unsure how much
longer we can remain open.
Bill Burdette has volunteered to fix
the Virginia Courthouse bench. Bill would like to send out a second
newsletter with his appeal for matching funds for Bob Jacobsen’s challenge.
However, he could use articles from other people.
Bill was delighted to announce that
finally, the Depot reconstruction would be out to bid this week. The opening
of bids will be October 18.
There was a discussion of future
programs. Ruth Taylor suggested that we meet at Pearl Buck House in
October and everyone seemed excited at that idea. We will meet the 4th
Monday in October and let members know the details by e-mail and in the
newspaper. Denise reminded everyone of the PocahontasCounty Historical
Museum FaceBook page; she really needs “likes”.
Denise McNeel
Secretary
Monday, 22 August 2011 at Sharp’s Country Store, Slaty Fork at
7 PM
Members in attendance: all officers plus
Gail Hyer, Susie Landis, Sarah Sanders, Tom Shipley, Brent Moore, Geoff Hamill,
Emily Lassiter, Ashley Fleming, Jane Price Sharp
Apologies were received from: Liz Gay,
Bob Jacobson, Michelle Evans, Rebecca and David Holmes
President Matt Tate brought the meeting
to order promptly at 7 PM.
The Minutes of the July meeting were
e-mailed out three weeks ago, but Denise did not have a printed copy to hand
out. Their acceptance will be voted on with the minutes of this meeting in
September. Much appreciation was
expressed for Zach Grimes’s presentation on Dr. Norman Price at the last
meeting.
Financial Report (attached): We received
a $250 grant from the CVB. Membership dues are just not coming in. A letter
about the proposed matching donation will soon be mailed out; a reminder
about renewing dues will be included.
Book sales are down. The new museum brochure has been printed and some
distributed. The available money has been spent on repairs and renovations at
the museum. We are pleased with the results. We are no longer paying the
host’s salary, but are dependent on volunteers. Zachary, Michelle, Bill and
Denise have been the mainstays; we need further help. Because of the dry
weather we have saved on mowing costs. Bill and B.J. met with the bank
manager about a loan for the purchase of the Blackhurst books, but sanity
prevailed and they both concurred that we should not take that route and just
get the books we need as we need them.
We then looked over the list of goals we created last fall to
check on progress:
1.
Support of Pioneer Days returning to its roots: Our float, window display, museum tours and
activities, and putting the Pioneer crafts back at the museum made a
significant contribution to this goal (280 people went through the museum).
B.J., Gail and Bill attended the Pioneer Days Committee evaluation meeting.
P.D. had received very positive feedback about all of these and committed to
a shuttle next year. They also asked us how much we needed to expand the
Pioneer Village activities, asked B.J. to be in charge of the badge and the
Historical Society in charge of selecting the honoree for next year; this
needs to be done by mid-January. Please note that Pioneer Days will be a week
earlier next year (July 5-7) to avoid conflict with the huge Harley Davidson
Rally at Snowshoe (to keep emergency service routes open) the usual weekend.
2.
Securing and supporting archives and archivist: A draft policy is ready for the approval of the
archives preservation committee at their next meeting and will be presented
to the society next month. Suggestions for a location were discussed and will
be explored. The indexed digitized
Pocahontas Times archive in the Heritage Room is an asset and the archivist
is kept busy with new acquisitions and regular articles and photo selections
for the current Pocahontas Times.
3.
Maintain the museum building and make people comfortable with
donating items to the collection: Significant progress has been made on the
former with last month’s renovations and the addition of handrail up the
front steps. We hope that our $10,000 fundraising campaign will pay for roof
renovations and other needed repairs. Donations continue to come in, as they
have done steadily over the last 5 decades. More pictures are coming in
steadily and we hung last month in the cabin a mounted stag’s head and hoofs,
donated by Butch Michael. We appreciate Mike Smith’s offer of an icebox and
have also been offered more vintage clothing. Space and storage are a
concern.
