New blog on food in Tucker County!

http://tuckercravings.wordpress.com/

Here's you new route from DC

I did this in 3 hours to Bethesda....With the new stretch of Corridor H open from Moorefield to Foreman, a new set of directions is needed for those who want to spend less time driving. It involves using 66 West so departing during rush hour is not advisable.

From home go to 66 West, then go South on I-81 at the end of 66. In three miles, take the second exit and turn right at the stop sign on HWY 55 West. The speed limit on 66 once you get past Haymarket and also on 81 is now 70 MPH. It just got changed.(70 minutes)

Drive 20 miles on 55 West to the sign for new HWY 55 and take new HWY 55. (25 minutes)

Go 35 miles on the new HWY to the end at Patterson Creek Road (Route 5). Turn right to go north one mile. (35 minutes)

Turn left on Greenland Gap Road and drive 6 miles to T intersection or similar ending where you turn or bear left on Scherr Road and go another 1/2 mile to HWY 93 at the road with 30 curves. (10 minutes)

Go to Davis and on, as usual. (45 minutes)

Total 185 minutes equals 3 hours 5 minutes.

Good things come to those who wait!

Overnight we are now looking at Corridor H completing to Davis by 2013. This is huge.
Gov. Manchin Announces Plans For Corridor H - WBOY-TV - WBOY.com

Davis Lots for building

Initial lot offerings within the old town Davis grid are shown (roughly located) in yellow. Corner lots will have two houses. the cluster on Thomas near 5th is set for 3 houses.


View Davis Riverwalk in a larger map

Sure, some people still work in coal

But this is not the Davis area's future. WV is number two nationally in an industry in decline. And the worst of it is that the very nature of the industry works against the likely future of WV's mountain regions: tourism, geographically independent businesses, active retirement lifestyles, and recreation.

Babcock Lumber Mill site digitized

Finally done. Hundreds of images have been scanned from the collection of Babcock Lumber Company's archives. Dozens of cool new (to us) images are now available for the public. I am sharing the scan with Cindy Phillips, our town historian of record, and WV University. The point here has been to unearth the only real records of what once stood on the Davis Riverwalk site and the adjacent town park. More to come!

This is not Riverwalk

Over 20 home sites are available in the grid of downtown Davis for two-story, energy-efficient homes with 3 baths, 4 bedrooms, 9ft ceilings, modern and open layouts, hardwood floors, Hardie plank siding, 50-year storm-rated roofing, front porches with Trex decking, stone counters and more. These homes will be engineered: blower-tested, have conditioned crawl spaces, vented attics, engineered trusses and joists. And before all those features, they are DESIGNED for Davis...Victorian boomtown venacular meets lumber mill pragmatism to yield layouts that support today's casual mountain recreation lifestyle. They are designed for Davis' climate as well: extra glass on south facing walls, low use of valleys and dormers, drainage design not requiring gutters, full ice guard wrap under roofing and more.

The expected timeline is: 4 weeks option selection and ordering; 5 weeks production; 6 weeks with finishing out. 15 weeks from signature to move-in. We expect to require 20% down and pre-qualification on financing when ordering. Total home price is now estimated to vary from the mid $100s to high $100s for most homes. Each site+home+options will have a custom quote, provided after a siting and design consultation.

BTW, I say this is 'not Riverwalk' because the sites offered are in the town grid, on streets such as Thomas, Blackwater and Fairfax. Davis Riverwalk is the undeveloped 7-acre tract between main street and the Blackwater River, expected to coincide more closely with the Corridor H Highway and a general economic recovery for the metro areas on which Davis' economy depends.

Thank you Mr Udall

Stewart L. Udall, 90, interior secretary was guardian of America's wild places
By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 21, 201

Davis is top 10 of best mountain biking areas

But then we knew that.....You can see this article here.

You can buy the issue at

http://www.zinio.com/browse/publications/index.jsp?offercode=PH01&productId=307332098&rf=osc288&pss=1&bd=1

Under the weight of snow-ice...Kaboom!

