The Panhandle State

https://www.mapsof.net/west-virginia/west-virginia-county-map

Back in June, when I did a post for West Virginia Day, Kris asked the following question in one of her comments: "I am curious as to how the boundaries were made--in looking at a map, the panhandles seem to be oddly placed and like they should be part of a different state." I gave a vague answer because I wasn't really sure how we ended up with two panhandles myself. I've done a little research, so now I'm going to try to answer her question. Better late than never, right?

First of all, it's complicated and confusing, but I'm going to try to simplify it so it makes sense. 

As you all know, West Virginia was once part of Virginia. In the early times, Virginia had a far western boundary. After the Revolution, Congress encouraged the donation of land to the United States. So, Virginia gave up Kentucky and everything west of the Ohio River. However, they still wanted access to the Ohio River, so they kept the Tug Fork and Big Sandy Rivers since those rivers flow into the Ohio. That forms some of the western boundary—the non-panhandle part. 

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania and Virginia had overlapping land claims and had a big dispute about the western border between them. The border ended up just west of Pittsburg, leaving the little silver of land in the north - The Northern Panhandle. BTW, Pittsburg is where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers come together to form the Ohio River. If you haven't figured it out by now, the Ohio River was very important in the country's westward expansion. It was a navigable river that flowed into the Mississippi River.

The eastern part of Virginia, the Tidewater and Piedmont regions, had rich farmland and plantations run on slave labor, which we have all heard about. The western, mountainous part of Virginia had subsistence farming and few, if any, slaves. There was no need. However, representation in the legislature was based on population, which included the slaves in the count, even though they had no rights and were considered property. So, using these numbers, the western part of the state had little say about what went on. Western Virginia tried to secede a couple of times to no avail.

Then the Civil War happened. Virginia was a Confederate State, but the western part had mixed loyalties. In 1861, Union troops crossed the Ohio into Virginia, attacked the Confederate forces in the mountains, and eventually occupied the area. Western Virginia saw this as an opportunity and seceded from Virginia to the Union. The extent of the Union occupation at that time determined the state's eastern border. 

That is, except for the end of the eastern panhandle, which was still loyal to the Confederacy and did not vote to secede. Congress recognized the new state of West Virginia and voted to give it three additional western Virginia counties: Morgan, Berkley, and Jefferson. These counties had rich farmland and the B & O Railroad, which Congress thought the new state needed to support itself. Of course, Virginia was not happy about that and protested, but lost when the Supreme Court ruled against them in 1871.

There. Does that make sense to anyone but me? My apologies to the historians out there who are cringing at my simplified version of the state's history.

Until next time...

Notes:

Most of this was summarized from Wikipedia and Mark Stein's book How the States Got Their Shapes.

Happy Halloween This and That

Well, because I know everyone wants to know what I've been doing, (😁) I'll tell you. Nothing much. But that's not going to stop me from sharing.

Today was a day off from work because of an eye appointment. Unlike most of these appointments, this one didn't take hours and hours. I was back home in fewer than three hours—a record, maybe, and a welcome surprise.

We've been having unseasonably warm weather, so we expect more trick-or-treaters than some years. However, we usually don't get more than thirty. We bought candy last night. I didn't want to buy it too early because of the temptation. If it was in the house, I would have just one piece, then another, and end up needing to buy more. Sometimes, the best way to have willpower is not to have temptation. :)

On the way to buy the candy, I turned in my early voting ballot at one of the ballot boxes. I don't know what will happen on Tuesday and beyond, but I've had my say. It's going to be interesting. 

Last weekend, Ward and I took a morning visit to Washington Monument State Park. The park is named after the stone monument on top of South Mountain. It was the first one completed that was dedicated to George Washington, and it was built in 1827. Another one was built in Baltimore two years later, and the iconic obelisk one located on the National Mall was finished in 1885.

Normally, you can go up into the monument,
but it was closed last weekend because of migrating birds.

The trip was a good way to start the morning. The sun was shining, and the leaves were beautiful. However, we were not the only ones out and about visiting the monument; we ran into a big birthday party, Appalachian Trail hikers, and a very active pack of Cub Scouts. Watching the scouts' random motion did NOT make us yearn for the days when Wally and Theo were those ages. After a short hike, we headed back home.

