July 10, 2008 . . . Thursday

Dad and I left early this morning on our trip to West Virginia for the annual Asco Holler Reunion held at Pipestem State Park in Summers County, WV.  We were on the road for 8 hours.  The mountains through Harper’s Ferry are beautiful.  Rt. 81 was an easy drive.  Pretty scenery.  We stopped at Pinacle Rock.  Climbed to the top.  View is very different from what Dad remembered.  He said that the valley below was much more open the last time he was there.  We arrived at Welch, McDowell County, West Virginia.  Checked into the Count Gilu Hotel in Welch, then went out to find something for dinner.  We ended up at the Sterling Drive-In where you can still get curb service.  Fun place.  Lots of history and great onion rings.  Sterlings has been owned and operated by the same man for 60 years.  The owner is now 82 and he’s decided that it’s time to retire.  The employees are hoping that the new owner will keep things the way that they’ve always been.  After dinner we drove around Welch.  We drove by the Welch Hospital where Dad’s cousin, Cathy Addair works.  Dad took his first breath on this site in 1944.  The old hospital has been torn down, but they built the new hospital on the same site.  We found the Fanning Funeral Home.  Dad says that it used to be in town in an old home.  This is a new location.  Still, I wonder if they would have any Morgan records that might be useful to me in my search.  We drove past the McDowell County Library.  The librarians there have been helpful to me and have copied and mailed many family obituaries that have provided useful information.  They are very nice to work with.  We ended the day by driving up Brown’s Creek.  Dad was looking for the home where Aunt Betty (Hatmaker) and Uncle Fred Willis lived.  Dad can remember being dropped off in Welch and walking out to Betty and Fred’s house.  Fred worked for the Welch Milk Company and later on he opened his own HVAC business.  He had accounts with many of the local businesses there in Welch. 

July 11, 2008 . . . Friday

Had breakfast at Sam’s Lunchbox in Roderfield this morning.  After breakfast we walked all of Iaeger Cemetery in Roderfield.  Spent 3-4 hours in this cemetery.  It is huge.  Right on the side of the mountain.  Told Dad that this was my idea of mountain climbing. J  Found where Aunt Lena (Morgan) Parks and where Uncle Harve Morgan are buried.  After the cemetery it was on to Davy, McDowell County, West Virginia.  We cut across Rt 7 from Roderfield to get to Davy.  We met a very nice lady in Davy – a Mrs. Lana Hall.  She lives in a lovely house on the corner diagonally across the road from the house where Oley and Vesta Morgan lived.  She told us that the residents have plans for re-building Davy.  The town is in pretty bad shape.  Quite a few floods have come through the area since I was last there in 1989.  I remember all of the houses that just peppered the sides of the mountains.  Now, these are all grown over or gone.  The home on the mountain in Asco Holler where Dad lived when he was a boy is still standing, but it is vacant and very grown up.  The home where his neighbor, Miss Hubbard lived is about the same.  This home is still owned by the Hubbard family, along with a few other parcels there on the mountain, but the house is uninhabitable.  The little white house where Dad’s aunt and uncle (Felix and Jess Morgan) lived is still standing.  I can remember going to visit Aunt Jess when we were in the area in 1989.  All but a few buildings on the main street are gone.  On the other side of the road we did see where Doc Bailey’s office was.  Dad remembered going around to the right side of the house to enter the doctor’s office.  Part of the school  where Dad attended in Davy is still there.  The rest burned in a fire years ago.  We’re not sure if the building across from the school where Dad’s mother, Alice (Duncan) Morgan ran the general store called Kitty’s Lunch is still there or not.  There is a building across from the school constructed out of cement block that may be it.  We need to check to see if there is a photo anywhere that we could compare with to be sure.  While in Davy we used Cousin Tom and Jim Morgan’s directions and were able to find the Morgan/Davy Cemetery with no trouble.  Cemetery is in sad shape.  Part of the cemetery is cleared, but the rest has been left with chopped trees laying on top of the stones.  Looks like they started to clean the cemetery up, but then quit.  I couldn’t find Uncle Darrell Morgan’s stone, but I know that he has one.  The land where this cemetery rests once belonged to William Gratton Morgan Sr.  He was my Dad’s grand-uncle.  Dad’s father was named for this William Gratton.  Uncle Grat’s home is still standing on the corner down the road in front of the cemetery.  Dad says that the town of Davy is just a ghost town now compared to what it was when they left to come to Maryland in the early 1950s.  He says that he has no desire to ever go back to Davy again.  It’s too depressing.  But, while the town is no longer there those mountains never change, so I guess there is still hope that some day he may want to return.  I can hope, can’t I? J  After visiting the Morgan/Davy Cemetery we took a drive up into Asco Holler.  We couldn’t go all the way up into the Holler.  We were stopped part way up by the mining company that is working on opening the Asco mine.  On the day that we were there they were in the middle of constructing a new road.  We did stop by the Asco and Justice Cemeteries.  Aunt Hude Morgan, wife of Theo, is buried in the Justice Cemetery.  Uncle Felix and Aunt Jess (Cummings) Morgan are buried at Asco.  After Asco and Davy we went over into Wyoming County to visit a cemetery in Baileysville where Walter and Martha (Morgan) Cummings are buried.  Martha was Dad’s aunt.  The cemetery is up on the hill behind the Baileysville Elementary School.  We left Baileysville and came across the road from Davy to Welch back toward the hotel.  We walked around Welch a bit and took some pictures of the town.  This ended our second day in WV. 

July 12, 2008 . . . Saturday

Up and out of the motel early this morning heading for the Asco Holler Reunion in Pipestem.  The park is beautiful.  While we were there the high point of our trip was visiting with Dad’s cousins.  We saw Lendal Beverly, Noka (Morgan) Bishop, Steve Beverly and Suzy Blevins.  I also had the chance to meet some of my Uncle Rico’s family.  Rico’s brother, Gene Prevento and his wife Audrey were there.  Brother Melvin was there with 2 of his daughters, Tridy and Joy.  Also there was a Prevento sister-in-law, Garnett, wife of Andrew, now deceased.  Garnett attended with her son, Andy and daughter, Patty.  Dad was also excited to see Jeannie and Willis Hubbard.  The Hubbards were neighbors and playmates of Dad’s when he was a boy.  While visiting at the reunion I found “new” cousins that are related to our Lester, Morgan and Helmandollar lines.  I’m looking forward to corresponding with all of them further in the months to come.  After the reunion we decided to head toward home.  We were both tired and I was missing my boys.  We drove to Roanoke and spent the night in a hotel.  Then, the next morning we were on the road early arriving home just after lunch.  The trip was wonderful.  Dad and I had the best time visiting with family and friends.  We’re already looking forward to next year’s reunion.             

To see photos of our trip click on the following link.

http://s354.photobucket.com/albums/r407/mdrealtor/Reunion%20Photos/?albumview=slideshow