Old buildings that could not be built today per national and state construction codes....this relic went down in Thomas today. Let's hope the owner properly demo's or repairs the building!

Google 'before' shot and photo of aftermath courtesy of Randy Schmiedeknecht and friends, Davis High Valley Realty.

Glimpsing back at the skiing connection between early Davis and Canaan

A few posts back I published part of an interview with Riley Worden, taken by WVU researchers at the Worden Hotel in downtown Davis in 1958. This nice little piece (below) about Eddie Worden, the grandson of Worden's owner, shows us an example of the deep connection between Davis and the Canaan ski scene. Eddie Worden talks about the department store run by his grandfather across from Worden's, called Belmonts. I am not certain, but I believe Belmont's stood on the lot I own across from the old Worden's lot.

Sometimes it is too easy to see Canaan skiing as the activity of outsiders, and Davis life as the activity of locals. There is a common ground and we celebrate it.

His life tells story of skiing in West Virginia

The Green Premium

Professional Builder magazine researchers reported recently that 26% of those they surveyed said they would pay no premium for a house certified as green (eg Energy Star or LEED certified). 35% said they'd pay 1-2% more, ie less than the price of a good road or mountain bike. 25% said they'd pay 3-6% more than for a typical house. And only 11% said they'd pay 6-10% for green certification. 2% said they would pay more than a 10% premium.

That would suggest that if our houses were more than about $8K higher than a similar looking non-Energy Star house with the same square feet, that there wouldn't be much of a market. From what I'm learning so far working with the modular vendors, this looks doable. ...more to come on exactly what measures we will take to meet the Energy Star new construction criteria in Davis.

Ready when you are...

Well, not quite ready yet... But we're putting together base pricing, options, and terms so that we can offer new home construction in the old Davis grid. Looks like there will be three models offered, several lots to choose from (some lots limited to certain models) and a finite list of options/upgrades. This is not the market to build spec houses and see what happens and when. That said, we have an attractive design and can deliver elegant and energy-savvy homes at impressive savings compared to the Valley. We are attempting to carve out a middle ground, where the house has wood floors, granite counters, 9ft ceilings, 3 baths, real tile, hardi plank siding instead of vinyl etc -- ie of a quality you'd find in new construction in the Valley or in the city -- but the price is much lower than those found in the Valley. Starting in April there will be a marketing campaign with signage, email, brochures and advertising. There are many (I mean many) people who voice support, who think it is great to build quality homes in Davis. There are some who kid or badger me about schedule. This is not a project that is watched as a spectator sport. This is project that entails having a buying public, and for the moment, no one is buying much of anything in Canaan Valley or Davis. The exceptions for the most part are sacrifice sales, sales under duress, short sales, auctions and bankruptcies.

If the market is not ready to move, you won't see one of these being built, but I think this Spring/Summer is a good time to make the offer. I would like nothing more than to see a happy family step through the door of a new house on Thomas Avenue or one of the other available streets.

Affordable Housing

For decades there has been near zero new construction in Davis. In the Davis annex created by Pocahontas Land Co the new construction was often manufactured homes (ie high end mobile homes) that meet HUD standards. These homes have a metal chassis underneath and can be hauled away, though many are built in with foundations and additions. It might cost $45-55 per square foot for one of these, not including the lot.

Average home values in Davis are probably in the $90K range if you net out the shells or near-shells that go for 35-65K (and the shells are often unstable or akimbo). A well-kept and complete small house on a standard 40ft lot might cost $110K. These older, reasonably maintained, homes might sell for $60 per square foot, not including the lot. The per square foot rate will drop as the house gets larger, but most Davis homes are small.

Standard Davis lots (not on corners) are 5,200sft and are worth from $20-24K today -- though you won't find many, if any, on the market. Standard Corner Lots in Davis go for $40-45K and are 7,900sft. The Davis Annex lots are larger (1/3 acre) but generally not thought of as being very desirable since they are not architecturally interesting and are not layed out in the compact format of old Davis.

