West Virginia
West Virginia state park has July 4 history, too – Dominion Post
![West Virginia state park has July 4 history, too – Dominion Post](https://www.dominionpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/DroopMtnStatePark-sjs-08.jpg)
In Pocahontas County on this day 95 years ago, Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park was dedicated.
Which was an appropriate date, as many will say.
That’s because the intense, 1863 skirmish for which the park is named was also West Virginia’s Revolutionary War, of sorts.
Even with West Virginia entering the Union that June, the Confederacy still maintained a strong military presence within the new, squiggly borders of the only state in the U.S. born of the Civil War.
The ink was barely dry on West Virginia’s statehood papers when everything spilled over the cold morning of Nov. 6.
Some 5,000 soldiers in blue uniforms dug in at the summit of Droop Mountain against 1,700 soldiers wearing gray. The town of Lewisburg and the Virginia-Tennessee railroad line were both at stake.
The first shots were fired at 11 a.m. — and by 1:45 p.m., the enemies were staring one another dead in the face.
Brutal, hand-to-hand fighting ensued.
By 3 p.m., the Confederate troops began pulling back, reporting that were being overrun by the soldiers from the Union.
An hour later, they were in full retreat. It was over. Some 275 soldiers in gray were dead on the battlefield, according to estimates. Another 119 Union soldiers were casualties of war.
Southern forces never took a stab at the new West Virginia after that.
“Well, they were tenacious, for sure,” author and archivist Stan B. Cohen said by telephone, two days before the Fourth of July, from his home in Montana.
“I always saw that as kind of a West Virginia thing,” the longtime Missoula resident said.
It was a mostly sunny day on July 4, 1929, when Droop Mountain became the first state park in West Virginia.
According to newspaper accounts, as many as 10,000 poured into the place, to see the handiwork of it all.
There were speeches and proclamations. More poignantly, a handful of elderly Civil War veterans on both sides of the fighting were there to shake hands.
The logo — and the Last Frontier
Missoula is where Cohen, a Charleston native and WVU graduate, started making his name.
He enjoys taking in all that Big Sky and the western range of the Rockies he can regard from his window, but if you ask him – he’ll still proudly proclaim his Mountain State pedigree.
“Everybody out here knows I’m from there,” he said.
“I was talking about Jerry West with a guy at my bank just now. I tell everyone I’m a West Virginian who just happens to live in Montana.”
Cohen earned a geology degree in 1960 from WVU.
As an undergrad, he thrilled to the basketball conquests of the aforementioned West, a cool, steely counterpart to Hot Rod Hundley, who paired his own prowess in the game with glorious clowning and comedic flair.
It was a good time to be a fan of WVU’s basketball Mountaineers, he said.
People would pack the now-gone Stansbury Field House on Beechurst Avenue, where the seats went right down to the court.
Dust would rain from the rafters when fans would stomp their feet in appreciation. (So too would colorful language and creative insults, when they weren’t pleased).
Cohen was born in the Mountain State’s capital city in 1938, a son of Benjamin Franklin Cohen and Ruth Lieberman Cohen.
He worked in the oil and gas industry here briefly after WVU, before opportunities in the U.S. Forest Service took him to Montana and Alaska.
The West Virginian has been a small business owner and publishing house founder and proprietor.
His 1976 book, “A Pictorial Guide to West Virginia’s Civil War Sites,” carries the imprint of his Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., in his Charleston hometown. He later sold the business to a friend.
Out west, he’s primarily regarded as a writer and historian.
“I might be a little more known in Alaska than I am in Montana,” he said.
He’s penned more than 70 books on everything from wildlife to military history, while publishing close to 400.
He’s authored at least 15 books on America’s Last Frontier and is a recipient of the state’s Alaska History Award.
At 86, he has no plans of slowing down, as he’s currently writing a historical study of America’s monorail and alternate transportation systems — “I’m guessing the PRT is still going in Morgantown?” he asked.
Wars are just as much about real estate as they are ideologies, and the Mountain State is a revolution of place regarding both, Cohen said.
