West Virginia - Mountains & Environs!

[giradman]

Southwestern Pennsylvania - Ft. Necessity & Fallingwater!

Our second day trip took us into southwestern Pennsylvania (about a 2 hr drive from the Stonewall Jackson State Park) w/ two goals in mind, first a visit to Ft. Necessity National Battlefield and then onto Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. The drive was beautiful w/ first the northern mountains of West VA and then those of Pennsylvania - from the map, HW 79 took us to Morgantown (home of West Virginia University), then HW 43 and finally HW 40 - the latter was known as the 'National Road' which was completed in 1820 and connected Cumberland, Maryland and Wheeling, Virginia (at that time); along the National Road is Ft. Necessity park and also close by the road that leads to Fallingwater.

George Washington in the early 1750s (he was 21 y/o, born in 1732) was sent as a Virginia militia officer by the colonial governor to investigate French and Indian activities in the Ohio River valley - his main objective as to reach the 'forks' of the Ohio (location of present day Pittsburgh), but the French had already constructed a fort (Ft. Duquense), so he built a rather modest structure named Ft. Necessity, which has been re-constructed on the park site - a battle occurred which was the 'match' that lit the powder keg leading to the French & Indian War on the American continent (called the Seven Years War in Europe) - quote below from Ft. Necessity National Battlefield, for those interested in more details.

In 1755, the British sent Major General Edward Braddock w/ Washington on his officer staff to the Ohio 'forks' to capture the French fort - his campaign was a disaster w/ a major battle in July of that year; Braddock was killed and his troops surrendered (more information HERE); the 'real' war started the next year - early in that war, the French abandoned and burned Ft. Duquense while the British were advancing toward the fort - a new one was built and named Ft. Pitt (after the British Prime Minister then) - hence the name Pittsburgh.

The second map shows the geographic relationship of the two forts discussed - Braddock's Road is now a part of HW 40 and his Monument/Tomb is located there not far from the battlefield park. Also added is a pic from the Mt. Vernon Museum (a worthwhile visit!) showing Washington at 19 y/o when a surveyor of the now Western Virginia & Ohio River Valley areas, which he knew quite well and a copy of a painting of him in his colonial officer's uniform in the 1750s (kind of different from the usual 'powdered wig' images) - Dave

The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of the French and Indian War. This war was a clash of British, French and American Indian cultures. It ended with the removal of French power from North America. The stage was set for the American Revolution.

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[scifan57]

Another excellent installment in your travelogue. Your posts are better than articles in some of the travel guides I've read.

 

[The OB]

More great reading Dave, thanks! With that H & McC feud, is that in any way continuing today or has too much water passed under the bridge? Sorry if I missed that in your presentation
Andrew


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[giradman]

Hi guys - thanks for the comments!

The Hatfield & McCoy Feud was an intermittent post-Civil war 'family thing' that extended into the early 1890s - the start of the feud is described below in the first quote (and the opening scenes of the mini-series w/ Costner & Paxton) (source HERE); also, the 'death list' is shown in the second quote (again from the same source, i.e. a Wiki article that provides some great details). The feud continued in court battles for the next 10 years or so - "Fighting between the families eased following the hanging of Mounts. Trials continued for years until the 1901 trial of Johnse Hatfield, the last of the feud trials." So, looks like the feud lastly nearly a half century.

The patriarch of the West Virginia clan was Devil Anse Hatfield (1839-1921) (pic below from this short bio) - amazing the guy survived the entire feud and died of pneumonia! Family grave site pictured below. As mentioned previously, there are tour maps and audios available to tour the area shown in my previous post; in addition, there is even 'off road' touring (mountain bikes, 4-wheel drives, & ATVs) - pic below from this website - but for those interested, look at the links given and watch the mini-series which is quite well done. Dave

Asa Harmon McCoy, who was despised by Jim Vance (uncle of Devil Anse Hatfield) for joining the Union Army during the Civil War, was discharged from the army early because of a broken leg. He returned home to a warning from Vance that Harmon could expect a visit from the County Wildcats, a local militia group with members from the Hatfield family including Devil Anse. Frightened by gunshots as he drew water from his well, Harmon hid in a nearby cave, supplied with food and necessities each day by his slave, Pete, but the Wildcats followed Pete's tracks in the snow, discovered Harmon, and fatally shot him on January 7, 1865.