Affordable housing is something that alot of locals talk about. There are banks and government entities focused on subsidizing the financing and price point of housing in order to provide rental and ownership opportunities for those making some amount less than the average income in Davis. For example, the Randolph County Housing Authority can consider programs for a 1 or 2-person family making $22k or less...now that is alot of folks in Davis. They help prospective buyers figure out what they can afford and then build or find townhouses and single family homes to suit.

Some percentage of the 60+ residences I will eventually build in Davis should be more affordable to buy. They will still be Energy Star and low maintenance. They will still be consistent with the lumber boomtown sytle venacular. But they will be a bit smaller, sit on the smaller lots, and may have laminate instead of stone counters, for example. The Davis housing market could have a future of healthy price diversity. There should be room for a $300K, 4,000sft classic Victorian, a $185K, 1,800sft premium Vic, and a $110k, 1,400sft basic "Katrina cottage" style Victorian. Hopefully, the comparables and appraisal market will develop in sophistication enough to recognize that there can be several categories of new construction in the same village.

I have often noted that if left alone, Davis would gravitate toward "shelter" homes -- cheap, manufactured, one story, unattractive homes that cost $50sft or less and have no interest to 2nd home buyers or active retirees seeking to buy in the area. Along with this trend would be the deterioration of the existing, often dilapidated, housing stock, toward a negative value impact on the underlying land. When lots are too cheap they are left vacant or with derelict buildings, or with collected junk. If lots remain too cheap they become sites for used mobile homes. If lots are just expensive enough, they are only purchased by consumers who will build something that meets national building codes, and with luck, is reasonably fitting for the town. This is one reason that I am glad to see the value of Davis lots double over the 7 years I have been following them.

Still, the home sites -- while relatively hard to find on the market -- are as cheap as they come anywhere. The challenge will be to set design trends that result in affordable housing that looks good, functions well, has low costs of ongoing ownership, and that fits in with houses twice the price. The promise of village life at the doorstep of Canaan Valley is not just for workers, not just for artists and athletes, not just for retirees, and not just for weekenders from Pittsburgh or DC. It will work for a diverse and fun mix of all these people.

The snow grenade and the blame game

Canaan usually sports around 160 inches annually, and I think it is re-snowing its usual annual right here in front of me tonight. Really, I wouldn't be surprised if we booked 300 inches this year. Downtown Davis has piles of snow as large as small houses, and they're crammed between buildings. Rock and Laurel in Timberline has 3.5ft on the roof and I'm having to shovel away from windows and doors. Yesterday I spoke to the principal plower in chief for downtown Davis and he hasn't had 8 hours of sleep in weeks. He is wearing out his equipment, he is tense, and any pushback could prompt him to bust out that can of woopass. And I don't blame him.

People don't understand. And they don't want to understand either, because understanding will cost them money for no good reason other than: ma nature says so. Our snow plow contractors are presently banished to "snowblivion," doomed to plow the same driveways daily while enduring a peppering of phone calls from homeowners. Why is it more? Why aren't you here right now? This was a fixed price deal! Why is my bill so high?

I am fond of saying that misunderstandings are usually to the benefit of the misunderstander. Well, here we go. Bad news is here and the poor guy in the truck with a plow is here to bring to you.

People on the receiving end of snow inconvenience and damages will need to reset their expectations button.

Fixed price snow plow contractors are hating life -- many contracts in the Valley are fixed price -- one price for the season. Imagine the extra costs being incurred by the plow contractors as they try to keep hundreds of driveways clear. Ok, so last year they collected and scarcely had to show up...there was so little snow, but no one likes it when what goes around actually does come around. I gave my Timberline snow plow guy a pretty big tip today because his truck is dented, his face is drawn, and he isn't sleeping. Let's take care of these plow guys. They are busting hump and don't think for a minute that they're making out. Everyone at the table is taking a hit.

