(By Rev. Lawrence Sherwood, former pastor of the Main Street Methodist Church)
The original Hermitage was built in the early 1840�s of bricks dug and fired on the premises, with slave labor. The first legal record (1841) described it as a red brick building �with necessary outbuildings.� It has been in continuous use as a hostelry since 1881. The inn has been an integral part of the community since its first guest arrived by stagecoach from Keyser and Cumberland; and later, when the inn�s livery met in the daily train from Cumberland. It is older than the State West Virginia (1863) and older than grant County (1866).
Before the Civil War, the Hermitage was the home of Dr. Jacob Kenny Chambers, great-grandfather of K. C. VanMeter Jr., VanMeter Fisher and Mrs. Jane Poe of Petersburg and L. Sinclair and Mrs. Carl Welton of Hardy County. During the War it was taken over by officers of the Federal Troops who occupied Petersburg and were stationed at Fort Mulligan.
In 1881, John and Mary Cunningham converted the house into the Cunningham Hotel and operated it into the 1890�s. They were followed by the father and family of the late Charles Godlove. Around the turn of the century, John Ed Taylor came to Petersburg to run the Riverside Tannery. Finding the building too small to house his family (nine daughters, of whom Mrs. W. C. Moomau and the late R. W. Baker were two) and businessmen who required lodging, he added extensively to the building, filling in the space between the original house and the outdoor kitchen and the rooms above it. It was during Mr. Taylor�s regime, that the Inn became known as the Hermitage Hotel.
During the First World War, the hotel was operated by G. P. Schaeffer. This gentleman was responsible for additions to the first floor, adding the third floor and putting in the first central heating and plumbing.
Mrs. Russell Quinn, daughter of John Ed Taylor, operated the Hermitage for a few years, until it was taken over by her nephew, Donald J. Baker.
Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Cowherd bought the hotel from Mr. Baker in 1942 and have constantly upgraded and remodeled the facilities; always trying to retain the charm and historic associations of the building. Some rooms here still used from transient guests; some have been converted to apartments; and the ground floor is largely given to the West Virginia Book and Craft shop.
During the Second World War, the Hermitage furnished quarters for the wives and families of young officers encamped at Mouth of Seneca with the 10th Mountain Troops.
In October 1965, a new and modern Motor Inn was added to the Hermitage, adding yet another page to the long and interesting history of the old Hermitage.
Forman Climbed Political Ladder Senate President
Hon. L. J. Forman, West Virginia�s most trusted state Senator, was born near Bradonville, Preston County, West Virginia. The son of a farmer, he followed this vocation on his father�s farm until seventeen years old, attending public school during the winter season, preparing himself for teaching. He taught and attended school until graduating from the National Normal University, of Lebanon, Ohio, in the class of 1878,with the degree of B. S. and also completing a business course at the same school. He then taught school for four years in Ohio, and located in Grant County, West Virginia, June 1882.
After reading law under the law firm of dyer & Pugh, he was admitted to the bar in October 1883. While reading law he was assistant clerk of the courts in Grant County, October 1884, he was elected to the office of Prosecuting Attorney for Grant County which office he filled continuously for sixteen years, being elected the first time by a larger majority than ever before, carrying every precinct in the county. He has been Congressional committeeman for Grant County for twenty years.
In politics, both State and National, Mr. Forman has always taken an active interest and was selected as a delegate to the national convention held at Philadelphia in 1900. The same year he made a phenomenal race for the State Senate in the old Democratic district, composed of the counties Hampshire, Hardy, Pendleton, Grant and Mineral being defeated by one hundred and eighty-one votes in a district eleven hundred Democratic. In 1902 he was again a candidate for the State Senate in the new Fourteenth district, composed of the counties of Preston, Tucker, Mineral, Grant and Hardy, and was elected by the largest majority given to any State Senator. He was nominated and re-elected to the State Senate in 1906, and is a leading member of the present Senate serving as chairman of the judiciary committee.
He was a candidate for Congress at the special convention held at Keyser in 1905, but was defeated by James S. Lakin, of Terra Alta.
As a private citizen none stand higher. His character is above reproach.
Inter-Potomac Industrial Edition 1908
Night of June 17, 1949 One of City�s Most Catastrophic
The evening of Friday, June 17, 1949, will be remembered as one of the most catastrophic in the history of the South Branch Valley. As dusk fell on the fateful day, steams throughout the valley, swollen by over 12 inches of rain in 24 hours, abruptly overflowed their banks and swarmed over all that was in their path.
