By Grace Bonnet
Serving with Upshur County Historical Society
This year’s issue of The Upshur County Historical Society: An Occasional Newsletter was just published mid-April. This project takes a massive amount of time and effort, but the Society is proud of this year’s final result.
The annual journal is dedicated to providing educational articles on historical topics related to Upshur County. The article topics are chosen based on what subjects might be of interest to the UCHS patrons. Though the newsletter has plenty of readers who live outside of the county and even outside the state, many have roots in Upshur and are interested in local history. The articles are also intended to be able to be used as jumping off points for readers who are interested in pursuing further research about a specific topic. The bibliographies of the articles are meant to point interested readers towards additional sources, and anyone with further questions is welcome to pursue their research at the UCHS Document Repository.
Depiction of Bush’s Fort (from WB Cutright’s History of Upshur County, p.196)
The Spring 2024 issue of the Society’s newsletter contains four articles about local history. The first article is about Bush’s Fort, which protected the Buckhannon settlement in its early days until the fort was abandoned and destroyed in 1782. There is an article about southern sympathies in Upshur County, a county which primarily supported the North, during the Civil War. Another article is dedicated to the history of the Upshur community of Tennerton, with topics and images that may be recognizable to local readers. The last article tells the story of the Home Bakery that was formerly located in Buckhannon. There is also a genealogy section that discusses the Reese family of Upshur County.
Preparing the educational articles is the longest and most difficult part of the journal process. It involves months of research, writing, and editing. The research process includes not only seeking out information to incorporate into the text of the article, but also finding historical photos, newspaper clippings, maps, and other visuals that will make the articles more engaging for the readers.
Heavner's Cemetery (staff photo)
As the AFNHA member serving with the UCHS this year, I had the opportunity to contribute the article on Bush’s Fort, the primary frontier fort in the region that would become Upshur County. Readers have requested an article on this topic for years, and so I was glad to help see that request fulfilled.
Bush's Fort plaque (staff photo)
The fort stood from 1773 to 1782 along the Buckhannon River, somewhere within what is today the new section of Heavner’s Cemetery, Buckhannon. As part of this story, we visited the site of the fort. Using descriptions and landmarks referenced in historical records, we attempted to ascertain the exact location where the fort stood. Though invasive investigative methods (i.e., excavation) are not possible in the cemetery, the UCHS is still looking into the feasibility of investigating the fort via non-invasive techniques such as ground penetrating radar (GPR). More details about the fort and the UCHS’s findings are included in the journal article. Copies of the journal from this year and previous years are available at the UCHS Document Repository building in Buckhannon.