4.
Need for a membership secretary to make sure that people are
reminded to pay dues: Our original volunteer
for this position was unable to do this. Membership dues have increased. It
was suggested that further categories (businesses and organizations, student
etc.) be introduced next year. B.J.
suggested that, instead of this being the responsibility of one person, the
list should be divided between 3 or 4
people. Memberships since the
inception of the society have been the main source of income and we need people
to phone and send notes to ensure our membership is maintained. No action was
taken, but there was general
concurrence with B. J.’s suggestion.
Tom has a copy of his Uncle Dave’s letter (in the 1980s) to the
Pocahontas Times, urging people to preserve their heritage and pay their
dues. Everyone thought it would be a good plan to reprint the letter in the
Pocahontas Times.
5.
Need programs, events, speakers: We
felt that we were doing a good job with this, moving round the county and
getting better attendance and introducing new topics. We are a specially appreciative of the
hard work of the people putting together the Way We Worked Smithsonian
exhibit which in Pocahontas County will run for 6 weeks and focus on the
lumber industry.
6.
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Historical Society: This we did in grand style. We were featured on
the Pioneer Days Badge, our 4 surviving members were appointed grand marshals
of the parade and Jane and Bill and our first place winning float were a big
feature in the Pocahontas Times. We served cookies and punch all day on the Friday
of Pioneer Days on the front porch of the museum and we had a display on our
history and accomplishments in the window of the Pocahontas Times and an
article about us appeared in the festival supplement. Choosing to take
donations, rather than have paid admissions meant that 280 people came
through the museum that weekend.
7.
Celebrate 150th. anniversary of the formation of the State of
West Virginia: Plans have yet to be formed.
8.
McClintic Heritage Room needs to be open on Saturdays: This is particularly important since it now
houses the computer which access the digitalized archive of the Pocahontas
Times. The latter needs to be promoted. Denise did talk to CVB Board
President Cully McCurdy, and, indeed McClintic Library may open on Saturdays.
However, we think that the Heritage Room would be better protected, if we set
up a system whereby people who wish to use the Heritage Room on weekends make
an appointment and PCHS members volunteer to work with them.
9.
The Historical Society needs to produce more books to sell
(photos, history etc.). There was further
discussion of the pros and cons of using Arcadia Publishing Company to
produce a photo history of the local logging industry. Zachary has been
working with Dr Norman Price’s diaries and also his memoirs, whose typed up
copy we are hunting for. Zachary is too tied up with his senior year
of college and then medical school to work on this, but it could be an
excellent project, since Dr Norman took so many historically interesting and
valuable photographs, which could also be featured. It was suggested that we
apply to the WVHC for a grant to do this.
We could use the WVU Press. There was some discussion as to how to use
our new painting of the museum. Denise is interested in cups or tote bags
(lower priced items for this slow economy) for the museum shop. Tom also mentioned an article by Calvin
Price, A Politician’s Favor, on how West Virginia became a state, which could
be reprinted or used as a program.
10.
Change displays at museum for current celebrations: This will be addressed after The Way We
Worked is over.
11. Do living history
presentations throughout the County:
Fortunately the Linwood Library, Hillsboro Library, Huntersville Heritage
Days and the Re-enactment of the Battle of Bartow have and will be presenting
these this year. We are happy to see them take the lead in this.
12. On train ride days the museum
should be open earlier: nothing has been
done about this for the moment. We would need more volunteers to offer this
service. However, we do spread tourist info and promote the train, and have
our brochures in Cass.
13. Work with Snowshoe and the
CVB to develop motor traffic to the museum:
Gail tells us that the CVB is working to revive bus tours of the county,
possibly beginning in 10-15 months and that stops at the museum could be
included.
14. Encourage more volunteers: we have not had a lot of success with this. We
particularly need them now that our paid employee has left. Last year we
hired someone for the last 3 weeks of the summer, but not doing this
represents substantial savings of money we do not have! Please help out.
