Author: M. Lynne Squires

October is the month of ghosts and goblins, and things that go bump in the night. Sunrise, lesser known by its true moniker, the MacCorkle Mansion, is rumored to be haunted. The ghost of William A. MacCorkle is said to walk the halls of his former home, seen by both visitors and employees. It is rumored that his ashes are entombed in the base for the statue of his daughter, Isabelle. The statue was placed midway down the Sunrise Carriage Trail that leads from the mansion to the Kanawha River. The statue was said to have cried tears of...

We can’t look back at the Charleston Civic Center without also looking forward. This timeline illustrates both the history and the future of the downtown facility. 1959: The Civic Center opened its doors to the community, boasting a Main Arena seating 6,000, the Little Theater seating 750, and three meeting rooms as well as a kitchen and administrative offices. Price tag for the new structure: $2.5 million 1960: The Civic Center hosted President John F. Kennedy as his campaign tour made a key stop in Charleston. 1966: The NBA’s Philadelphia Warriors played there in February as a capacity crowd...

The sleepy little town of Gauley Bridge is the headwater of the West Virginia’s largest inland waterway. The river ends in Point Pleasant, another small West Virginia river town. Meandering primarily Northwest, the Kanawha River’s starting and ending points are lovely little towns that bookend the river that gave rise to much of West Virginia’s thriving industries. The Kanawha is comprised of the merging of the Gauley and New Rivers. One half mile shy of 100 miles long, the Kanawha River has carried its share of saleable products to ports on the Ohio River and beyond. The river valley...