Deaths[edit]

• January 7, 1865 – Former Union soldier Asa Harmon McCoy, probably by the "Logan Wildcats" led by Jim Vance.[SUP][12][/SUP] *1
• 1878 – Bill Staton (Hatfield family), as revenge for testifying on behalf of Floyd Hatfield in his trial for stealing a McCoy hog.[SUP][13][/SUP] Shot by Sam McCoy, nephew of Randolph McCoy Sr.[SUP][14][/SUP] *2
• August 9, 1882 – Ellison Hatfield, injured in a fight with Tolbert, Pharmer, and Randolph McCoy, Jr. on August 7, dying two days later.[SUP][15][/SUP] *3
• August 9, 1882 – Tolbert McCoy, tied to pawpaw trees and killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield's shooting/stabbing, on the day Ellison died. *4
• August 9, 1882 – Pharmer McCoy, tied to pawpaw trees and killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield's shooting/stabbing. *4
• August 9, 1882 – Randolph McCoy Jr., tied to pawpaw trees and killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield's shooting/stabbing.[SUP][16][/SUP] *4
• 1886 – Jefferson "Jeff" McCoy, following his murder of mail carrier Fred Wolford[SUP][17][/SUP] shot by "Cap" Hatfield[SUP][14][/SUP] *5
• January 1, 1888 – Calvin McCoy, at Randolph's house by nine attackers led by Jim Vance. The attackers failed in their attempt to eliminate witnesses against them.[SUP][18][/SUP]*6
• January 1, 1888 – Alifair McCoy, at Randolph's house by Ellison Mounts.
• January 7, 1888 – Jim Vance, killed by Frank Phillips.[SUP][14][/SUP]
• January 18, 1888 – Deputy Bill Dempsey, wounded by Jim McCoy and killed by Frank Phillips in Battle of Grapevine Creek[SUP][19][/SUP]
• February 18, 1890 – Ellison Mounts, hanged[SUP][20][/SUP] for Alifair's murder.[SUP][11][/SUP]

Numbers after asterisks (*) are cross references to names on the family trees below.

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[leelai]

Enjoying your logs immensely Dave......so many wonderful photos and the history is so very interesting.

Amazed by the Hatfield/McCoy feud....all that blood letting over such a long time! Senseless but fascinating!

@Suenc......loved your pic, that old house conjures up it's own history and I can see why you would say broccoli!

 

[giradman]

Enjoying your logs immensely Dave......so many wonderful photos and the history is so very interesting.

Amazed by the Hatfield/McCoy feud....all that blood letting over such a long time! Senseless but fascinating!

Hi Leelai - well for those who enjoy family feuds (and if available), I would highly recommend the TV series Justified - just finished streaming (off Amazon) the 5th season and loving Timothy Olyphant in the role of US Marshall 'Raylan Givens' - brief description below from IMDB - family feuds, murders, marijuana growing, other drugs, sipping Kentucky bourbon, sex, etc. - what more could you want! Dave

Old-school U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is reassigned from Miami to his childhood home in the poor, rural coal-mining towns in Eastern Kentucky.

 

[giradman]

Fallingwater - Frank Lloyd Wright Masterpiece in the Pennsylvania Mountains

Not far off HW 40 and Ft. Necessity - first I'll quote a post left in the picture thread as an introduction but added some other images from similar comments there.

The 'complex' consists of the main house, guest house (up higher), and servant quarters. The first two pics show the setting of the main house w/ the waterfall passing underneath. The levels or floors are cantilevered, i.e. attached only on one edge near the fireplace which is huge and anchors the floors; in addition, the last pic shows how Wright achieved this architectural feat - in addition to the massive fireplace, struts extend behind the house and into the adjacent mountain.

Just a fabulous place - the tour lasts about 45 minutes and takes you virtually through the entire structure and allows visitors to walk onto the terraces (and remember nothing is underneath supporting those levels - WOW!). I'll continue in the next post - Dave

Hi Leelai - below is another pic from the web w/ the lights on - being there gave Susan and I a much better appreciation of the house and the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect. The house was built for Edgar J. Kaufmann and his family - they indeed owned a small mountain cabin previously on the property and his wife continued to use that name when they had guests (several guest bedrooms are present in the main house & a guest house w/ one bedroom higher up the mountain).

As to cost, Kaufmann wanted to come under $50,000 (USA dollars in the late 1930s); Wright received $8000 for his design and building supervision (just used an inflation calculator; in 2014 USA dollars, those amounts are now: $2,520,000 and $134,500, respectively).

P.S. click the image to fully appreciate the beauty of this place - windows were strategically placed and would be opened easily, so one could adjust the 'volume' of the waterfall sound in each of the rooms - Wright continues to amaze! Dave
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[giradman]

Fallingwater - Frank Lloyd Wright Masterpiece (continued):


The first two pictures below are the inside of the 'main' room of the house, which consisted of separate bedrooms for each family member (Junior was on the third floor), guest bedrooms, and a small kitchen (used by the current staff so one could just 'peek in'). Typical of Frank's houses (this is my fourth), horizontal lines and a lot of stone and wood, plus a low ceiling (he was short and liked the look and feeling, I guess); the floor was made of stone from the property; shelves were also 'cantilevered' into the walls (noticed on the fall wall in the 2nd image).