DC gets an object lesson in the perils of unconsidered roof design

Canaan property ownership, winter roof leaks, and related design work has schooled me in the issues that bear on ice damming. Most people don't even know what it is. This is because they do not live in or visit an area with wintery conditions, or because they are house-science-ignorant (which is fine until you are shopping houses or considering major attic or roof work). DC area residents see a few inches of snow annually, so a DC winter that is delivering 50+ inches in a series of bigtime dumps has meted out more than a few object lessons about ice damming. This is so prevalent that it warranted an article in the Post on the subject (below).

What is ice damming? Ice damming occurs when the roof surface temperature is sufficiently warmer in some areas (typically over the living spaces) than in others (typically over the roof overhangs (soffits). Ice damming is the formation of ice or snow-ice, usually near soffits and in the roof valleys, which in turn holds back water or slush. The result is that areas of the roof experience submersion (unlike a rain storm) and water finds its way into the house.

Canaan and Davis are full of houses with ice damming challenges. I'll run through what I see as the lines of defense:

1. House design - mimimize valleys (sloped troughs created when perpendicular roof slopes intersect). Note that if you place roof ridge lines perpendicular to prevailing winds (from the West by Southwest in Canaan), there will be spindrift accumulation on the lee side of the ridge. Knowing this, you don't want to place gables with windows close to the roofing, nor do you want a roof valley on the lee side of a ridge if you can help it.

The roof temperature needs to be regulated by the design and insulation choices in your roof construction. A traditional unconditioned, ventilated, attic allows the roof to stay cool, but often the area of the roof that crosses over the exterior walls and hangs out from the house (soffit) is even cooler, making the traditional ventilated attic a marginal defense against ice damming. Another way to regulate roof temperature is to directly insulate the roof sheeting. This can be done by foaming with icynene open or closed cell foam from below; foaming must cover both the areas of roof over the attic or living areas as well as the areas of roof over your soffits (roof overhangs). Another approach is to sheet the outside surface of the roof with rigid insulation, or better yet, structured insulated panels (SIPs) that integrated foamboard with plywood. The R-value of one of these solutions will drive the ability of your roof to stay cool in winter. Whether or not to ventilate the attic or rafter cavities below this solution is a separate consideration. Most foaming solutions would suggest closing up the ventilated attic and conditioning the attic. Aside from avoiding ice damming, the benefits include: lower energy bills, cooler Summer afternoons in the house, less sound infiltration from airplanes, and if the attic is closed up and insulated you now have additional storage.

2. When Reroofing. When reroofing in Canaan, it is recommended that you use self-sealing, waterproof, roof wrap as the secondary barrier beneath the shingles or other roofing material. This prevents any breach of the roofing material from becoming a water issue INSIDE the house. Roofing materials should consider the high winds in certain areas of the Valley. Cedar roofing is not recommended because of the high precipitation, wind and temperature variations of the Valley. It is an old-fashioned solution based on the idea that cedar is robust in all conditions, but it is wood -- it does not perform as well as modern roofing materials. Not to mention that forests are never far, and wooden roofs catch fire. Minimize or completely eliminate gutters unless there are foundation drainage issues in conflict.

3. Snow Breaks. These are expensive, let me tell you. They hold snow on the roof rather than allow it to slide off. The strategy here is to hold snow back from the soffits, where ice damming is most prevelant. This holds off the gravitational pressure of snow-ice sliding down the roof toward the soffits. The second reason for snow breaks is to prevent sudden 'calving' of large blocks of snow or ice...a safety consideration with some building designs. In general, the most elegant functional design would eliminate the need for snow breaks by positioning pedestrian areas away from roof driplines and ensuring that the roof is so cool and regulated that it does not experience ice damming.

4. Heat tape. For existing homes that have ice damming issues. This is the best solution. Heat tape elements come on at freezing temps and keep a drainage area open at all times. This does not stop the formation of large ice formations but it keeps drainage areas open to gutters or elsewhere, thus preventing water from backing up through the roofing material and into the house.

