Laura Dean Bennett
Staff Writer
Last weekend, Huntersville once again welcomed hundreds of visitors to its annual festival – Huntersville Traditions Days – dedicated to the history of Pocahontas County’s first county seat.
The event is sponsored by a group of volunteers comprised of Pocahontas County residents and history buffs led by Tim Wade.
With the support of countless friends, neighbors, area businesses and state and county grants, HHT has worked tirelessly to restore Huntersville’s historic sites, which are open for tours during the festival.
HTD guests are treated to a glimpse of 18th and 19th century Appalachian life, and informed by knowledgeable demonstrators, reenactors and volunteers.
The day before the festival, Pocahontas County school students are hosted by HHT at one of two “Education Days” held during each school year. The sophomores toured the historic sites and met many festival demonstrators, historical reenactors and educators.
Huntersville – well known as hunting territory to Native American tribes – was part of the western wilderness frontier of Virginia. It was scouted by Virginia militia which protected area frontier forts in the 1700s before the American Revolution.
Located at the crossroads of western Virginia travel, Huntersville became the first county seat of Pocahontas County in 1821 and played a role in the Civil War.
The festival draws local friends and neighbors, as well as visitors from surrounding counties and states – many traveling from as far away as upstate New York.
Friday evening, as always, visitors gathered outdoors beside the old Huntersville schoolhouse for a free, family style meal. This year it was a ham supper with all the trimmings, provided by Anne Walker, owner of Handmade West Virginia in Marlinton.
The crowd tapped their toes to old-time music provided by nationally known The Bing Brothers and the award-winning fiddler Jake Krack. They were also entertained by one of West Virginia’s legendary square dance callers, 98-year-old Lou Mauri, who brought his cloggers and dance troupe from Summersville.
The evening continued with HTD’s famous “celebrity” pie auction, a fundraising extravaganza featuring pies made by some of the area’s best-known bakers – hence the term, “celebrity”.
This year 20 pies were auctioned for a record-breaking fundraising total. The highest bidder was Huntersville resident Bob Martin, who paid $500 for the coconut cream pie donated by Vickie Smith.
The pie auction was followed by an old-fashioned event, the Mary Jo Fisher Memorial Cake Walk.
As usual, as darkness fell, the evening’s festivities concluded with the ghost walk conducted by Civil War reenactor Betty Aronson.
Visitors were carried by wagon from the schoolhouse up the hill to the Civil War cemetery. There they observed traditional dousing techniques, which facilitated conversations with several cooperative ghosts.
Saturday’s weather was perfect for horse-drawn and tractor-drawn wagon rides and guided tours of the historical sites of Huntersville.
There were demonstrations of traditional Appalachian skills, including axe and tomahawk throwing, hide fleshing, flint knapping, broom making, quilting, wool spinning, blacksmithing and many more.
Michael Sheets’ contingent of young reenactors portraying Civil War cadets were camped for the weekend at Courthouse Square where visitors toured the old jail and HHT’s recently restored Clerk’s Office – the last remaining piece of Pocahontas County’s original courthouse.
The cadets took part in the traditional procession through Huntersville up to the old Civil War cemetery that holds the graves of soldiers who died during the Confederate campaign in Huntersville.
A dozen new headstones were dedicated during this year’s memorial ceremony, conducted by Vonda Dixon.
Dixon, a Civil War reenactor from Pleasant Shade, Tennessee, originally came to Huntersville years ago in search of a relative buried there and subsequently took an interest in the cemetery.
Together with Hunters-ville Historical Traditions and especially, HHT member Mary Jo Fisher, Dixon spearheaded researching the names of those buried there. She began the process of obtaining headstones several years ago.
This latest installation of headstones was also organized by Dixon, who gathered the funds from several Civil War reenactor organizations. HHT participated by purchasing three headstones.
There was old-time music played all day in several locations by revered local musicians – Mud Hole Control, The Stony Mountain Blue Grass Boys, Juanita Fireball and the Continental Drifters, and the Viney Mountain Boys.
As they do every year, Terry and Connie Carr welcomed HTD visitors to their yard, which borders Schoolhouse Lane. Terry demonstrated blacksmithing at his blacksmith shop and Connie ladled up bowls of homemade vegetable soup.
Visitors sampled hand-pressed apple cider as they watched it being made in an antique cider press.
A few steps away, crowds gathered around a big cast iron bean pot to savor the aroma of beans cooking over a fire. The beans were, of course, served with freshly baked cornbread.
Amish neighbors from Highland County brought homemade apple butter and baked goods. Kermit Friel was there with his apple cider vinegar, and Phillip and Sally Cobb sold their homemade apple cider.
There was keen competition in the annual bread baking contests – the Joyce Varner Memorial Salt Risen Bread Contest and the Hazel Sherbs Memorial Corn Bread Contest, which were organized by Jean McClure.
The contests once again brought out some of the area’s most proficient bread bakers, perhaps due to the prize money generously donated by area businesses. Bread contest judges were Marlinton residents Cindy Johnson and Leesa Wallace, who jointly judged both contests.
First place winners – Barbara Birchfield for her salt risen bread and Brenda Broyles for her corn bread – received $100 each, provided by Pendleton Community Bank.
Second place winners – Lois Mamak for her salt risen bread and Reba Arbogast for her corn bread – received $75 each, provided by Legacy Insurance.
Third place winners – Teresa Dunbrack for her salt risen bread and Ollie and Olivia Barkley (grandmother and granddaughter) – received $50 for their corn bread, provided by Total Tech Heating and Cooling.
All in all, it was a wonderful day.
“We’re so grateful for everyone’s participation, the volunteers, the demonstrators and the vendors,” HHT president Tim Wade said. “Their hard work makes HTD what it is. We couldn’t do it without all of them.”
“I think everyone had a good time and when it comes to the number of people who attended, this may have been our best year yet. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone back again next year.”
Huntersville Traditions Days is held each year on the first weekend of October.