15. Publicity, Publicity,
Publicity: we feel that we have done this in
spades-with the newsletter, Museum Pieces, great coverage by the Pocahontas
Times and B.J’s weekly photographs and frequent Preservation articles. We
also now have up and running our own website and FaceBook page (please “like”
it; this will help with future grant applications. Also the minutes of our
meetings are e-mailed to people who give us their email address and we send
out reminders of our meetings that way.
16. Encourage school groups and
other groups to visit the museum and
take an interest in local history: We have spoken to several social studies teachers;
it would be nice if they would join PCHS. For The Way We Worked they have
sufficient funding, not only to encourage visits by classes, but also to pay
for bus transportation for this.
17. Newsletter and historical
articles more often: our treasurer has
received many compliments on this summer’s “meaty” historical newsletter. We
would like to encourage other members to produce additional ones.
18. The 100th Birthday of Louise
McNeel’s birthday needs to be celebrated:
fortunately, the Molly Must mural, which features her and also her father’s
work was unveiled in Marlinton in June and the literary group at the
Hillsboro Library will celebrate her birthday in September.
19. Sesqui-centennial of Civil
War Events-write articles about these and list local veterans of the war: nothing
has been done about this, but we are selling Rev. William T. Price’s diary of
the first two months of the war when he was chaplain to Highland County
soldiers, “On to Grafton”.
Members were reminded of upcoming
events-Huntersville Heritage Day, Hillsboro’s literary/historical events at
the library, the re-enactment of the Battle of Bartow and, particularly the
many events of The Way We Worked.
The business meeting ended at 8 PM and
our host, Tom Shipley, spoke about his colorful Sharp ancestors and the
various buildings that were home to
the Sharp store, the county’s second oldest business, and which is featured
in this summer’s Goldenseal. His presentation was full of entertaining
anecdotes that he had learned primarily from his Uncle Dave, who had left him
the farm and store. After the talk, members were treated to drinks from the
old Coca Cola cooler by Tom and ice cream,
provided by Gail, and were free to explore this treasure trove of
antiques.
Many thanks to our host for a
fascinating visit; the next meeting will be the 4th Monday in September. The
location and topic will be announced soon.
Denise McNeel, secretary
Monday, July 25, 2011, 7PM at the Museum ANNUAL
MEETING
Members in attendance: Mary Jo Fisher, Zachary Grimes, Liz Gay,
Bill McNeel, Denise McNeel, Michelle Evans, Jane Price Sharp, B.J.
Gudmundsson, Geoff Hamill, Brent Moore, Gail Hyer, Donald McNeel, Moffett
McNeel, Becky Holmes, Dave Holmes, Matt Tate, Ashley Fleming, Ruth Taylor,
Tom Shipley, Jaynell Tibbs
Apologies were received from:
Joanne and Rob Lister, Kathy Henry
The meeting came to order at
7:10 PM. Some people picked up newsletters and paid their annual dues. The minutes of the last meeting were
approved as read. (Moved Gail, seconded Liz)
Financial Report. Income is down. People are traveling but
not buying much; book sales are down.
So far we have had 571 visitors (280 over Pioneer Days weekend). Last
year we had about double that number for the whole season. Increased
admission fees have helped, but over Pioneer Days we just took
donations. Dan Burdette started this
week on the renovations which will use the $4000 we have in hand for that. He
has worked on the front porch roof and the icebox cubicle so far. Twin
Creeks’ campers painted the porch; we hope that they will come back and do
other jobs. The Way We Worked is just a pass through account. There was some
discussion about the cost of the telephone, but now that we have a security
system that works through the telephone line, we have no option but to pay
for it year round. The financial report
was accepted. ( Moved B.J. seconded
Gail ) Bill told us that we needed further
building repairs totaling $10,000.
