Vol. VI No.38
/
November 29, 199,0
From the Greenbrier
Valley of West Virginia
i¸
Meresa Hutchison, Nellie Hutchison, Nathan Wiley,
Bill Hutchison, and Wilimena Hutchison
Gap Mills
Nellie Hutchison were
ith just dreaming
restaurant
After several years
over their plans and
the right place, the
settled on a farm
the eastern Monroe
of Gap Mills.
View Family Din-
open. Responding
and tilers,
visited the res-
16-1q. its first
" Mr Hutchison
no other place in
Where you can come
a meal family-style.
to serving tra-
to people who
pace. It was in-
stilled in me years ago that if
you give good-quality service and
food. people will come back. even
if they have to travel a ways."
Mr and Mrs Hutchison pur-
chased the farm house, located
on Route 3 two miles east of Gap
Mills, in 1988. It is over 100
years old. Mrs Hutchison said.
"We looked at this house, and
it seemed to be just right." Mr
Hutchison said. "1 really didn't
know if we could swing it, open-
ing a restaurant. I realized I was
getting older and would have to
do something about it one way
or another belore long. So on
October 12 we made the decision
to get it open by November 16. I
still can't believe we did it in
such a short time."
See "Family Style", Page 2-A
Old Railroad Cars On Dis,
At Clifton Forge; Parade Too
The Chesapeake & Ohlo His-
torical Society has announced
that the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
road Museum in Baltimore.
Maryland, and CSX Corporation
of Richmond,
Virginia have
donated to the
society two
former C&O
passenger-
train cars for
res torat ion.
display, and
possible future excursion train
service.
One car is C&O Coach No.
1632, built by Pulhnan-Standard
Car Company in 1950 as part of
a massive order to replace all the
cars on the C&O mainline pas-
senger trains. It will need resto-
ration but is in basically good
mechanical condltio~l. "llle sec-
ond car, C&O Combination Bag-
gage/Coach, No. 458, has
greater historical significance for
this area in that it served as the
standard coach and express/
mail vehicle for the Hot Springs
Branch mixed train service
which was terminated in 1970.
The Hot Springs branch was
later used for a tourist railroad
and has now been comI31~tely
abandoned.
Since car #458 used Clifton
Forge as its terminal and was
Important m carrying the local
passengers between Covington
and Hot Springs during the last
quarter-century of C&O passen-
ger service in the area, tt was
thought that the car would be
more valuable as a display in
this area than in Baltimore
wh~,e it has been in storage and
later on display since its retire-
Inent in 1971. The car will be
presented to the society by CSX
and B&O Museum officials at
the Clifton Forge C&O Coach
Yard (just west of the passenger
platform directly of Ridgeway
Street) in a ceremony at 2;30
p.m., December 8. Local govern-
mental officials, as well as soci-
ely and railroad officials, will
make brief remarks. The car will
be available Ior inspection lbl-
lowing the ceremony lor those
interested. "Ilia C&O Historical
Society in CliIlon Forge will hold
an open house at 1 p.m. Every-
one is invited to stop in and look
at the C&O related displays, and
to brouse in tile society's gift
shop which is stocked with rail-
way related itelns. RefreshnlelHs
will be available beghming at 3
p.m. The society will atso give
away several copies of its book.
C&O Allegheny Subdivision,
which is a 148-page history of
the C&O betweell Hinton, West
Virginia arid Clifton Forge, Vir-
ginia (regularly available at
$18.95). Tickels will be given
free to those who attend the
open house. You do noI have to
be present to win. The C&O His-
torical Society is a national or-
ganization devoted to tile preser-
vation, study and dissemination
of historical material on the C&O
Railway and its predecessors. It
has approximately 2,500 mem-
bers in 49 states and seven for-
eign countries, publishes a
monthly magazine as well as an
annual calendar, and currently
has seven books in print on C&O
stlbjects. Its national headquar-
ters is at Clifton Forge. Member-
.ships are available for $16 per
year (includes subscription to
the magazine 12 limes a year).