It’s home.
“I haven’t been back to West Virginia in six years. And that’s starting to bug me.”
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West Virginia
What a Realistic, Disappointing, & Dream 2024 Season Looks Like for WVU
![What a Realistic, Disappointing, & Dream 2024 Season Looks Like for WVU](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_5462,h_3072,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/mountaineers_now/01j2492vhah67yernvy1.jpg)
West Virginia was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll and according to most sportsbooks, the win total is bouncing around between six and seven wins. Expectations on the outside aren’t all that high, to say the least.
So, what are realistic expectations for the Mountaineers in 2024? What would a disappointing season look like? And how about a dream season? We break it all down below.
Record: 8-4 or 9-3.
We’re thinking realistic with a hint of optimism. It’s no secret that West Virginia’s 2024 schedule is more challenging than what they faced in 2023. That said, reaching eight or nine wins should be attainable for this group which might be the deepest roster Neal Brown has had since taking the job in 2019.
Record: 7-5 or worse.
When you have one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, a dynamic duo in the backfield, and a stout offensive line you have to win eight games at bare minimum. Anything less will have West Virginia fans wondering if 2023 was an anomaly and questions will arise once again about Neal Brown.
Record: 10-2 or better.
Some would say 10-2 is realistic and I won’t push back too much on that. However, the Mountaineers have not won 10 games since 2016 and to call that a realistic goal is a bit of a stretch, especially with this schedule. This would be be a dream year for WVU. Notching 10 wins most likely secures a spot in the Big 12 championship and perhaps a spot in the College Football Playoff. Achieving two big goals like that for the first time in program history is the definition of a dream year.
READ MORE ABOUT WVU ATHLETICS
The Gauntlet That Will Determine if WVU is a Contender in 2024
1988 vs. 2007: Who Was the Best WVU Football Team Ever?
Brandon Yates ‘Hungry’ to Prove Doubters Wrong
West Virginia
WVSports – 2027 RB Brooks excited about West Virginia after offer
Pittsburgh (Pa.) Aliquippa 2027 athlete Sa’Nir Brooks made the trek down I-79 for a West Virginia one-day camp and left with a scholarship offer from the program.
Brooks, 5-foot-11, 187-pounds, caught the attention of those in attendance with a pair of strong 40-yard dash times and then continued his play throughout the course of the camp.
West Virginia
United Way of Central WV sells out of ducks for Great Rubber Duck Race 2024
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — As of Friday afternoon, all rubber ducks for the 2024 Great Rubber Duck Race are sold.
The race is an event that helps raise money to be used for the community. Eyewitness News spoke with Margaret O’Neal, president of the United Way of Central West Virginia, shortly after the rubber ducks sold out.
“We’re all a little bit hysterical and in tears because 10,000 ducks is a whole lot, and we have literally sold about 2,500 in the last 24 to 36 hours,” she said.
Selling 10,000 rubber ducks was the goal for the organization.
“We live in a wonderful community and tomorrow when all 10,000 of those ducks get dumped off the south side bridge, everybody that bought one should just know that you contributed to buying shoes for kids and making sure seniors have what they need and that healthcare is accessible and education is important,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal told Eyewitness News volunteers have worked hard to get the ducks ready for their big race on Saturday. She said they rent the rubber ducks from a company.
“We received them in town about three weeks ago from the last race they were in. We take the tags off from that race and then we put new tags on for our race. After they’re dumped off we have a bunch of volunteers, Kanawha River Navy, lots of strong backs that’ll help us get the ducks back out of the water,” O’Neal said.
The first 10 ducks will win prizes, with the first duck winning $4,000. If your duck comes in last, no worries. O’Neal said you will get 25 ducks in next year’s race.
“We didn’t really think we’d get there,” she said. “We didn’t think we’d sell out. It’s just a really happy day for the United Way today.”
The Great Rubber Duck Race will start around noon on Saturday. To see the ducks get dumped into the water, you can sit in the Hadad Riverfront Park stage area.
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