By Saturday morning, nine persons had perished in the Petersburg area and over 54 million damage had been wrought.
Hardest hit by the flash floods that descended Friday evening were areas along the Franklin Pike, Lunice Creek, Johnson Run and the North Fork.
The stricken area was quickly declared a national disaster area by President Harry Truman and Red Cross units were dispatched to aid the hundreds of families who were let homeless and penniless by the precipitous floods.
The Red Cross established a temporary shelter in the old Petersburg Elementary School gym. By the time, it left town a month later, over $37,323 worth of supplies, food, shelter, clothing and other rehabilitation foods had been handed free to 198 families ravaged by the disastrous floods.
Many of the South Branch valley communities were virtually immobilized. Petersburg was without electricity from Friday until Sunday evening. Water had to be boiled before it could be consumed and typhoid immunizations were given at the County Health dept. to thwart an outbreak of the dreaded disease.
The state Road Commission estimated 27 bridges of various sizes had been carried away in the county by the turbulent waters and traffic flow into and out of Petersburg was non-existent for a day.
For some, the transportation standstill proved fatal, Mrs. Morgan Conrad, a Smoke Hole resident died several days after a copperhead bite because a doctor was unable to reach her because of the high water.
Among the dead were local state Police detachment Commander Cpl. A. M. Durst and his 12-year-old son who perished when their cinder block cottage collapsed under the tremendous pressure of the rising North Fork.
Had the food waters come well into the night instead of early evening, the death toll probably would have been well into the hundreds.
Petersburg residents Linton Sites and Dick Oates spent Saturday skimming over tree tops spotting stranded victims clinging to branches above submerged tree trunks.
In Maysville, the Methodist Church was lifted from its foundation like a top and swept away. And in the Fox and Ox vicinity, all but one cottage was seared from its site.
The cloudburst unleashed water faster than the earth could soak it up and mammoth rock and mudslides careened down some of the valley�s mountainside---obliterating trees in the process. The boulder-strewn scars of the slides can still be viewed along the steep mountain faces bordering Rts. 4 and 28 in the North Fork Gap.
Many streams and vast stretches of the South branch and North Fork altered course abruptly during the deluge.
Besides the loss of human lives, untold thousands of livestock perished in the high waters. The Shawnee Milling Co. in Petersburg lost 63,000 chickens along. And the Petersburg Trout Hatchery was deprived of some 87,000 trout.
The flood-ravaged Valley�s misfortune became the focus of nationwide news teams and an estimated 40,000 tourists swarmed into the valley to view the spectacle Sunday from the Eastern coastal states.
Backwoods History on Area Scarce
By Ollie Arnold
Little backwoods history is written, but records, place names and sometimes relics indicate man�s presence.
Across the North Fork opposite the Corner E. U. M. church lays a section of bottomland that was probably among the first lands on the North Fork to be settled.
Current residents pick up Indian relics and one, Mrs. Emmitt Kile, has a collection of some 200 arrowheads and drill bits, bolos, hatchets of various designs and some ornaments that she has picked up in the fields.
E. L. Judy�s history lists a �Ft. Powers � �near Corner.� Mr. Glen Kile has incorporated into his barn some logs with slots for firing weapons, which he says, came from an old fort down in the field. A Martin Powers is listed as killed by the Indians and a Valentine Powers as captured. Both names were listed in the 1782 census, Martin heading a family of 9 and Valentine one of 6.
A record book showing marriages of Hardy County (then including Grant), 1797-1841, shows Valentine Powers Sr. from 1820 to the last entry 1822.
Powers Hollow, about 1 mile distance is said to have been named fro men who preached and who ran a mill in the hollow.
Smoke Hole Caverns
Smoke Hole Caverns was entered through a crawl space until after the present road was constructed down the North Fork. The late �Lige� Allen enjoyed taking friends through accessible parts until Judge Gus Muntzing from Moorefield opened the caverns commercially and had Harry Arnold to build the present souvenir shop.
After the caverns were open to the public, an old still and an old wooden box were placed in the entry and it pleased the boys guiding tourists to tell their tours that the still was used in the caverns by early settlers and that the box was an ammunition storage box used by Col. L. R. Grover of the North Fork Rangers. Mr. Grover was real enough but was a contemporary, and the Rangers were pure imagination, but the boys told it so often that the reference appeared in Wild Wonder West Virginia as a straight report.