You May inquire at the archives
or write P.O. Box 79. Clifton
Forge, Virginia 24422. or call
703-862-2210.
Scheduling of this event was
mTanged in co6peration with the
Alleghany Highlands Arts &
Crafts Center, the Alleghany
Highland Chamber of Commerce
and the Clifton Forge Retail Mer-
chants & Professional Associa-
tion In an effort to promote a fes-
tive day during the holiday sea-
son in downtown Clifton Forge.
A Christnms parade will also be
held in conjunction with the rail-
road event.
At Carnegie Hall
Chorus Performs
Messiah December
Music. known the world
'round Ior almost 250 years, will
come to Lewisburg's Carnegie
Hall December 2 at 3 p.m. wtten
the Greenbrier commUnity Cho-
rus presents Handel's Messiah.
"ltlere is no admission charge for
this special perfornmnce.
In addition to the Carnegie
Hall performarlce, the Greenbrier
Cornnmnity Choir will appear at
The Greenbrier Hotel later this
month in a Christmas presenta-
tion lor the resort's guests.
Forty singers, along with five
soloists, comprise the chorus
under the direction of Barbara
Wygal. Miss Wygal is a music
educator In the Allegheny High-
lands (Virginia) Public School
Systenl. She is the director of
the local chapter of Harmony In-
ternational (a woman's barber-
shop singing group) and is a
member of the Larry Parsons
Chorale.
Miss Wygal has appeared in a
number of musical shows locally
Opera Society and the Roanoke
Opera. She lives in White
Sulphur Springs.
Mary Francis Harrlngton
Hicks, a teacher of voice and pi-
ano from Frankford, is the other
soprano soloist. Mrs Hicks has a
Bachelor Degree in Music Edu-
cation from Ohio Northern Uni-
versity and has been a featured
singer in the Messiah a number
of times.
Ginny Wails, from Lewisburg.
sings the alto solos. She is the
owner and operator of Green-
brier Dance Academy and has "
performed numerous times In
musicals with the Greenbrier
Valley Theatre. She majored in
Musical Theater at West Virginia
University and at the American
Conservatory in San Francisco.
Tenor soloist Charles
McClung is a second year medi-
cal student at the West Virginia
School of Osteopathic Medicine.
He studied voice at Concord Col-
staged by the Greenbrier Valley lege and has sung in the Mes-
Theatre and was previously the stah in IZichmond, Virginia. He
Artist Director of Carnegie Hall. and his family live in Alderson.
She has also taught in the
Greenbrier County school sys-
tem. Miss Wygal has a Bachelor
of Music In Education degree
from West Virginia Wesleyan
College. She lives in Lewisburg.
Dorothy V. Arbogast of White
Sulphur Springs is the accompa-
nist for the performance. She
taught piano at Greenbrier Col-
lege for Women in Lewisburg
and appears frequently as a solo
pianist locally. Mrs Arbogast
studied at Lawrence University
in Wisconsin and at the East-
man School of Music, University
of Rochester, New York. She has
a Maslers Degree in Piano IAI-
erature arid Music History.
Rene¢~ Fife is one of the so-
prano soloists for this perform-
ance. She has sting with the
Greenbrier Community Chorus
for more than 15 years and has
appeared with the West Virginia
See "Messiah", Page 2-A
Inside Today
• About Herbs ..................... 6B
Agriculture ....................... 7A
Briefly ............................... 2A
Classified ......................... 9B
Comics & Crossword ...... 8A
For the Record ................. 5A
From the Back Porch ...... 6A
Home Accent ................. 10A
Horoscopes ..................... 6B
Joy of Farming ................ 7A
Obituaries ........................ 9A
Opinion ....~ ................ . ....... 4A
Robeda ............................. 5A
Saints ............................... 3B
SpoHs ............................... 1B
Teen Notes ....................... 5B
East High School Students Get Taste
Style From Greenbrier's Chefs At Lunch
in high style for
East High
14 as staff
The Greenbrier
the cafeteria staff
a meal for the 950
teachers.
part of the high
observance of
Week and its
With the White
resort. On the
lasagna, ltal-
garlic bread. Des-
sert was the "Oreenbrier peach"
topped with whipped cream and
a chqcolate "G."