Why care? Most don't when they are looking at the kitchen or the master suite. What do they know? It is summer, they have no idea what the implications of roof design entail for winter, or for lifetime ownership costs. But they should, particularly in Davis and Canaan. We are specifically designing the site orientation, roof lines, gable locations, and porches to perform their best. Then we are offering water barriers, insulation solutions, and roof materials that will have our roofs looking smart in the dead of winter, and you will know you were smart when you get your energy bill. You will be feeling even smarter 20 years hence, when the roof is holding up better than your neighbor's.

The DC blizzards have presented more than the obvious inconvenient truth of global climate change. Increasingly, home buyers in DC and in the second home market will look at the cost of ownership, not just the pattern in the kitchen's granite. I think that when it comes to notions of luxury and comfort, buyers will start to consider that it is comfortable not to have soaring cathedral ceilings; it is luxurious not to be worrying about your gutters; and it is downright sumptuous to be cool on the second floor on an August afternoon -- without the AC on.

D.C. area homeowners struggle against melting snow

By Jura Koncius

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 14, 2010

Do you know where this is?

The houses don't exist yet but the location does. This is the newly completed rendering of our architectural plans for single family homes and 'side-by-sides' for the infill lots in downtown Davis. This is the north side of Thomas Avenue (across from Doc's Guest House). The house on the right sits in front of an existing garage apartment at the back of the lot. The other two units are side by side in that they are built against each other at the first floor. There are 15+ other locations to choose from in the existing Davis grid. Davis Riverwalk homes will be similar but their final designs are not completed. The Davis Victorian homes will be on crawl space foundations and will have their own sidewalks and steps intersecting the community sidewalk. Floor plans for the house on the far right are found in an earlier post. Floor plans on the two others are found here. The houses will be Energy Star rated. Exterior materials are all James Hardi cement board and sheet metal. We are estimating that these houses will deliver in the high $100ks. Options will include basements, in-floor radiant heat, foamed insulation and solar panels.

Builder Concept Home 2010

Builder Concept Home 2010
It was interesting to see and hear the key design points of this archetypal design for a ~2,500sft traditional house. Most of the design decisions foot with the designs we have drafted for infill lots in Davis. Eliminate grand foyers and separate dining. Integrate kitchen and living/dining. Use science as well as aesthetics to design profiles and window placements. Invest in better ventilation, hot water, cooking, heating and utility solutions. Use transom windows over doors to spread light. Use closets or insulation for noise barriers. Eliminate or make functional any hallways. Make certain rooms multifunctional with little or no remodeling. Use self-sealing roof and house wraps, and flex flashing around window/door installations. Build homes that stand the test of time literally and in terms of resale with little or no remodeling. Build homes that cost drastically less to operate on an annual basis. Purchase homes based on their total cost of ownership and this new notion of resale value that is not simply based on square footage and number of bedrooms/baths.

Immediate considerations for Davis versions: larger and more ruggedized outdoor toy storage and transition areas; greater ratio of stone or other 'bomb-proof' flooring to hardwood flooring; foam-insulated roof sheeting; radiant heat option; foamed walls option; larger garage out back with alley entrance and optional rental suite on top.

Builder Concept Home 2010

WV Living Magazine

A new WV magazine is out there now, called WV Living. It is a quarterly and makes a fine piece for the coffee table of a Canaan Valley vacation home. I'm running an ad for Rock'nLaurel in the Real Estate Marketplace section of the Spring issue.

That eyesore by the bridge

For several years Davis High Valley Real Estate has had the property at the bridge (above right, by the pond in the Riverfront Park) listed for the incredibly out-of-sight price of $1.1M. The lot contains the old Highland Motel, a convenience store (complete with inventory on its shelves from years ago (do you think the beer is skunked yet?)), and a gas station (gee do you think there are problems underground?). This 2.7 acre plot has been marketed as a hotel, gas station and restaurant, but in reality it is a demolition job and a substantial gas station removal and remediation project.