Other Caverns
Sink homes appear in pastures to the north of Routes 2 and 28 indicating that caverns may be extensive and a few may be entered from the pastures.
Redman Run
Mr. Harman Hartman says that Redman Run�s name came from a colored family in Petersburg in the following way.
A Mr. Clark owned most of the Clark Pastures on the North Fork and lived in the brick house along the riverbank of the American Legion Building.
Mr. Harman�s great-grandfather shirk was doing some work for Mr. Clark and was present when Mr. Clark caught one of the slaves eating from some plate that she was not supposed to use. Mr. Clark tied her to the whipping post and gave her so many lashings until the blood was running down her back. Appalled, Mr. Shirk bought the woman from Mr. Clark for $400 and moved her and her husband onto the Shirk land in the Smoke Holes. Although the Redman moved away, the run has kept their name.
Floating Crossties
Many hardwood crossties were cut along the North Fork and through the Smoke Hole. When asked how they were hauled out, Mr. Kennie Kile said that they did not haul them out at all, for the most part. They floated them down the river. It is hard to believe, but when he was 12or so, they could float ties down the North Fork in July, the water level was that high. Today they couldn't be floated at all. The water has just sunk that much. He can remember when the North Fork was just full of crossties; you just had to fight your way to get to it.
Siple operated a tract of timber up in Hopeville Gap. .
He had several thousand ties, and they�d put them out on the bank of Jordan Run and when a big rain would come they would put them out in Jordan Run and they�d wash out into the Fork and they�d raft them in to Petersburg. There they would take these tie picks and pull them out on the bank. They would load them.
The railroad didn�t come in until 1910. They floated crossties and pulpwood..my gosh, the pulpwood that was floated down this fork! They put a boom across down town to catch them, and they took pikes, pulled them ashore and loaded them. Sometimes some would get away�maybe go to Moorefield. They would gather them up all along the river. They would cut them the right length at the sawmills before they floated them down. They would use any kind of hardwood for ties, not pine or poplar, but any kind of hardwood.. There were fires about every year. People would even set fires for sheep range�huckleberries too. People claimed that to get a crop of huckleberries, you got o burn the woods
The Poor Farm
In 1890 the �Poor Farm� which includes the present 4-H Camp and Nelson�s cabins down to Goldizen�s Cabins on Route 4&28, was taken over by Grant County to run as a home for those who had no place else to go. It was deeded to the county from R. C. Smith. Hendron Hetzler was the first operator of the farm. After him, Dave Cassidy ran the farm followed by Newt Harris who left in 1908. Allen Foley ran the farm for five years. Jule Dettinburn came and stayed for three years and then Mr. Foley returned and finished the sixth year. After him, Hobert Smith ran the farm from 1914 until Jim Markwood took it over in 1919, running it until 1937 when the farm was closed.
The Grant County facility was closed because the arm in Pendleton County was better equipped and had enough room to accommodate the people. Some were placed there; a few were placed in private homes when the local farm was closed. The charge at the Pendleton facility was $1.00 per day per person, which was cheaper than the county, could operate this farm.
The people who managed the arm while it was still in operation did so on contract to the county, at about $325 to $350 per year. In addition to this they got their own house and board free. The farm itself was run for the county, which paid all bills, and the profit from the farming operation would not cover, and the contract price represented the wage of the manager.
Some of the people who lived at the farm were able to help with the farming and they did.
The county at that time had an officer called the �Overseer of the Poor� who investigated any homeless persons. Some people who came were actually fairly well off, but they had deeded their homes over to the younger generations who in some cased did not want to care for the old folks. The oldsters had expected to be taken care of, but having deeded the property, had no lien against it, sand if the children did not wish to care for them, they simply had to no place else to go. At 60 or 65 they were old people. Some had worked hard. They had a different way of living, often with little medical care.
North Fork
Early Plowing by Smith Brothers
A picture is shown of the four Smith brothers showing how plowing was done in the 19th century (horses and a plow with them behind the plow) They were John, George, Ike and Ed Smith, and the lands that they tilled are still being farmed by their grandchildren and families, Glen and Emmitt Kile, and their family of the late Forrest Kile.
The land came into the Smith family by purchase from Benjamin and Joseph Sreeve, a name no longer represented in the county or which may have been changed to Shreve, although no one by either name is listed in the 1782 or 1784census or in any records given by local historians Judy or Morton..
The deed for the land is written on vellum and signed by James Monroe, then governor of Virginia, and the owner of such Fairfax lands as still remained unsold as of February 1, 1794.
