The Bridges of Gilmer County: One Stoplight

That's it my friends. That is the famous one stoplight of Gilmer County. It is the only stoplight in the county and it is right downtown in Glenville, WVa. In fact, it is just down the street a little from my dorm room.

I went for a drive on Saturday to escape, or rather, explore Glenville. I visited some areas that I remembered from the first time I lived here. I took pictures this time (as requested by Frank) and I wanted to share some of them with you.

This is the residence hall that I am currently living in. "Slim Pickens".


Any comments about "jail cells" are not welcome, but totally correct, unfortunately. It does look very institutional doesn't it. My room is on the right wing, on the third floor back in the corner. This wing is actually the nices out of all the wings. I am in a "quad" with three other girls in private rooms. We share one bathroom between the 4 of us and it isn't too bad. Twice a week, a crew comes in and cleans the bathroom for us and they take out the trash everyday. That's great, because I hate cleaning the toilet back home. Notice the open sandy volleyball court in the above picture. Frank and I used to rule that court. We were the best co-ed beach volleyball team on campus back then.

This is the house that we eventually came to live in. I don't think our old landlords are there any more, they were quite old back then. I might try to find out.


It was pretty posh digs for us. We had central air, which meant air conditioning. And that, my friends, is heaven in an area of 99% humidity in the summer. While other students were swealtering away in the "jail cells" with no AC, Frank and I were hiding away in cool paradise.

Here are some more pictures of the campus.


This is looking up the street from the dorms. The Library is directly ahead, the Alumni house is on the left and the Fine Arts building is on the right.


This is the sign at the front entrance to the college. I was once a "Lady Pioneer". We actually have a mascot that dresses in buckskin and shoot a rifle at the end of the half and the end of the game. It is loud and it is hilarious.


I just found out that last year, Glenville State had its first African American Pioneer mascot, ever. Barack Obama is standing on the shoulders of great men. All the other mascots look exactly the same as this guy. I'm not kidding you. The are interchangeable. Psst...he's wearing a "coonskin hat"!

Here is the football field. I think it is the reason Glenville State college exists. Anyone that is black here either plays for the football team, wants to play for the football team or is on the basketball team.


It doesn't look like much in this pictures, but those stands fill up when there is a game on and the population of Glenville almost doubles on game day. The tailgate parties are something else. There are stands on the other side of the field as well, not quite as big, and they are for the fans of the other team.

Here is a picture of the new residences. These are for upperclassmen, married students and other more deserving people. These at least look like they were built for this century.


They didn't have these little beauties when Frank and I were here. Too bad. They look pretty nice.

So on with my drive.

I have to show you the funniest thing that ever happened to Frank and I. Before we move into the AC Paradise, we were looking for places to rent off campus. We looked in the local paper and there was a very promising ad. 2 Rm furnished house, it said and the price was very affordable. Something like $350/month, including electricity, gas, and water. It's address was 103 1/2 Brooklyn Dr. We went to take a look. We found 105 Brooklyn Dr. and 103 Brooklyn Dr., but 103 1/2 Brooklyn Dr. wasn't there. Was the ad wrong? Did it list the wrong address? Then, we looked between the houses and saw this.



We walked closer. No! Couldn't be....that had to be a shed. Noone could live there. We had found 103 1/2 Brooklyn Dr.


I'm not kidding you. Look!


I think someone has fixed it up since we saw it last. At least the door lines up with the steps now. We had to take a closer look. We walked up to the door and knocked. No answer. We tried the doorknob, and I'm not lying here, I am telling you the honest truth...the doorknob fell off! I stood there holding the doorknob and turned and looked at Frank, all guilty-like. "I didn't do it! It just fell off!" We laughed. We pushed in the door and looked at a 2 Rm house. Not 2 bedroom like we thought, but a 2 room house. Actually it technically could have been called a 3 rm house, because there was a kitchen/living/dining room, a tiny room that had a broken mattress half leaning against the wall (it was very badly stained and looked like a small rodent had torn into it) which must have been the bedroom and a bathroom. Well, it had a toilet and a sink (I can't remember if it had a tub or shower, but I don't think so, because it was so tiny!) It had a chair in the kitchen/living/dining room and I think that out recliner that is on the porch in the picture was inside. That was the furnishing. All of them. I remember laughing at Frank and saying that it was a very efficient house. "Look, you can sit on the toilet and cook breakfast at the same time." Oh yah, it had a stove and sink as well. And you could. Not lying. Anyways, we left laughing determined to continue our search for accomodations else where. But...and this is the most hysterical part: we went by the house about a month later, as we were jogging, and saw two football guys living there! I couldn't make this up if I tried. So, I got pictures of it for you.

After my little chuckle, I was off to explore some more of the area...

So, here's the thing about West Virginia. Is is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountain range. It is a very hilly area, with a lot of rivers and streams and creeks (or as the locals call them, "cricks") running around and at the bottom of these hills and small valleys. The roads don't go over those hills, they go between them, so the roads follow the waterways. They are very twisty and narrow and here's another local slang word, "hollers". That is what they call the little side roads off the more major county roads that go down those twisty, narrow valleys. Apparently, some of those hollers, people live there, still, to this day, without electricity and running water. Amazing! Also, because the hollers are so narrow, and the road is on one side, the houses are usually on the other side of the water. And closer to the water, because, if you don't have running water, you don't want to have to walk very fall to fetch some. So, there are a lot of bridges. Oh, and every Spring, when the area floods, you have to vacate you house, but at least you don't have to wash your dirt floor yourself. So I took some pictures of the bridges and some of the houses in the area. I plan to get some more. These ones are pretty tame compared to some that I remember. You know that book and movie, "The Bridges of Madison County"? Well, here is Gilmer's version. And there are many of them.


This one is pretty modern and you can drive across it with confidence.


Here is one that is only a foot bridge. This is a pretty common sight. And this one looks safe at least.


And another one, and below is the house that it lead to.


I would call it a more modern take on 103 1/2 Brooklyn Dr. in a rural setting. Wouldn't you say?


And this one is quaint. Just wait until you see some of the suspension bridges that I saw coming in the other side of town. I will get pictures of those and upload them. They are absolutely amazing. Terrifying and incredible little foot bridges.

Now on to some of the habitats in the area. The first picture is of Ike Morris' mansion. He is the richest man in the area. He owns the Waco Oil and Gas Company and has obviously done very well for himself. In fact, he is a very philanthropic man. He has, over the years, donated a lot of money to Glenville State college. He paid for the football stadium and the atheletes fitness center, which the college appropriately named after him. He is donating the money to build a community center on the other side of town, it will be named after his wife, Sue. And he has given money for scholarhships year after year, dollar after dollar. This is his house.


That is only the front, grand entrace, it has two other wings. And the entire property, including stables, barns, tennis courts, gardens, outbuildings and gazebos is surrounded by that fence. It looks to be about 5 acres or so. Pretty nice. Well...this is his neighbour, right across the road from him.

Yah, talk about disparity of classes. But, what was funny and quite telling was a big, handpainted sign on the side of the shed just out of the picture on the right side that read..."How many lives is a barrel of oil worth, Mr. Bush?" I missed getting that picture, but I think I have to take a trip out that way again, just to get that sign. What a hoot! And these people live right across the road from Mr. West Virginia Oil himself. Had to laugh. Mr. Morris' sign going the other way, into town read something like..."If you don't have an oil rig...get one." These West Virginians sure have a great sense of humour.

Well, that's it for today. Talk to everyone soon.

Love Tanya