The third pic is a stairway (the glass tops just push back to open the space) to the waterfall where you could sit w/ feet in the water. The next picture shows the ingenious windows - the smaller ones are horizontal the the larger ones vertical - when all were closed, the sound of the waterfall was low and distant, but depending on how many were opened, the sound could to magnified incrementally to a much higher volume.

The final image shows the stairs which lead to the guest house (normal ceiling height) - the path is 'covered' by yet another marvel of architecture - i.e. the only support for this 'stepped' roof are the black posts (notice the white arrows); otherwise those roofs are just hanging out in space - according to the guide, architects and students visit constantly to study this structure. For more information and details, visit the Fallingwater website. Dave
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[scifan57]

Here's a photo of Fallingwater during its $11,000,000 restoration in 2001. http://waterlandlife.org/fallingwater/restoration/updates.html

 

[giradman]

Here's a photo of Fallingwater during its $11,000,000 restoration in 2001. View attachment 57305 WPC: Fallingwater Restoration

Yep - that 'cantilevered' plan from the side of a mountain over a waterfall done in the 1930s was indeed a novel concept for a home -

Frank Lloyd Wright's ideas seemed to be ahead of the technology needed @ times (would be great to see what he could do w/ present building materials?) - the guide on a tour went into the renovation, and of course, other Wright buildings have certainly had problems w/ leaky roofs being a common problem - for those interested, more information HERE - Dave

 

[leelai]

Just what I've been waiting for Dave! Just love that house.....

So very interesting that leaks did happen.....flat roofs are notorious for it from what I've been told by many builders, many won't build a home with them here. We've been very lucky in that respect.......no leaks to date!

Thank you Dave!

 

[skimonkey]

Dave...very nice pictures of West Virginia. My husband and I went there several years ago for a weekend trip and thought how beautiful the State was. I never realized that West Virginia had such rolling landscape there. It truly was lovely trip. We were there for only 2 days looking at some real estate there-though it didn't work out.

I just love the FLW Masterpieces. Just love that contemporary, spacious look inside. Thank you for sharing.

 

[giradman]

New River, River Gorge Bridge, and Bridge Day

Despite its name, the New River is likely the second (behind the Nile) or third oldest river in the world, and the oldest one in the United States; it is the only Appalachian river that runs in a south to north direction (all of the others head toward the Atlantic coast on the east; and into Tennessee and adjacent states on the west). The New River likely formed when the Appalachian Mountains were rising nearly a half billion years ago (Source); the river is 320 miles in length (see map below; the darker 'blue' line) and starts in far northwestern North Carolina (mainly in Ashe county - another travelogue of mine) as two forks which unite near the Virginia border; the river then continues into West Virginia and unites w/ the Gauley River to form the Kanawah just below Charleston - the Kanawah then drains into the Ohio River (arrow on the map) - more info HERE, for those interested.

Each of the three states have established New River Parks and other commercial activities related to the 'white rapids' that are often present - so canoeing & kayaking on more gentle portions can be replaced w/ white water rafting on boats of varying size - some pictures below of the river and its beauty - this will be a 3-post discussion, so more to come. Dave

The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period and once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and theRocky Mountains before they were eroded.

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[giradman]

New River, New River Gorge Bridge, and Bridge Day (continued):

The New River passes over HW 19 just north of Beckley, West VA (please refer to the map in the first post) - in the past to get across the gorge, one had to descend and then ascend curvy mountain roads, and cross a small bridge which took nearly an hour. The current New River Gorge Bridge opened in 1977 and was the highest vehicular bridge in the world at the time. The bridge is over 3000 ft. long and 376 ft. above the river below - now takes less than a minute to cross the gorge!

On the north side of the river, there is a Visitor's Center (our 2nd visit on the way back from our trip) w/ a spectacular view of the gorge and also a set of wooden stairs that extend down to two levels - the best level is a steep descent of nearly 200 stairs for further glorious views. The first two pics below are my own from that latter viewing area - one shows the old bridge and the other the underneath of the new bridge, a marvel of engineering (more HERE).

The other images from the web - spectacular looks of the bridge from the level of the river and finally when the mountains and gorge are shrouded in clouds. Dave
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[The OB]

Great pics Dave! That bridge is a marvel of engineering. I'm trying to visualize how they went about starting and then adding to it in stages, presumably at both sides at the same time. Seems quite a task. Beautiful and no doubt strong yet seemingly almost a bit fragile in the economy of materials used. Love that last shot of the bridge amongst fog
Andrew


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