Bob Jacobson has offered to donate $5,000 towards this if we can raise
matching funds of that amount. He specified that he would like those to be
donations of a maximum of $100 per person. He would like to have a copy of
the letter we send out. Denise moved and B. J seconded that we accept his generous
offer. A committee will work with Bob to work out the details and perhaps
include some fundraising. Over Pioneer Days a well-known artist, Ron
Radcliffe painted the Museum and there was discussion of how to use the
resulting painting for fundraising-cards, prints, posters , perhaps, using
the Art Guild’s copier. We should like to have these available in time for
Christmas.
Connecting to Collections:
B.J. reported that she and Gail had attended the state meeting in Buckhannon
last Friday. This involves a grant of $40,000 to help museums to take care of
their collections. We were the only small museum represented (and the only
library). A survey of museums throughout the state had shown the same
problems : no heat, no inventory, no emergency plan. The state needs to come
up with a statewide plan to address these issues, so that we can apply for a
grant to receive federal funding. We will need to use the services of a
professional curator to assess the fragility of the state’s collections and
put in place a disaster plan. Federal funding of up to $250,000 for an
implementation grant is available, but only
4 or 5 states receive this each year. The application is due May 1. We
voted to participate in this program (moved Bill, seconded Ruth).
Blackhurst Books: We
have been approached by the owner of all the new copies in print of Mr.
Blackhurst’s books available. She wishes to
empty her house of them. She has offered to sell them to us for $5
apiece and we could sell them at the retail price and/or sell them to other
booksellers in the state. Though we would like to do this and it would be an
excellent moneymaker, we do not currently have the funds for a large
purchase. Denise moved and B.J. seconded the motion that we authorize the
treasurer to investigate the
possibility of a bank loan for the purchase of a significant number of these.
He will report back at the next meeting.
Carried.
Gail reported on and handed out
new brochures on the month-long Smithsonian traveling exhibition , The Way
We Worked, which will be housed in the Marlinton Municipal Building from
September 10 to October 22. Pocahontas County will focus on logging, and a
large and varied program of events is scheduled from a full-sized log drive
ark reproduction, to movies, talks, a full exhibit of pictures and artifacts
to wood chopping demonstrations. Volunteer docents are needed. The grand
opening will be September 19 from noon to 2PM.
B. J told us about updates to
our web page: pocahontashistorical.org. Denise has also set up a FaceBook Page
- PocahontasCounty Historical Museum. We hope people will check these out.
Denise also asked for volunteers at the museum for the period that Khristian
is on vacation and after he leaves for college. Bill listed people that we
needed to thank for their help over Pioneer days: Kimble Funeral Home
(convertible), Jim Burks (hay wagon for the parade, the Steve Davis family
for allowing us to park next door, Camp Twin Creeks, B.J. for her work on the
badge and reception, everyone for making cookies, and Pioneer Days for
honoring our 50th birthday. It was a big success and gave us much needed
publicity and exposure. She announced
that Tom Shipley has invited us to hold the August meeting (4th Monday) at
the Sharp Country Store at Slaty Fork.
Election of Officers:
Gail asked to step down from her position as vice-president , but the four
other current officers were re-elected: Matt as president, B.J. as
vice-president, Bill as treasurer and Denise as secretary. (Moved Ruth,
seconded Liz).
Bill announced that on August 4
the Drs. McBride, the archeologists who are involved in the excavation at
Green Bank would be speaking in Lewisburg on Frontier Forts.
Immediately following the business meeting, member Zachary
Grimes gave a presentation on Dr. Norman Price, a country doctor in
Pocahontas County for 60 years. When Zach was working as the museum host in
2009, he discovered, in a closet, a box of materials about Dr. Price,
including his diaries, scrapbooks and photographs. Zach was fascinated by the
insight that these materials gave him of a very intelligent man exploring the
developments and changes in medical training and practice in the first half
of the twentieth century. He found
himself asking many of the same questions as Dr. Norman, which helped him
explore his own vocation and led him
to read extensively about medical theories and practice. He also
brought Dr Norman’s instruments, diaries and pictures. Everyone enjoyed this
excellent program and people lingered to chat and visit over refreshments.