The date of sale is given as 1782, but the deed signed by Madison is of September 24, the �year of our Lord 1800 and of the Commonwealth of Virginia 25. A total of $5. in stamps is affixed, one $3. and two $1.
The original Smith homestead is gone, but the loom house is in good shape. Mr. Kile having roofed it recently. The top floor was used for spinning and weaving and the bottom floor is a root cellar.
************************************************************************Bitter Feud Ended in Grisly Murder of Hiram Bell
by: Ollie Arnold
One of the most highly emotional happenings on the North Fork concerned a local feud. A certain Hiram Bell of Bayard had a running argument going with a couple of native North Forkers concerning moonshining and other matters.
The local men had been drafted into the Army for World War I but were hiding out to keep from going and Mr. Bell reported them to the military. MP�s came to get them and in the process one was shot and wounded so badly that he spent six months in the Hospital.
After the episode, the feud intensified and the arguments included controversy over moonshining. In fact, Mr. Bell had said that he was going to kill them and carried a rifle for the purpose.
On one trip he left the rifle at a house on the Fork while he went to town picking it up on his way back. Mr. Bell had his rifle strapped to his saddle and was eating a piece of candy as he started through the gorge near the Smoke Hole Caverns that leads to Jordan Run little dreaming that the two were lying in wait for his return.
The fellows did not want the rider-less horse to alert anyone of Bell�s absence so they decided that one should shoot the man and the other the horse.
When the coroner arrived in due time he found Mr. Bell with the top of his head missing and a half eaten bit of candy in his mouth.
So strong was the sympathy for the defendants that when the case came to trial about everyone on the Fork was in Petersburg to listen.
When time for sentencing came, the one who shot the man was sentenced to a year and the one who shot the horse was sentenced to four. However, he was let out in about a year and a half for good behavior.
So strange are the ways of the spoken word that various versions of this story are told, even one that gives the victim as a revenue agent.
Corner
Some 8 tracts of land came together near the site of the Corner Church causing residents to refer to the spot as �Corners�
Also, on the bank of the Fork at Corners near Lum�s Bait shop stood a huge chestnut that served as a marker (corner) for the Fairfax line survey made in 1746 and that was washed away by the 1949 flood.
Corner Schools
There was a colored school near where Laura Mallow had a cabin one time. One person who sent children to school there was Jane Fisher who had been a slave and to whom the Weltons deeded the land at Corner where she lived until she died.
The first Corner school was discontinued about 1914. It is now used as a residence; it is directly across from Lum�s Bait Shed on 4 & 28. Between times, it was used as a store for quite awhile.
After this, a one-room school was built on the hill and about two years later a second room was built on to it.
It too was remodeled into a dwelling when the schools when the schools were consolidated and students were bused into Petersburg. Presently the house is occupied by Clarence Stump.
Granny�s Hill
Granny�s Hill where the VEPCO line crosses that favorite sledding spot of the North Fork is reported by Martin E. Goldizen as having been named for this grandmother, Susanna Judy, who lived to be over 100 and who married Gabriel Goldizen who had been captured at Trenton, N. J. while fighting for the British.
Swinging Bridge
One of the few remaining footbridges in Grant County was built by the Kiles about 1940 so that they could cross the river to care for stock in their barns located on that side.
Perhaps the most used swinging bridge of the county is the one that crossed the North Fork near the Corner Church and which was replaced by a metal bridge in 1974075. The four Kile-Smith families used the bridge daily for many years.
Poor Farm Spring
The name �Poor Farm Spring� is about all that is left to remind us of the provisions made for the indigent poor and aged by Grant County.
North Fork
Mr. John Smith of Cabins said that this Presbyterian log church was moved three times: first it was from the Ridges, then it was moved to Town Hill behind where Petersburg Block plant now stands (new one), and finally to Corners where Larry Kimble now has a trailer.
The church was of logs and after the logs were moved, it was weather boarded over. After a time the roof got bad. George Judy from Petersburg, who was a tinner, put a new roof on it. The rafters were not too good and there came a high wind, which took the new rood, rafters, sheeting and all and blew it over to the Russ Smith place. The community never did put it back up. The roof blew off about 11910 or 1911. There would be no way of knowing how old the building was but it was quite old when moved up to Corner.
New York Bargain Store
Petersburg, West Virginia
This firm, composed of W.B. and W. E. Hill, is one of the foremost and therefore up-to-date mercantile firms in Grant County. The business has been conducted under its present name since 1905. Their building surpasses that of any inland mercantile house in this section.
