Physician. Historian.
The Creation of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum “In the halls of what once was the area’s most reputable hospital, a demented doctor has brought his patients’ nightmares to life. Society’s undesirable souls have been abandoned in the dark recesses of this once safe haven. Their sole purpose is to serve the good doctor and his…
My Connection I grew up in Lewis County, West Virginia. I grew up in the southern part of the county, below where Stonewall Resort is today. When I was born, the glass industry of central West Virginia was in its last days,. I remember when the last glass factory in Weston shut down. Today, my…
Stereotypes and Reality I’ve debated covering this topic for some time now. I know that this is an important piece of our region’s history. It’s an important driving force behind so many of our epidemics, but I didn’t even know how to begin to attack it. I also wasn’t sure that I wanted to address…
Six-Dollar Grapes In Morgantown there is a very large Kroger which the locals jokingly refer to as “Gucci Kroger”. It has a Starbucks, a huge international food section, aisles of vegan/vegetarian food, healthy meal-prep sections, a large meat and seafood counter, and a variety of organic and locally-sourced dairy and egg products. The produce section…
Today is an important holiday. On this day in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Texas finally learned they were free. West Virginia broke away from the state of Virginia during the Civil War in a show of loyalty to the Union. However, many West Virginians (including numerous members of my family)…
Memes of Resistance Over the past couple weeks, I have seen a lot of posting on social media about the historical roots of Appalachian protesting. Specifically, the posts mention that to protest injustice is a key part of our Appalachian identity and heritage. The most common example that I see is that of the Mine…
Three Babies, Three Decades This was a difficult post to write. I’m a mother of a 2 year old little girl, and it made my heart ache and my chest tight to think of losing her like so many Appalachian women lost their babies before me. It’s a difficult post to read. I’ve dispersed adorable…
History On View The West Virginia and Regional History Center, at West Virginia University, is a wonderful space for historical research. It’s currently closed to everyone because of COVID, but in the absence of a pandemic it’s open to anyone who is interested. I do a lot of my research there. One of my favorite…
I love going to yard sales, flea markets, and antique malls. Of course, as a historian I am always on the lookout for an amazing they-didn’t-know-they-had-this, paradigm shifting find. Maybe some day I’ll find a box of important letters, or a diary like that of Martha Ballard. Most of the time, I don’t find much…
Why Epidemics? I’ve been mulling over what I would write next for a couple months now. When COVID19 hit, I was in the middle of a series on Appalachian women. However, COVID has made me think about other diseases our society has faced. Diseases strike Appalachia hard. We tend to start out already being pummeled…