Arthurdale Heritage has a number of ongoing projects to accompany the traveling Smithsonian exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America. The exhibit examines our understanding of rural places and their history. Arthurdale and the other sites in the state hosting the exhibit will be thinking about topics like mental health, labor, and community memory. They will also be discussing the representations of their communities and West Virginia.
Officials from the Appalachian National Forest Heritage Area presented a Planning Exchange Camp Monday at 4H Camp Pioneer. Those who attended were able to give their input and help with planning of the future of the Appalachian National Forest Area. The AFNHA must submit its plans to the National Park Service in the spring of 2022.
heers could be heard throughout the Green Bank Observatory as NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover successfully touched down on the red planet Thursday, February 18th, at 3:55 p.m. EDT. The National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) helped relay communications from the rover to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) located in southern California.
We at AFNHA wanted to share with you some resources that speak more to the history of black Americans, not only in the AFNHA but in the Appalachian region as a whole. These resources in no way speak to any political leanings, and they do not advocate for any political organization. They are simply listed to promote learning and growth about our heritage, history, and culture in the Appalachian region, of which AFNHA is a part of.
What’s in a name? Join Abi Smith with the Greenbrier Historical Society as she explores the Shanghai Parade, a major event each year in Lewisburg, attracting thousands of people to gather and celebrate the start of a new year. But despite its popularity, this New Years event is shrouded in mystery. When did it begin? Who started it? and How did it get the name Shanghai? Get ready for the story!
The Forest Festival usually dominates Elkins conversations during the first weekend of October; however, everything is different in 2020. The Coronavirus forces us to avoid person-to-person chatting. If we want to talk, we need to go online, and that forces us to contemplate the reasons for things we are saying. This week I joined a zoom meeting to help develop a plan for the interpretation of visitor experiences in the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area [AFNHA].
In spring 2019, the Monongahela National Forest conducted a prescribed burn in the Big Mountain area in Pendleton County, West Virginia near the town of Cherry Grove. A prescribed burn is defined as fire applied at a set location, under specific weather conditions, to accomplish predetermined, well-defined objectives. Read more about this burn and why it is necessary in this post!
Exploring OUR Land: Public Lands in Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area opens June 4th, 2020, at the Appalachian Forest Discovery Center in Elkins, WV. This exhibit, created by AmeriCorps member Sarah Rosenkrans, highlights why public lands matter, what they are used for, and how we can protect and conserve them!
