We crossed the Ohio River into West Virginia this morning. The flat Ohio countryside quickly turned into rolling hills. The road would run along a valley floor for 5 or 10 miles, then turn and rise over a ridge and drop into the next valley floor. This process was repeated time after time. The climb and decent over each ridge was a steep 9-percent grade most times.
The West Virginia highways were interesting. We would be driving a small 2-lane road that passes through an equally small town. Then, all of a sudden the roadway would turn into a 4-lane concrete super highway. We rarely saw another car. There were few off-ramps. After 10 or 20 miles, the road would once again shrink back to a small 2-lane road. This happened several times. These are truly roads to nowhere.
Mary read about the Fenton Art Glass factory tour in the Redding newspaper months ago and added it to our itinerary. It was interesting to walk around the factory floor watching molten glass being turned into vases, bowls, and figurines. Very few machines and no automation are present. This is almost all the handwork. Our guide talked about the processes involved and the way different minerals, including gold, are fused onto and into glass to achieve the colors, patterns, and textures. The tour ended in the gift shop. I’m not much on little pig figurines covered with flowers images. Some of the bowls were nice but they would have been difficult to carry in the Roadtrek.
Just a few miles south at Parkersburg are the Blennerhasett Island and museum. A small paddlewheel ferry provides transportation to the island. For $8 you get a roundtrip 20-minute ride. We were told that the next ferry was full and would have to wait 1-1/2 hours for our trip over. After buying tickets, we walked to the ferry dock and managed to get onboard. Not exactly stowaways. Sometimes it’s nice not to follow instructions.
When the park service decided to create this park, only the outline of the foundation remained. So a new house based upon a few surviving pictures and the foundation outline was constructed. We decided not to take the house tour.
In Parkersburg, the Blennerhasett museum contains a nice collection of items of the times when the Blennerhasett’s lived on the island. Also, a 15-minute film about the Blennerhassett’s life and history was shown. The Blennerhastt family was involved with Aaron Burr and ran into trouble for that political activity. After watching this film, I cannot figure out why this is a National Park. I think it is just another example of the power Robert Byrd had in the Senate, just like the major federal highways that connect small towns throughout West Virginia. The island was a nice place to walk for a couple hours but it seems unconnected to the historic development of the United States.
One interesting thing to note is the Blennerhasett island is only about 5 feet above the Ohio river level. The town of Parkersburg sits on higher ground and is surrounded by a 15-foot high floodwall. This would indicate either the floodwall is not really needed or the Blennerhasett mansion is going to run into trouble someday.
We planned to spend the night at a Walmart in Grafton,WV. After a few wrong turns and other questionable decisions, we decided to drive on a few more miles. We had dinner at a nice family diner in Philippi, WV and continued driving. As night fell, so did the rain. Buckets of rain covered the highway making driving slow and difficult. We stopped at a few RV parks but signs saying “No Vacancy” greeted us. I think that’s just a polite way of saying, “Don’t bother us”. At 9:30 at night, we found the National Forest Service - Seneca Shadows campground and stopped for the night. At least the rain had nearly stopped and our Golden Age pass worked its wonders.