W. B. Hill, the senior partner, was born in Hardy County, Virginia, now Grant County, West Virginia, 1841. Mr. Hill is a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the Confederate, Army. By trade he is a blacksmith, but since 1874, he has been engaged almost continuously in the mercantile business.
W. E. Hill, the junior partner, was born in Grant County, West Virginia, October 16, 1876. For about ten years he has engaged in the mercantile business; has engaged actively in politics and was clerk of the State Senate Judiciary Committee in 1905. He is a young man with more than the ordinary ability, is public spirited and is aggressive as well as progressive.
Inter-Potomac Industrial Edition 1908
Once the Symbol of Petersburg, Tannery Slowly being disassembled
By Nancy Wilson Hill
Petersburg and the tanner were once described as wedded, with the tannery being as much a part of Petersburg as the sidewalks and the pond bridge.
Now, no smoke comes from the lofty smoke stack and no whistle blows loud and clear. The tannery is being town down.
History
Tanning in Petersburg began in the 1890�s. In that year J. E. and J. S. Taylor and W. A. Engeman went into partnership and built the Brighton Tannery in Petersburg.
J. S. Taylor sold his interest to W. A. Engeman. Soon after the latter became dissatisfied and brought suit to set aside the sale on ground of fraud.
After a hard fight through the circuit court, the case was decided in favor of the defendant. On appeal to the state supreme court, the case was reversed.
Finally, by agreement, the tannery was sold at public auction to the U. S. Leather Company. A compromise was reached and the money divided between the surviving partners.
In the compromise, L. J. Forman represented J. S. Taylor and H. B. Gilkeson and Benj Daily represented W. A. Engeman.
Under the U. S. Leather, also called Union Tanning Co., the name of the tannery was changed to Riverside tannery. Fire totally destroyed the tannery in 1906 and it had to be rebuilt.
E. A. George brought the first lumber for rebuilding the tannery on three wagons towed by a big engine.
Fire struck the tannery again in 1919. The each house was destroyed and a shutdown of about six months was necessary before production was restored.
An indenture was made between Union Tanning Co. and Keystone Tanning and Glue Co in 1942.
In 1950, the Petersburg Tanning Co. purchased the tannery. They changed their corporate name to Blanchard Bros. And Lane, Inc. in 1955.
An estimated $$60, 000 fire razed the leach house and slightly damaged the boiler room in 1957. Another method of tanning was being used, so the leach house wasn�t replaced nor was production interrupted.
Blachard Bros, and Lane, Inc. sold �Tannery Row� and the superintendent�s house (present owner Ralph Snell) in 1958.
Loewengart and Co. obtained the title to the tannery in 1960. The Petersburg Industrial Development Corporation raised the capital for the company to commence operation.
In 1965 Loewengart merged the Moorefield and Petersburg plants at the latter location. Most of Moorefield came to Petersburg.
The tannery was mothballed in mid-1974. Early last year the tanner was sold to Fred, Henry and William Moomau.
Loewengart has moved some of the machines from the tannery to Montana, Delaware and Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The bark shed and shower room has been torn down.
Future Plans
Within the next two years all of the buildings with the exception of one concrete building will be town down.
Torn Down
Long rang plans for commercial use of the property are being developed.
Cess pools on the property are being drained and the sludge is being hauled to reclaimed strip mine land.
Past Tannery Buildings
When the original tannery was built, a 95 ft. iron smoke stack was used. This was replaced in 1930 by a 100 ft. yellow-bricked smoke stack.
Also built on the original 123 acre tract was �tannery Row�. Built for tannery employees, the 10 yellow painted houses rented for three dollars monthly.
Situated on 50x150 foot lots, the five-room houses each had an outdoor toilet. There was only one well for the 10 houses.
Water was installed in 1930. The installation of electricity caused the rent to jump to five dollars monthly.
Three houses are now left of the original 10. Only one house is still in the row
Tannery horses were kept in a barn located at the present sight of Long�s Laundromat. The barn was torn down in the 50�s.
Equipment
Recently, the tannery whistle was removed from its perch on the boiler room roof. Fifty pounds of steam were needed to blow the whistle, which was six inches in diameter and 18 inches long. It could be heard for miles around.
The tannery whistle blew mostly for the benefit of the tannery workers but also it kept many other residents on schedule.
Horses were used until the tannery purchased the first truck in 1928.