This multi-year listing at a stunningly unrealistic price, combined with the public health and welfare damage of an abandoned, open, building chock full of mold, water and who knows what, has been and continues to be an embarrassment and annoyance to area residents. For 5 years people have asked me to please buy this piece of junk and transform it. Sorry, I may have overpayed a bit for one or two parcels, but few people would be foolish enough to pay 8X to 12X its value just because its owner, Roger Fussell, decided to ask for that.

Well, I have learned recently that this gentleman has passed away. I haven't had the opportunity yet to discover whether the property will go through probate yet, and what the plans for its disposition may be.

Sold at a market value that reflects the risk or actual cost of Underground Storage Tank removal and related remediation, plus the demolition of the old hotel, this property is potentially worth less than 1/10 of its asking price. The comps for that section of Davis raw land are around $50k an acre (flood lines considered). I know, because I created those comps buying land on the other side of the Riverfront Park. Now the demo will cost $50K+ easily, and the UST removal will be a minimum of $25K (speaking from experience with a clean removal down the street).

Additionally, a large strip of the parcel runs behind the buildings of main street and is subject to adverse possession claims by every owner who has used that alley as a means of egress over an extended period.

This parcel is the other bookend to the Davis Riverfront Park and is important to the Town's future for that reason, as well as its prominent location. That does not make it valuable, but it makes it extremely important to the community, and to the value of real estate in Davis.

Consider this plan for that property: Where the motel is, a larger multi-story structure with retail and Inn/Hotel/Condo suites; ample parking; an alley and townhouses along the railroad bed strip facing the park. Call or write if you would like to form a team to take out that property when it becomes available.

It IS a small town....

The Davis Riverwalk tract is shown in beige and the Town of Davis' Riverfront Park is next to it in green. Google has not yet implemented the streets of Davis Annex (west of 7th) , and has a ways to go before our new 911/delivery addresses are accurately reflected.

View Davis Riverwalk in a larger map

Remembering the mill days

In a vacant lot near 3rd and Thomas Ave in Davis, not a sign of any past structure can be seen. But at one time it seems to have been the site of Worden Hotel. Long since burnt and removed, the Worden Hotel was a favorite of spelunkers in the 50's, as this photo suggests. On June 17, 1958, Mr. Riley Worden sat down with reps from WVU for an interview about how things were back in Davis' boom days. Here is a brief extract of his thoughts on the Babcock mill, which was located along the Blackwater, today the site of the Town of Davis' Riverfront Park and the Riverwalk tract.

