Clarksburg, West Virginia [ don't skip it ]

Today we are continuing our journey through West Virginia with a visit to the city of Clarksburg. Clarksburg is a city in Harrison County, West Virginia, which is located in the north-central region of the state. It was formed in 1785 and was named for general George Rogers Clark who conducted many expeditions against the British and Indians during the Indian Wars and the American Revolution. In 1824 Thomas J Jackson, aka Stonewall Jackson was born in a house on the main street, just across from the courthouse. Stonewall Jackson's statue is located right in front of the courthouse along with the immigrant statue showing the diverse make-up of the population in the area and honoring the immigrants that helped to build the community. Before driving to Jackson's Mill, we decided to stop at stonewall coffee house. It’s in the ally way right by the court house. Jackson's mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's a well-preserved early grist mill, and is the boyhood home of Stonewall Jackson. Colonel Edward Jackson, a Revolutionary War figure, originally settled the mill on the West Fork River in the 19th century. After Edward's death, his son, Cummins Jackson took over the mill. After His brother Jonathan Jackson died from typhoid fever in 1826, His widow struggled to provide for their two kids Thomas and Laura. In 1830, she arranged the young Thomas and Laura to live with their uncle. Thomas lived here until leaving for West Point in 1842. About 30 miles away from downtown Clarksburg, is the town of Weston, The West Virginia Museum of American Glass is located here. The collection starts from the 19th century and goes all the way through to present time. It includes about 18,000 pieces of virtually every type of American glass. Be sure to check out the Lady Jane glass doll house ,they have on display as well. To get a better feel for the area we met up with Tina, the local tourism director for the city. Let’s ask her some questions So go ahead and introduce yourself please. Sure, I’m Tina Yoke, and I’m the executive director of the Clarksburg visitors bureau. So how long have you been living in this area? I’ve lived in this area for 53 years. My whole life I’ve lived here. You were born and raised in this area right? Right, born and raised in this area probably just two miles away from here, and I lived in the same house for 50 years. I recently moved just out of the city limits. I know there is a lot of history in this area, right? Can you please tell me a bit more about it? There’s a lot of history that I’m still learning about. There is a lot of history about the civil war. We have the historic building, but then what history I am a little more familiar with is the history of immigrants coming to West Virginia to work in the coal mines, or work in the glass factories. In fact my grandfather came from Spain, um, over to our area. He was just a child then, but he did end up working in the glass factory. So there is a lot of people who came to West Virginia to work. So for like, um, visitors, um, are there any places you would recommend them to see? We are actually in the process of publishing a walking tour map. There are plenty of historical houses and buildings just within walking distance of downtown Clarksburg. I don’t have a lot of them memorized there are definitely places within walking distance for historical tours. Ok, so um, I know the confederate general Stonewall Jackson is from here, and what are the, what do local people feel about him? Wether you liked him or didn’t like him, it is a strong part of our history, and I do know people travel from all over parts of the United States to come and see his birthplace, and his history. Um, this like, are there any local cuisine from this area? Like, what do people like to, you know, eat? Yeah, so, really good Italian food. Uh, we have our share of different Italian restaurants. And I, you know, some of the foods that we have here aren’t popular in other parts, and some people haven’t even heard of them, like the pepperoni roll, and I don’t know if you’re familiar with that. It started when the coal miners went to work, they needed something to eat, so they would take some Italian bread, and they would take pepperoni, um, and they would have pepperoni rolls. So we are actually very fortunate to have at least three, um, places right here in Clarksburg that make delicious pepperoni rolls. Wow, since you mentioned the coal miners and such, so, are there any, like um, coal miner factories where visitors can go and um check it out? No there’s not, but we actually have a history museum, and I’ll give you the information, it’s just down the street. It has information about the different coal mines and the strong history that’s here in the Clarksburg area. You could spend hours actually touring our Clarksburg history museum. So, what um, what’s the local people like in this area? Very friendly, uh, they look out for one another. When you walk down the street people will stop and talk to strangers. We welcome outsiders, we welcome visitors. We like