A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to Emily’s school for Grandparents Day. We obviously had a great time and are looking forward to it next year. I got to thinking about how everybody seem to have a “day,” and it occurred to me that if not for West Virginia, we grandparents might not have our day. Grandparents Day was “founded” by Marian McQuade of Oak Hills, West Virginia in 1973. I might also mention that Mothers Day was also “founded” in West Virginia.
When our friends learned we were moving to West Virginia, they all thought we were moving to the “wrong side of the tracks.”
There’s an old joke that the first toothbrush was invented in West Virginia because if it had been invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teethbrush. But the fact is, that West Virginia, like most places, is unique in its own way and lays claim to a number of “firsts.” Berkley Springs, just up the road from our house boasts the country’s first spa that was open to the public. And outdoor advertising more or less got its start when Mail Pouch tobacco ads were painted on barnes in Wheeling, West Virginia. One of the first publications for women, The Ladies’ Garland newspaper was published in Harper Ferry in 1824. The first routes for Rural Free Delivery (RFD) started in Jefferson County — the county we live in. Prior to RFD, people living in the country traveled to cities to get their mail, or paid someone for delivery.
One very important contribution to society from West Virginia is the Pepperoni Roll. It was invented by an Italian, Giuseppe Arigiro, who came to work in the mines in Clarksburg in 1920.
The first steamboat was launched by James Rumsey in the Potomac River here in Shepherdstown in 1787 — the town was named New Mecklensburg at that time.
The stone used for the Washington Monument was stone that was quarried near Hinton, WV.
West Virginia is considered the southernmost northern state and the northern most southern state, and add to that it is the only state to get its sovereignty by proclamation of the President of the United States.
So West Virginia may not be “almost Heaven” but it’s certainly not the “wrong side of the tracks.”
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