Transcript of recorded interview:
Lambert: When were the mills built in Davis?
Worden: Gam Rumbarger, he started his mill in ’(18)85.
Lambert: Where was it located?
Worden: Right down here across from the depot, where the mill always stood. Right below this big bridge down here, you can see a lot of the concrete stuff down there.
Lambert: Now tell us about the operation of the mill and the cutting of timber and the floating of the timber down the Blackwater, Mr. Worden.
Worden: They had no log trains in here then and most of the logs was floated down the river. Mr. A. Thompson and his son, Frank, floated the logs down to the sawmill down here. They had three splash dams. They had one on Sand Run and one on Little Blackwater and the big one up here 2 ½ miles above Davis, and all the logs came into that dam and then they would open the booms for about an hour and let the water bring the logs on down to the mill out here. While Rumbarger’s were in here they only took out the timber, the cherry lumber. They hauled that in from Canaan Valley in big sleds. They didn’t float that, they hauled that.
Lambert: That was done during the winter season.
Worden: Yes, during the winter season.
Lambert: …and the Rumbargers sold their plant to the Thompsons.
Worden: They sold out to the Blackwater Boom and Lumber Company and so the Blackwater Boom and Lumber Company bought out Gam Rumbarger and then Mr. Thompson came in here, he bought a lot of timber up in the swampy land here and he was going to float it down the river too. Mr. Hamilton knew there would be a lot of trouble sorting their logs and Thompson’s logs down here at the mill. Sortin’ them out of course, they stamped them all on the end. Then Mr. Hamilton, when they bought Rumbarger out, Rumbarger then went to Elkins and put in a mill up around Mill Creek. Then Mr. Thompson came in and he built a mill down below town here a mile, before Babcock put in a hardwood mill, but he just had the framework up and that is what started Blackwater Boom and Lumber Company to sell out to Mr. Thompson because they would have all this trouble sorting the logs. Then they sold that mill to Beaver Creek Lumber Company up here. The man who put it in was Jag Allen from Hagerstown and they took all the timber out back on the land.
Lambert: That was on Beaver Creek?
Worden: That was Beaver Creek. I was just a boy when they bought that mill. I was seven years old when they bought that mill and I was five years old when I came to Davis.
Lambert: How many mills were built in Davis?
Worden: Well, the Blackwater Mill burned down twice and they rebuilt it and the Beaver Creek never did burn down. That ran until they had all the timber, mostly all, cut out and they only took the best timber. There was so much timber cut in those days out in this section, at Pendleton Run, out there. A man named Burger had a mill down at Pendleton Run that is 2 ½ miles from here, and he had a big mill down at Douglas. They only took the best timber. The hemlock lumber sawed only brought $6 a thousand and the best of spruce only brought $18 a thousand. Mr. Burger cut this big timber down anywhere from 4 to 5 foot across the tree and just took the bark and left the timber lay and rot, and they did that all over this country.
Lambert: Now tell us a little more Mr. Worden about Rumbarger cutting the cherry and walnut and bringing it in on bobsleds.
Worden: They did that for a couple of years. The snow in those days came along in October and it stayed until April. It never left then the way it does now. It might have been because of the big timber being here, what kept the winters cold. You know back years ago up at your home the winters were colder and lasted longer.
Lambert: What conveyance would they use to bring the sleds in? Would they have horses?
Worden: They used horses. When Mr. Thompson came in here he brought some oxen in with him from up in Ridgeway (PA). They used the oxen where they couldn’t use horses, in the swamps and skidded the logs out with them. I forget just what year it was they came in.
Lambert: Tell us about Mr. Babcock buying the Thompson’s out, Mr. Worden.
Worden: Mr. Babcock came in from Pittsburgh. Him and his two brothers came in and they were here just a few days buying Mr. Thompson out. When they bought Mr. Thompson out they put in a lot of improvement on the mill and then they brought the trees in, the whole tree and tried it. It would take two of the long flat cars to haul the trees in and they had a jig saw across from the mill where they sawed this up into logs instead of hauling the log in. They ran that for a couple of years but that wasn’t a success so they went back to cutting the logs anywhere from 14 feet up to 20 feet. Mr. Babcock had brought in the skidders which Mr. Thompson had never used. They took the timber out of the Canyon with these skidders where Mr. Thompson was going to build a mill down there in a place called Lime Rock. He was going to cut his timber in the Canyon and float it down Lime Rock to his mill down there. Of course, all the timber in high grounds he brought that in on bob trains or he couldn’t have gotten it out of the Canyon by trains. Mr. Babcock had put in a lot of switchbacks down the Canyon and took quite a bit out, what he didn’t get out with skidders. Then he took most of the timber out on both sides of the Canyon on the right hand side of the Western Maryland Railroad, what when down to Hendricks. He took that all out on skidders across the railroad over on the other mountain and that is where they dropped them. Then they loaded them up with loaders and loaded the log trains.
Lambert: About how many camps did they have in Canaan Valley when they were operating in the Valley?
Worden: Mr. Thompson had about five lumber caps and then Mr. Babcock, after he got up in there, he took out so much timber out of the sawmill with skidders, he had in there three or four camps up there. Then they kept on building the railroad they bought a lot of timber over in Grant County. They bought enough timber to run twenty years over there. Mr. Viering was a wood superintendent for Mr. Babcock and he was coming in from Stony River Dam one evening. It was raining and the old gentleman had a straight connected engine and when he got at the top of the hill he didn’t put the brakes on quick enough so the engine got away from him. He had five cars on, flat cars. The men on the train was a fireman, a conductor and another man. They jumped off the train and Mr. Viering came down into the lowlands at a pretty bad curve and the engine turned over and killed him. It buried him in the mud. Well, after that Mr. Babcock then sold all his timber out over in Grant County to people that had small portable sawmills. He quit business then, so that finished up our lumber business. If Mr. Viering could have only lived, our sawmill could have run 20 years longer than what it did.

