CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Fall 2021 issue of GOLDENSEAL magazine is now available. Since 1975, GOLDENSEAL has been West Virginia’s Magazine of Traditional Life. Attached is a list of retailers where GOLDENSEAL magazine is available.
This issue covers a wide swath of topics from 16 West Virginia counties. The cover story, written by Laiken Blankenship, is about 103-year-old fox trapper Al Leonard of Hampshire County, who shares a few tricks he’s learned over nearly a century of trapping. Patsy A. Reckart tells a true ghost story from Braxton County. Alan Byer pays tribute to the late Eleanor Mailloux, who ran The Hütte restaurant in Helvetia and played a major role in promoting the town’s Swiss cultural heritage for nearly 50 years. Edwina Pendarvis discusses the beauty of ballet with seven women who grew up taking lessons in West Virginia. Chris Haddox profiles former fiddle makers John Tutterway of Beckley and Tommy Doolittle of Fairmont. Current instrument maker and fiddler Jerry Lewis of Nicholas County is the subject of a photo essay by Anne M. Johnson. H. R. Cogar recounts a tragic 1936 tar-barrel explosion in Gassaway. John E. Allen shares some personal memories of Widen in Clay County, including the violent 1952-53 coal strike and more pleasant times at the baseball diamond. Jerry Bruce Thomas remembers how his 1958 Pineville High School football team used the revolutionary “lonesome end” formation to win a few games. Julian Martin tells stories about the old Osborne Brothers’ Store in Griffithsville in Lincoln County.
Also in this edition, Gary West salutes Steve Onderko, a former stone mason and community leader in Kingmont in Marion County. Jeff DeBellis writes about the Black Hand and organized crime in early 20th-century Thomas in Tucker County. Aaron Parsons takes a more light-hearted look at Thomas and the mystery of octopuses showing up in the Blackwater River 75 years ago. David McCormick examines the careers of three doctors-turned-soldiers in the Civil War. Samantha Riggin looks at the controversial military careers of Julian and Antoine Gaujot of Williamson, who are among only five sets of siblings ever awarded the Medal of Honor. Larry Shockley digs into another history mystery: did the assassin of President William McKinley once live in Charleston? Carl E. Feather visits the historic Old McDonald’s Pumpkin Patch and Maze at Inwood in Berkeley County.
Emily Hilliard demonstrates some of the home projects West Virginians developed during the pandemic. Finally, the issue honors several individuals who’ve passed away over the last year, including Huntington’s T. R. Wickline, West Virginia’s last Pearl Harbor survivor; Denzil Cowger of Webster County, a traditional basket maker and outdoorsman; and Don Rice, Randolph County’s “history guy.”
GOLDENSEAL is published quarterly by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture & History. You can order copies from GOLDENSEAL’s online store or call 304-558-0220, ext. 134. Individual copies are $5.95/issue + $1.00 shipping, or you can order subscriptions for one year ($20), two years ($36), or three years ($50).
GOLDENSEAL Magazine can be purchased at the following retail outlets:
Brushy Ridge Farm, Augusta, Hampshire County
Four Seasons Books, Shepherdstown, Jefferson County
State Museum Gift Shop, Culture Center, Charleston, Kanawha County
Taylor Books, Charleston, Kanawha County
West Virginia Market Place at Capitol Market, Charleston, Kanawha County
Appalachian Glass, Weston, Lewis County
Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex, Moundsville, Marshall County
Railroad Depot, Bramwell, Mercer County
Book Exchange, Morgantown, Monongalia County
Ruby Memorial Hospital Gift Shop, Morgantown, Monongalia County
The Monroe Watchman Newspaper, Monroe County
Cacapon Resort State Park, Morgan County
Nicholas Chronicle Newspaper, Summersville, Nicholas County
West Virginia Independence Hall, Wheeling, Ohio County
Wheeling Artisan Center, Wheeling, Ohio County
Tamarack: The Best of West Virginia, Raleigh County
Pipestem Resort State Park, Summers/Mercer County
Tygart Lake State Park, Taylor County
Blackwater Falls State Park, Tucker County
Galaxy Foods, Middlebourne, Tyler County
Peoples News, Parkersburg, Wood County
Twin Falls State Park, Wyoming County