This might be a good point to digress for a moment and discuss the 50 state clubs and saving the best for last. In 1965 I had no thought about visiting all 50 states nor did I know about the cult that surrounds that venture. In fact I only became aware of it in the last few years when the “prize” was in sight for me. Home – All Fifty Club Different “clubs” have different rules for what constitutes a visit. Most agree it is more than passing through an airport, but after that rules diverge. I have my own rules since I belong to none of the clubs and definitely have not saved North Dakota for last. Visit all 50 states and join the Best for Last Club | Fargo-Moorhead (fargomoorhead.org) My rules generally require at least an overnight stay (Alabama is currently my sole exception to that rule and I will explain why when we get there). My one true rule is simple — I must do something that gives me a good memory of the place – a second chance for happiness, even if I never return to that particular state.
So let’s return to 1965 and the green lake in West Virginia. First thing you have to understand is that I grew up in rural southwestern Pennsylvania in what was known as the Tri-State area so going to Ohio and West Virginia happened fairly regularly, to see family or friends, for shopping trips and so forth, I do not have any outstanding memories of those trips. West Virginia comes into focus around 1965 when I was a junior in high school and my neighbors in McMurray bought a cabin on Cheat Lake near Morgantown, W. Va. We would visit for Sunday picnics and waterskiing. Their kids were much younger than I was and so they always invited me to bring a friend along to share in the food and fellowship. Good memories for sure, but given what I now know about Cheat Lake I marvel that I am alive to tell about it.
The water in Cheat Lake in 1965 was bright green. “Isn’t that a pretty color?” said my mother. I knew nothing of AMD at age 16 and I was certainly not concerned about the environment. Now I know that AMD is acid mine drainage and that in the 1950’s Cheat Lake was pronounced a dead lake. That is probably why my McMurray neighbors could afford a cabin down there. Seconds homes were not the norm. It is one of those amazing revitalization stories of what Mother Nature can accomplish if we just give her a chance. Cheat Lake Fishing | CheatLake.com All my memories of Cheat Lake are of the pretty green water and the fun times trying to learn to water ski (I never did really master that skill).
It turns out that West Virginia figured mightily in my life. In September, 1966 I set off for college to Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia, and I spent the next 3.5 years of my life living in the mountains outside Wheeling. (I graduated early in December 1969, eager to get to Rhode Island, more later). My Uncle Chris who lived on the farm next door to our house in McMurray told me if I spent 4 years at Bethany I would wind up with one leg shorter than the other from walking up and down all the hills and mountains, but that never happened. I did, however, drive a lot of mountain roads in my 1957 Volkswagen beetle named Gertrude. She sounded a lot like a lawn mower and sometimes on really steep hills, if there were three people crammed in the back seat, I would make them get out and walk because Gertrude was obviously straining. However she was a campus favorite because not that many people had any transportation and Bethany sat in an isolated mountain valley.
Bethany was the right place for me. It is a small, liberal arts Christian college and I became an English major there. Bethany College (bethanywv.edu) My mother always marveled at how she sent me to the perfect college and never understood how it happened. I arrived a good Christian girl and left a committed agnostic. I like to think that happened not just because of the times, – I arrived when girls had to wear white gloves and nylons to Sunday dinner and boys were not allowed in the dorm rooms. By the time I left we were only months away from Kent State. I found my Bethany education transformative. Critical thinking was emphasized even in courses like the required Old and New Testament classes. I found a whole new world where I did not have to accept everything on faith but could question and challenge. I learned the most important thing – I learned how much I didn’t know.
My most recent overnight stay in West Virginia was in 2014 when we were passing through on a roadtrip home from Nebraska and stopped for the night in Charleston, W. Va. West Virginia’s mountains are beautiful, but it is really true. We do still blow them up, The area around Charleston is quite depressing. I don’t recommend a trip to Charleston, W. Va. to anyone. We still blow up mountains to mine coal: Time to end the war on Appalachia | Salon.com Country roads take me home to the land that I love, provided it is still there.
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 