Digging into Riverwalk site's past

I'm still reeling from all the impressions made on me by a trip to Pittsburgh Wednesday. Several years ago I had begun poking around on the internet for vestiges of companies, men, and mills that occupied the present site for Davis Riverwalk. I had browsed the few books on the industrial history of the area and found over and over again that Davis history -- despite its scale and duration of boom times - was barely documented.

A couple of years ago I searched with Google for the Babcock Boom & Lumber Company. Amazingly the main operator of the mill operations in Davis, Babcock Lumber, was still in existence and even celebrated its Davis history on its corporate web site. Consider that this is a business that cut and milled virgin timber in the Valley at the turn of the century, and today they still exist as a lumber company with the same name, and run by the grandaughter of the principal founding Babcock, E.V. Babcock.

I began a dialog with the corporate office that eventually resulted in an invitation to visit their offices in Pittsburgh, where we reviewed archives for anything related to the Davis operation. Cindy Phillips, the author of "Images of America: Tucker County", joined me for the visit.

It turns out that E.V's son, Fred Babcock, who died in 1997, had made a sustained effort over years to collect and preserve the history of Babcock Lumber. In that effort he had corresponded with several prominent Canaan Valley community members who had records and photos from the days of industrial pioneering. The folks at corporate still carry Fred's enthusiasm for Babcock's legacy in their hearts, and welcomed me and historian/author Cindy Phillips to come in and review their archives. What is also refreshing is that Babcock Lumber company sees the old photos and documents as both special and -- ultimately -- for the public to appreciate.

Yes, we saw photos we have never seen in the usual collections on the area's industrial history. And these will be collected for the public to enjoy. But for me the biggest surprise was how rewarding it was to get a glimpse of the Babcock family and the corporate culture they built over more than a century. It was captivating to read letter after letter between Fred Babcock and various decendants of the early families of Canaan. It was clear that one could spend several years on a full time basis doing interviews, research and writing from the clues and information we saw Wednesday.

There are no structures, few artifacts and little writing to tell today's residents and visitors what happened right here on this site, along this river. The promise of fuel for our collective imaginations lies in a digital history: history writings, letters, photos and drawings. Many of these bits exist and seem to satisfy the hunger of their collectors or original owners, but you and I don't get to know much of it without going into research mode -- yet.

Fun in the Valley and even living on the mill site in Davis Riverwalk has its merits even with no understanding of its history, but for many it will be that much richer with a sense of the people and stories that took place here, where the Beaver Creek flows into the Blackwater River.

The three 'trade routes' to Davis

Here is a Google MyMap with the three routes and some initial placemarks. There is an additional segment to our vacation property in Timberline as well.

View Davis Riverwalk in a larger map

Christmas in Canaan

It's been a classic Christmas

Kicked off by the Nor'easter December 19th, this holiday season has been blessed with Canaan's full winter conditions. A big lake-effect snow before Christmas, an insane ice storm with 26-mile an hour average winds and 45mpg gusts, a couple of warm days that let the snow become mist...and now the mother of all lake effects is burying us in 2ft of powder while the temps hold in the high single digits...Yes it's the real deal in Canaan this holiday.

Skiing today is limited to those who are either immune to the temps or are out of days to choose from. Wind chill is 5 degrees on the valley floor here, so it is of course out of control up on top.

Since listing Rock'n'Laurel (in Timberline) for vacation rental, we already have our first guest scheduled. Two more pioneers of mountain luxe will be getting the 20% promo discount.