to hear the stories from other people, and we certainly like to tell our stories to visitors. Thats my friend over there. I have to, he’ll stand there and wave until. I see, wow. His name is Nate. Everybody in Clarksburg knows Nate. So are there, like um, restaurants around this area you would recommend personally? Oh yes, yes. What are those restaurants um? So for Italian food there’s Menards, there’s the Caboose, there’s Julios Cafe in Glenn Elk. Heart Kitchen Eatery is a fine dining establishment around here in downtown. My Mother’s Daughter, which is just across the street, I’ve never had a bad meal from there. We also have a wonderful cozy coffee shop just around just across, on the other side of that building called Stonewall Coffee. Uh huh, interesting name. Yes, I know. We have a lot of things named after that. Are there any, like, state parks around here to see? We have, in Harrison county, its called Water Smith Park, and it has some great hiking trails and biking trails. Um, so we’re fortunate to have one right here in Harrison county, but then there are also, um, several within a one hour to two hour driving distance. Most people, whenever they think or hear of West Virginia, they, they always, um, know, you know, John Denver’s song, Almost Heaven West Virginia. Yes, wherever you go. Yeah, exactly. Like, um, I feel there is so much more into West Virginia, you know, like, what, what are the things people should know about West Virginia? There is so much more, you know, exactly. We’re very well educated people, we have plenty of job opportunities, our tourism industry has just, really, expanded. So like, in the winter, you know, since right now we are in the winter season, like, are there, um, places to ski nearby? Yes. Yes, we have Canaan Valley, we have Timberlane, Timberline and that’s only, again, like two hours from here. And then in those towns where those ski resorts are there’s real cute shops, and restaurants, and places to hear live music, um, and have craft beer or some home made ice cream. So there’s plenty to do even while you’re skiing, you know, you can go into the community and, and have plenty of activities. And I know in like, um, in this state like, um, you can go out and shoot a deer right? Yes. I heard, you know, for me, for example, like most Chinese people, they can’t really shoot a deer in China. Yeah, are there many? No. Ok, and maybe, yeah, that’s interesting. Are there any, you know, like um, places to shoot deer around here? Um, there are certain places that you can hunt, and you have to have a license, and there’s only a certain time, so there’s only certain places you can, and you have to have a license, and there’s only certain times that you can. And then there’s times that you can with a gun, uh, and then times that you can with a bow and arrow. But you can go with others right? If you don’t have a license you can still go and have the experience, um, with others if they go and shoot. Um, I, but I would recommend, you know, for safety too, to get your license and go through the training, uh you know, the hunter safety training that they offer. So that is the big thing here in West Virginia right? Yeah, and it’s really a good thing that there is deer hunting season because we do have a very large population. So be careful when you drive because they can run out into the road, and to your vehicles and such so, it is good to help thin out the population. And it also promotes a pretty healthy source of, of food for people too. So like um, I know you mentioned that you haven’t seen much of international visitors here right? Like um, is there anything you want to say, like to, you know, international visitors? That we welcome you, we would love, we would love international visitors to come. We would love them to come to West Virginia, we would love them to come home to Clarksburg, uh, there’s a lot here, and I do think we get a bad wrap as far as, you know, what there is to do, um, but we do welcome people from all over. Sounds good. Not far from the glass museum is the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. This will be our final stop. It was in operation from 1864 to 1994. It was made in the Gothic Revival and Tudor Revival styles by the architect Richard Snowden Andrews. Construction lasted from 1858 to 1881. It was originally designed to hold 250 people, but became overcrowded by the 1950s with 2,400 patients. It was closed in 1994 due to changes in laws governing mental patient treatment. I can image the caged souls yelling in the chilled night and crawling through the thick walls. I can't help but shiver thinking of even one night in this dark prison of souls. I left with many feelings, No matter if you love the architecture, or are scared to death of it, like the song by Kansas says, all we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see. We didn’t see anything too strange while visiting the asylum, but as we sat on the bench, we saw the lights flap on and off for hours into the night… If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe. Thank you for watching, see you next time.