June 27 at 7 PM on the Museum Front Porch
Members in attendance :Matt
Tate, B.J. Gudmundssen, Bill McNeel, Nancy Woolridge, Hank Jaeger, Denise
McNeel, Mike Smith
Apologies received from Liz
Gay, Gail Hyer, Bob Lister, Joanne Lister and Aaron Pugh.
The meeting came to order 7:15.
The minutes were approved as read (moved by B.J and Bill)
Treasurer’s Report: The general
fund is currently in the red as we have had to pay for mowing, buy books etc. and income (entrance fees, book
sales, membership dues and donations) are just beginning to come in for the
season. We have $4000 in building fund and Dan Burdette will work on the
building later this summer toward completing the $14,000 needs of repairs to
the Museum. We raised entrance fees to $4 to adults and $2 to children 6-17.
Base membership dues will be $10. The newsletter with the membership
application/renewal form will be mailed out this week. “The Way we Worked”
project has $9,000 of dedicated funds from which the banner was purchased. Gail and B.J. have already carried this at
the Hillsboro festival and will do so at other festivals. Zach Grimes and
Denise McNeel spring cleaned the Museum saving the expense we have had in
past years. The financial report was
accepted (moved Denise, B.J.)
The museum opened 3 weeks ago
with Khristian Smith working as host five days a week. The other two
days will be covered by volunteer
members of the society (so far, Denise who works Mondays and Bill and Denise
McNeel and Bob and Joanne Lister have
worked on Sundays). Zach Grimes has also volunteered to work Sundays, but
other volunteers will be needed, especially in August when Khristian leaves
for college.
The front porch will be scraped
and painted June 28 by counselors in training at Twin Creek Camp,
Minnehaha. Denise McNeel will pay for
the paint and equipment. Their leader expressed willingness to do other
project, since she has a different group every two weeks. Other suggestions
included painting the railings on the porch and painting and working on the
roof of the CVB information booth that stands on our grounds by the parking
lot. Other suggestions will be welcome. President Matt Tate arranged for this
work to be done.
Pioneer Days
The main purpose of this
meeting was to make preparations for Pioneer Days, since this year the
Historical Society which is 50 years old, will be featured on the badge and
the 4 original and continuous member since 1961, Jane Price Sharp, Caroline
Burns, Bob Jacobson and Bill McNeel will be the parade marshals; we need to
find a buggy for them to ride in.
The Pioneer Village will be at
the museum and we will receive the $500 that Pioneer Days allocates for its
expenses. We will have a blacksmith, a broom maker, 2 people (member Kathy
Henry) who will be quilting/sewing, an acrylic artist, and a quill writer
using plant dyes. Ols time music will be played Unfortunately, P.D. is unable
to provide the advertised shuttle service to the museum, so we will have a
parking problem. B.J. will contact Steve Davis to see if workers can park
their vehicles on his property, so that the parking lot will be fully
available for visitors. We will also ask Chris Jessee if we can park a few
cars on his property. We also need a traffic warning signal (contact roads
department) and sandwich boards will be put out at the museum location. Additional member volunteers would be
helpful on both Friday and Saturday.
The badge for Pioneer Days #45
was designed by B.J. and is the first full color badge. Items incorporated
into the design include: the 1981 History Book, a Civil War sword and sash, a
doll from the Fanny Overholt collection, photos by Cal Gay and a nineteenth
century blue cream pitcher , which was donated by Mrs. Crummett. We are
selling these badges for Pioneer Days. We also plan to promote the sale of
old badges, of which we have many. It was decided that entrance fees to the
museum would be waived, but a large jar would be put out and entrance to the
museum building would be by donation on the Friday and Saturday of Pioneer Days.