We drove through Boonsboro on our way home and saw various "creatures" lining the streets. The dozens of figures lent a fun, festive feel to the town. Some were silly, some were scary, and they were made by various local civic groups and businesses.

The doorbell is starting to ring with trick-or-treaters, so I better go.

Until next time...

Thankful Sunday

For the beauty of the earth, 

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies—

For the wonder of each hour,

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flow’r,

Sun and moon, and stars of light—

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,

This our hymn of grateful praise.*

I am thankful for the colors of autumn.

*From the hymn, "For the Beauty of the Earth" by Folliott S. Pierpiont

The Leaves They Are a Changin'

View out our kitchen window

 The leaves are close to peak color now, and it reminds me of my favorite autumn post about a fall morning I spent with my friend Sarah. I first told this story in 2012 and rerun it every few years. I think it's time to share it again.

_____________________________________________________________

The Present is the Present

I am lucky that I get to spend some Sunday mornings with my friend, Sarah, a special needs teenager. I buddy with her during Sunday School as we visit different programs she enjoys. You need to know two things about Sarah (other than how sweet she is): she loves nature and can be quite determined.

She exhibited these two traits one day last fall as we walked from one building to another on the church campus to go to a singing activity. I was trying to hurry her along, only half listening as she showed me a bug or a leaf that she found interesting along our path. When we were almost to our destination, she said she was not going any further and sat down under a maple tree. After a brief moment of frustration, I stopped and remembered that there was no agenda for the morning except for Sarah and me to enjoy ourselves. It was okay if we skipped singing this time.

Sarah then told me to come and that we were going to play a game to see if the falling leaves would touch us as they fell from the tree. We sat still, felt the warm morning air, and watched the leaves float around us in a gentle breeze. Up until this point, I hadn't even noticed what a beautiful morning it was.

You have probably heard the saying, "The present is the present." Never has this been more evident than it was that morning with Sarah.

(In case anyone is wondering who won the game—she did. Sarah had a total of three leaves fall on her, and I had one.

____________________________________________________

Until next time...

Hello, again

 Time has been flying since we got home from our trip to WV. I haven't posted since then, so I think it's time for some speed blogging, otherwise known as stream-of-conscious blogging. Also scattered throughout are pictures of what's blooming in the yard. 

If I've been doing anything with blogging, I have been working on a private blog about our trip. That way, I can add pictures where you can actually see people's faces. I'm also adding a few more photos than I did here where I was trying to summarize and not show you too many pictures. Adding pictures has been tedious because I collected them from three different places. And, of course, Blogger wasn't always cooperating. I finished with this chore yesterday. The posts are not necessarily pretty, but they will be good for recalling our trip.

Today, I went to the movies, and I think I must have broken some kind of personal record. Ward and I went to one in the summer, so that's 2 movies for me in just a few months. It was Miss Landers' birthday, so Aunt Martha and I took her to see Death Becomes Her. It's a cult classic from 1992 and stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis. It's a dark comedy among the other Halloween-type movies the theater was playing. This is the same theater that I went to in the summer, where I was freezing the entire film. Today, I found out that you can turn on heat for the seats as well as recline them. Live and Learn. The tickets were only $5, so we may actually go again. Maybe the third time will be the charm, and I will fully understand how my seat works. 

This weekend, I've been working on cleaning up our garden. I harvested the last of the lettuce and tomatoes and have been cleaning up the dead plants and weeds. I plan to cover it with black plastic this year, as the Farmer's Almanac recommended. Hopefully, that will cut back on some of the weeds in the spring.

Speaking of plants, we had our first frost this past week. Most things survived, but some did not. We're having a warm-up now, so I think we will have to keep mowing the grass. It's so happy this time of year with the lower temperatures and more rain.

I just finished reading The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. The non-fiction book came out in 2013, and I'm a little late to the party to read it. In case you aren't familiar with the story, the book chronicles the rowing team from the University of Washington and their quest for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The book is intense but excellent. They later made a movie about it, but I haven't seen it. From what I read, the book is a richer experience with more background about the people. But, rarely can a movie include everything a book does.

Well, there goes my timer reminding me that it's time to fix dinner. We're having shepherd's pie from the freezer and a salad. 

Until next time...