Tag Archives: Appalachia

Sunday afternoon at the Luntic Asylum

By Emily | Published: August 27, 2009
West Virginia's Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is the second largest hand-cut stone building in the world -- second only to the Kremlin. Built between 1858 and 1881, the now-crumbling estate housed civil war soldiers, TB patients, the criminally insane and thousands of others. The place is crumbling, creepy and provides a disturbing looking into the history of mental illness.
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Getting our Kicks on Route, um, 50

By Emily | Published: July 27, 2009
I've always dreamed of a cross country road trip. So, when I planned a trip to Athens, Ohio, last weekend I couldn't resist the lure of Rt. 50. The Route, which runs coast to coast, cuts directly across West Virginia to Athens. Even though, I wouldn't get near California, I had to try part of it.
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A Swiss village in the West Virginia mountains

By Emily | Published: May 4, 2009
Spring is ramp festival time in West Virginia. The locals celebrate the arrival of warmer weather by eating the season’s first vegetable, a wild leek called a ramp. One of the state’s most famous ramp festivals is in central West Virginian in Helvetia, a town of about 30 settled by Swiss immigrants in [...]
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