We will also promote and have available membership applications for PCHS at
the entrance to the museum. Activities will include the usual spelling bees
and Pocahontas History contest (youth and adult) and children under 12 would
be challenged to find in the museum the items featured on the badge. Lemonade
and cookies will be served on the front porch on Friday as our “birthday
party”. We will need cookies for this, so people willing to bake some for us
should contact B.J. or Gail. We will ask the CVB to print us some posters to
place around town, so that our program of events will receive publicity.
We would also like to have a
“Happy Birthday” float, incorporating some of the “baby” items in our collection,
plus a birthday cake (not real). Denise will check on a wagon and Matt will
contact some of the Vista young ladies who can fit into some of our clothing.
We will get together to plan out the float and look in the attic.
B.J. and Gail met with lawyer
Roger Forman to discuss policies on access to archives and also the proposed
conversion of the society from a corporation to a non-profit organization.
Roger is interested in becoming involved in our organization.
July will be our annual
meeting. Bill will check with Zach Grimes to see if he is ready to give his
Dr Norman Price program or find another program.
Hank Jaeger reported that he
had contacted several agencies and associations and was moving ahead in his
endeavor to establish an industrial museum at the Power House Cass. He
suggested that members of the Mountain State Logging and Railroad Historical
Association be invited to work with The Way We Worked and B.J. proposed that
the July meeting of that group be held
in Cass.
B. J. also reported that there
had been a break in and burglary at McClintic Library. The intruders had
entered the Preservation Room and opened two of the cases. She will take an
inventory of the contents.
We have had some problems with
the fire alarm (10 false alarms at the museum), but the company has taken care of the problem ( a sensor was
replaced in the basement).
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.
Monday, May 23, 2011, 6PM at the Huntersville School
Participants: Mary Jo Fisher,
Moffett McNeel, B.J. Gudmundsson, Denise McNeel, Shirley Adams, Gail Hyer,
Matt Tate, Carmella K. Combs, Bill McNeel, Bob Lister, JoAnn Lister, Tim
Wade, Sarah J. Sanders, Hank Jaeger, Susie Landis, Marshall Shinaberry
The meeting was held in the
restored Huntersville School and hosted by the restorers. Everyone was
appreciative of the beautiful work, historic accuracy and dedication of the
group.
All officers being present,
President Matt Tate called the meeting to order at 6:20 PM. Tim Wade welcomed
everyone to the Huntersville School and told the story of the restoration,
which was led by 9 former students at the school and the work done by
volunteers, with some money received from the Landmarks Commission.
He also recounted that the
Huntersville Committee had also awarded the county’s Golden Horseshoe winners
with a savings bond for $50. He also reminded everyone to mark their
calendars for the Huntersville Traditions Day, the 1st Saturday in October.
He commented on the significance of Huntersville in the Civil War and
explained that the Robert E. Lee re-enactor was advising them about camp
life. He also announced that the re-enactor would again participate in
Traditions Day and that he would be appearing before both high school and
middle school students at PCHS during the school day. Tim also announced that
on Wednesday, July 6 at 7 PM at the Huntersville Presbyterian Church Dr Mark
Snell, Head of the History Department at Shepherd University, would be
speaking about the Causes and Effects of the Civil War. All of these presentations
will be announced in the Pocahontas Times.
Moffett McNeel (Landmarks
Commission) gave an update on the McLaughlin House, which was moving along
with the addition of a chimney, which came from a house on his farm. He also passed
around a piece of very old barbed wire and talked about the diary of his
grandfather/ Bill’s great-grandfather, Jordan Beard whose diary (141
typewritten pages), including descriptions of his Civil War experiences in
Charleston, South Carolina, he has in his possession.