It was the second year for the
special dinner. This year's was
held in the gymnasium to allow
more room and to re-create as
much of The Greenbrier atmos-
phere as possible, according to
the resort's Food and Beverage
Director Rod Stoner. "We wanted
to extend a bit of The Greenbrier
to the school in as much a typi-
cal setting as possible." he said.
Individual tables with table-
cloths were set up in the gymna-
sium. along with plants, ice
sculptures, and live music. "The
Populaires." an orchestra from
the hotel, provided the music.
Staff members from The Green-
brier spoke in a number of
classes at the high school during
the day, including experts who
taught ice sculpturing to art stu-
dents.
See "High Style", Page 2-A
New Writer
It is a pleasure to wel-
come Greg Johnson of Le-
wisburg as a regular colum-
nist today. Turn to page 6-A
for a true reading treat.
Mr Johnson is a native of
Florida and uses his native
clime as the setting for some
of his stories; others are
about local folks (the names
have been changed to pro-
tect the "guilty'). Most of the
situations are real. Mr
Johnson has only embroi-
dered them enough to make
them into story-teller's clas-
sics.
A ready wit pervades each
of Mr Johnson's columns.
We know you will enjoy
reading "From The Back
Porch" each week in your
community newspaper --
Mountain Messenger.
H|i
Pray the leaders of the
world always have peace
in their hearts; our best
interest in mind . . . and
their hands out of our
pockets.
"|
Amy Brockway Is Drum or
At West Virginia University
Amy Brockway
Leading a 350-member band
before crowds of 65,000 will be-
come standard practice next fall
for Amy Brockway of White
Sulphur Springs. The 20-year-
old college senior has been se-
lected to be one of two drum ma-
jors heading the West Virginia
University (WVU) Marching Band
for the 1991 football season.
"It's going to be quite a chal-
lenge." Miss Brockway said. "i'm
ready for It."
The 1988 Greenbrter East
High School graduate has been
baritone horn section leader for
the past two years In the WVU
band. "A lot of people asked me,
"Why don't you try for drum ma-
jor?' So 1 decided to go ahead
with It. You have to go to band
members and get them to slgn a
petition in your favor. Twenty-
one petitions were turned In."
Miss Brockway said after the
21 candidates Introduced them-
selves to the entire band. mem-
bers voted. The director urged
band members to base their
votes on leadership. Those with
the top two vote totals were Miss
Brockway and Jay Jacobs (of
MorgantownL who will share re-
sponsibilities.
"The election is held at the
end of the marching season
since it's the last time we'll see
each other before the next
marching season." Miss Brock-
way said. "We're not llke high
school bands, which automatl-
cally go Into a concert season In
the winter--so this is the time
the drum majors are voted on."
The two students will teach
drills to the instrumentalists and
auxiliary groups and will alter-
nate with each other in directing
the band during pre-game and
half-time shows. Most of the per-
See "Drum Major", Page 2-A
has been under constructton since 1980. Bob and Marguerite
by building just the church as a hobby.
work so much we added the mill bulling," Mrs Wyatt said.
Mr Wyatt made the buildings and Mrs Wyatt
=Many items are handmade. All the fruits and veggies in the
the telephone and the chairs have been bought over
real water flowing over its minature wheel "Mrs Wyatt said.
~n display at Wyatt Home Center, downtown Lewisburg. "Many
so much we may leave the village out all year and
the seasons," Mrs Wyatt added.
ts on display in their store window -- complete with all the
hasn't yet provided.
e
