Visiting West Virginia

I did manage to take half a dozen or so pictures.
Here's my two sisters and my mother. Michelle is on the left, Dorothy in the middle, and Gwen on the right. This is the monument dedicated to what now is considered to be the first battle of the American Revolution where Col. Andrew Lewis and about 1,000 colornists, mostly Virginians living on the edge of the wilderness, fought the Shawnees and allied tribes led by the great Shawnee chief, Cornstalk. The battle is considered a victory by the Americans because Cornstalk misread the colonists troop movement as reinforcements and broke off the engagement, retreating across the Ohio. My great-great-great-grandfather, William Droddy, is supposed to have operated a ferry across the Ohio River here around 1800. (Thank you, professor Bridges.)

Mother Dorothy is in the center, flanked on the left by m. Hudson Holley and on the right by G.R. Luhring.

Here's a photo of me, just in case you're curious as to what I look like this week.

Here's a picture of our spirit guide. His name is Mothman. Apparently, he's quite a legend in Pt. Pleasant, WV.
Looking more closely at my mom, you can see that she got an involuntary nose job while visiting in Charleston, WV. She stepped on a piece of loose concrete on a sidewalk, fell and busted her nose. We spent 6 hours in the emergency room Thursday night. Fortunately for her, the surgeon on duty at the emergency room is one of West Virginia's leading cosmetic surgeons. Show us your nose, mom.

We drove down from Pittsburgh on WV Route 7 which snakes along the Ohio River. There were still plenty of fall colors, although the storm earlier in the week diminished the display somewhat. West Virginians we met were charming and hospitable. We didn't meet any hillbillies, to our disapointment. Everyone we met looked just like us and talked just like us. I guess you might say we found some of our roots.
I want to thank the staff at the West Virginia State Archives there at the State Capital in Charleston. They patiently showed us how to make the best use of our time there. With their help, we were able to re-create the community in which William Droddy and his wife, Ruth Ellison, lived for almost 25 years in the late 1700s.
Bye, bye, Mothman.