The Times West Virginian

Nothing to do this summer?
“I’m bored.”
These two words, uttered (or moaned or even whined) by a child in the summer, can strike fear and dread in the heart of even the most seasoned parent.
Fortunately for all involved, Marion County offers a wide variety of summertime activities for children of all ages.
Traditional music
A brisk wind whipped around the outbuildings at Pricketts Fort and the heavily wooded hillside across the one-lane road leading to the fort.
Elmer Rich, the oldest and unofficial leader of a stringed sextet gathered beneath a tent protecting them from the threatening rain, closed his eyes as he coaxed the plaintive chords of “Over the Rainbow” from his German-made fiddle.
A testament of love
In this tiny Taylor County community, on U.S. Route 250, stands an unassuming, two-story white country home that once served as a temporary headquarters for Gen. George B. McClellan during the Civil War.
But the story of the family that first lived here seals its place in history.
Madman or martyr?
From the porch of the old Kennedy farmhouse he rented just a few miles south of Sharpsburg, Md., John Brown could almost see the tiny village of Harpers Ferry, Va., a cluster of houses and shops, some clinging to the steep banks of the Potomac River as it meandered slowly down from the Allegheny Mountains, others squatting in the low point where that river met the Shenandoah as it rushed northward from the valleys of Virginia.
Everybody’s Scottish
When was the last time you saw a man toting a telephone pole?
And when have you ever seen a man throw one?
Show ring rock star
By the age most babies had just learned to sit up by themselves, 6-month-old Lexie Flint had already sat on her first horse.
When other 3-year-olds were learning to brush their teeth, she was already riding.
Bloom with Brogan
Spa Piccola at the Tuscan Sun Marketplace at the Meadowbrook Mall is sponsoring “Bloom with Brogan” April 14-19. At the Kid’s Spa, for $19.99, you can buy a “Bloom Bundle,” from which you can “make your own creation,” and get an event T-shirt (designed by Brogan) and a spring cupcake.
One special wish
Every child has a wish, a wish that is hoped and prayed for with eyes squeezed tightly shut, that will make the most dreadful day just a little easier to bear, that will make a young soul burdened with sorrows sing a little louder.
You can help make the wishes of some very special Marion County children ... Cortney Bright ... Christopher Kittle ... Raven Orr ... Andrew Walker ... come true.
A turning point in history
Trapped on the steep banks of the tranquil Potomac River, just about a mile or so east of Shepherdstown, in mid-September 1862, a flank of navy-coated Union soldiers lept to their deaths in an effort to escape artillery fire from approaching Confederate Rebels.
This was part of the Battle of Boteler’s Ford, considered by historians a milestone in the Civil War ... and U.S. history.

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