Previous Page Jay's Home Page Next Page
Friday, 05/30/03; Morgantown, West Virginia
The Hills of Home…
We planned only a short drive today to put us in position to arrive at Columbus, Ohio after noon on Saturday. Phil, Keith’s brother, will not get home until about then. Therefore, we planned a delayed departure and had a leisurely breakfast (which came with the room!). It was sunny and Keith made a proposed change in the itinerary. He suggested that we drop off the Interstate north of Oakland, MD on US-219 and drive south to US-50 to a little place (not even a town) called Red House, MD. He said he knew of a nice place to picnic. All agreed to the change, so off we went, getting on the road at 0840, the latest departure on record, for us!
North of Oakland, we drove by beautiful Deep Creek Lake and Keith explained that he used to live nearby and that as a teenager, he swam there frequently. The water temperature ran 60 degrees in the summer time! When we got to Red House, Keith popped a couple more surprises; we drove to a small red brick building which Keith said in 1937 was a two-room school and he attended the seventh grade there. Today it is an antique store. Around the corner, we pulled into the parking lot of a ramshackle old roadhouse, once known as “Chimney Corner.”
Red House school; Chimney Corner.
Keith’s father and mother ran the restaurant for over a year and Keith and Phil helped out as much as boys of their age could. It seems that the place was closed because it could no longer meet the more stringent environmental standards regarding sewage. It was sad to see this once famous old roadhouse as a derelict. After much snapping of camera shutters, we were off down the road where Keith pointed out the hayfield of the Hamilton dairy. This is where he and Phil would get airplane rides from the barnstormers in the summer months.
About three more miles and we crossed into West Virginia, Keith’s home state. Another two miles and we were at Cathedral State Park.
Cathedral State Park
This, too, was a part of Keith’s past. His father and mother ran a small mountain resort hotel here from 1938 to 1940, after leaving Chimney Corner. The hotel, known as Brookside Inn, was built in 1880 in true Victorian style. It no longer stands, but in its place, the state has established a park to preserve the beauty of the area. Keith pointed out all the places that he was fond of to Joann, Joan and Dennis. We found a picnic table and while we ate, Keith told tales of his and Phil’s life in this special place. He truly appreciated the rest of the group’s willingness to travel these extra, hard miles so that he could share it with them. Special places need to be shared with special people.
Then it was off to Aurora, where Keith attended high school for two years. He explained that we were on the top of Cheat Mountain and to reach the foot of the mountain 3 miles below we would have to negotiate 33 curves on a nine-percent grade! Down and around and around, etc., we went to the bottom of the mountain. Then we cut north along the Cheat River for about 20 miles to get back on the Interstate, which headed for Morgantown. We arrived at Morgantown at 1715 and found the first motel we tried was booked, so it was on to plan B! Now we are in the Econo Lodge (it wasn’t in our coupon book, but meets our criteria).
Tomorrow, we are off to see Phil and Marcia near Columbus, Ohio.
See you there!
The Exhilarated Four
Previous Page Jay's Home Page Next Page