One of the recent goals of the
directors was to reinstitute monthly meetings of P. C. Historical Society and
B. J. and Gail made sure that that happened this winter, though attendance
was not great. B. J. also announced
that the Pocahontas Times has been digitized and is accessible via the
computer in the Heritage Room at McClintic Library. One training session had
been held and others will follow.
Gail and B. J. reported on the
Smithsonian Exhibit, The Way We Worked, which we and PCFL will sponsor in
Pocahontas County (one of only six venues in West Virginia). This will be open to the public in
September and October on the second floor of the Marlinton Municipal Building
(elevator accessible). We will present a special focus on the logging
industry. There will be meetings around the county to promote and enlist
support and input, with one later this week in Durbin. We will produce a
brochure and it will be promoted at Traditions Days and at the Autumn
Festival. JoAnn and Bob Lister, who have been working hard on putting our
photos on CDS in preparation for photo books to raise funds for the society,
suggested that we explore the idea of making a book on just logging pictures
which could be available for sale in time for the Smithsonian exhibit. Denise
said she would check into this with the publisher.
Celebration of the Fiftieth
Anniversary of the Pocahontas County Historical Society. The Pioneer Days
Committee has chosen to honor the society by featuring the event on the 2011
badge. B.J. and Bill selected significant items from the Museum’s
collection and B.J. photographed them
and submitted the badge design to the Pioneer Days Committee. Featured are:
the 1981 History of the County, the McNeel Bible, a doll from the Fanny
Overholt collection, a European pitcher, a Civil War sword and some Cal Gay
photos. Parade Marshalls will be the four members who were at the beginning
meeting and still hold membership: Bob Jacobson, Bill McNeel, Jane Price
Sharp and Caroline Burns who will ride in a buggy. It is hoped that other
members will walk behind them, costumes. It would be great if we could again
have a float. The Pioneer Village will be located at the museum, with a
shuttle van to and from town. Many of our members have complained about the
deterioration of the original mission of the holiday, so we hope that this
could be a move back to this. Sarah
Sanders of the Huntersville Traditions Day offered to share her list of
crafters with our board and we hope that some of the directors will step
forward to help with this, a float, sprucing up the museum( Zach Grimes and
Denise McNeel have been cleaning). The river side porch needs to be cleaned
out and painted. Any volunteers?
Our next meeting, the 4th
Monday of the month, as usual, will be at the museum and will primarily focus
on the Pioneer Days celebration. The museum will open to the public in June.
Bill presented a financial report.
We have very little money, but
did receive $3000 from the Snowshoe Foundation and Bob Jacobson donated $1000
for repairs. We need much more than that, but we hope to get some essential
ceiling work done and the bathroom project completed. We hope also to raise
money for a new sign for the museum. We need memberships ($5 annual and $10+
sustaining), so encourage anyone interested in preserving the history of the
county to donate, but we also ask our
directors to publicize our needs and to encourage people to donate.
Hank Iaeger spoke about the
Power House at the Cass Mill. He showed pictures of some of the massive
equipment and has met with the superintendent of the park. They are hoping to
turn this into an industrial museum, which would be another drawing point to
the Cass Scenic Railroad Park. He was looking for letters of support for his proposal of this to the state. He and members Geoff Hamill and Bill
McNeel had explored the site the day before. Bill moved and B.J. seconded the
motion that the Pocahontas Historical Society endorse the renovation of the
Power House at Cass for public
viewing and that a letter to that effect be sent to the State Parks, with a
copy to Mountain State Historical Society. Carried.
Bill reported that the Depot
Committee has the necessary funding for the restoration of the depot and is
eager to proceed, but the members are frustrated in their efforts by the lack
of action of the state and the contracting company. This was to have gone out
to bid by now, but there have been more delays.
There was a reminder from the Huntersville director that
the Huntersville Jail needs window repairs.
The meeting adjourned at 8 PM after delicious refreshments
supplied by the Huntersville Traditions Committee.
 Minutes 2012
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