Author Christina Fisanick

February 18, 2019

When hotel clerk Howard Finley first saw Wheeling’s McLure not long after it re-opened in 1896 following renovations, he exclaimed, “Gee, ain’t she a whopper!” By that point, the donut-shaped structure had witn...

POSTSCRIPTS FROM THE EDGE(WOOD): Sledding in the Ohio Valley — A Family Tradition

January 26, 2019

It was the first snow of 2019. Two inches or so covered the lawns and sidewalks throughout Wheeling with a bit more on the outlying hills. Like most kids, my 7-year-old son sprang out of bed that frosty morning...

Wheeling Leaves Its Mark on Twain

January 11, 2019

On Jan. 10, 1872, one of America’s most celebrated storytellers took the stage at Wheeling’s Washington Hall. An Intelligencer reporter described him as “a youngish-looking man of somewhere about thirty-five, n...

POSTSCRIPTS FROM THE EDGE(WOOD): Christmas Tree Prey for Praying Mantises

December 29, 2018

When I woke up that morning, they were everywhere. Hundreds of tiny insects were swarming in the dim morning light of my dining room and kitchen. They were climbing the walls, clinging to the ceilings, and edgi...

Twelfth Night Ball Celebrates Past, Looks to Future

December 26, 2018

The great City of Wheeling turns 250 years old in 2019. Yes, Wheeling is older than the United States. It was founded by the Zane family when Virginia was still a colony and seven years before the Declaration o...

Weelunk Writer Takes Readers on a Sparkling Tour of Oglebay

December 16, 2018

Everyone who knows me knows that I love all things Oglebay — the history, the lakes, the lodge, the rolling hills. And yet up until this year, I had all but sworn off the Festival of Lights. That is, until I wa...

Wheeling’s Generous Philanthropists Provide for Future

November 27, 2018

EARL W. OGLEBAY Each time I walk through the Oglebay Mansion Museum, I stop in front of Earl W. Oglebay’s portrait and thank him. He is not there. I know that, but I feel so much gratitude for the incredibl...

To All the Halloween Babies Like Me

October 31, 2018

At 6:01 a.m. on Oct. 31, 1973, little old me came screechin’ and bawlin’ into this world. Yes, I am a Halloween baby and that fact — one of the only sure things I know — has shaped my life in interesting ways. ...

POSTSCRIPTS FROM THE EDGE(WOOD): The Pleasure of the Sunday Drive

October 14, 2018

Once cars became more affordable in the 1920s and ‘30s, families began to enjoy the ritual of the Sunday drive. For some people, Sunday drives meant leaving the smoke and noise of the city behind for bucolic ro...

Boo at the Zoo Unmasked

October 11, 2018

The Oglebay Good Zoo held its first Boo at the Zoo in October 1980 as a way to raise funds for animal care and zoo operations and to invite the community to enjoy safe, family-oriented Halloween fun. It quickly...

Roll Out the History: IPA Master Brewer Once Owned Waddington Farm

October 2, 2018

Recent years have witnessed the rise in popularity of India Pale Ale (IPA), a kind of brew known for its bitterness and often higher alcohol content. Few people realize, however, that one of North America’s bes...

The Painful Fat Disease: Lipedema

September 12, 2018

When I learned I had lipedema, I cried. Hours later I was still crying. Thankfully, I was able to regain control over my thoughts, but I still struggle with depression associated with this progressive, painful ...

Cottages Have Been Offering Overnight Hospitality to Oglebay Guests for 80 Years

August 17, 2018

Although Oglebay Park is widely known for its rolling vistas, hiking trails, and golf courses, sometimes guests like to spend a bit more time than just an afternoon fishing at Schenk Lake or swimming at the out...

July 25, 2018

Imagine Wheeling without Oglebay Park. … At one point that nightmare was nearly reality. As one of the largest self-sustaining city parks in the country, Oglebay Park rubs shoulders with just a select few...

POSTSCRIPTS FROM THE EDGE(WOOD): The Fine Art of Porch Sitting

July 21, 2018

Edgewood-Woodsdale is a neighborhood with sittable porches. Although we have few vast verandas, many of our porches easily accommodate a few chairs or a glider. They were made that way. Porch sitting was an imp...

POSTSCRIPTS FROM THE EDGE(WOOD): I’ll Take the Back End

June 30, 2018

During that first coveted week of spring that seemed like it would never arrive, my family and I fired up the gas grill to have a picnic on our deck. We washed away two seasons of crust from our glass table top...

Exhibit Brings Greatest Generation to Front Line

June 5, 2018

Each year we lose nearly 400 veterans from World War II. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, only 558,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were alive in 2017. ...

Conference to Shed Light on Mental Illness

May 30, 2018

In the late 1970s, two Wisconsin mothers, Harriet Shetler and Beverly Young, had grown weary of community backlash against their sons who struggled with schizophrenia. As they worked to find care for their s...

No Need to Keep Quiet About Good Times at the Library

May 21, 2018

Saturday, I went to a party at the Ohio County Public Library (OCPL). Most of you are probably thinking (with a fair amount of sarcasm), “I bet that was a good time.” Let me tell you, it was! Libraries are not ...

POSTSCRIPTS FROM THE EDGE(WOOD): Her Name Is Delores

May 19, 2018

“Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkien At times it seems that she is everywhere. Walking down Walnut Avenue, crossing National Road by Vance Church, strolling through Wheeling Park. She is alway...

POSTSCRIPTS FROM THE EDGE(WOOD): Taking the Cow Path to Culture

April 28, 2018

Route 88 meanders through the Ohio Valley countryside, connecting the city of Wheeling to Oglebay Park and small, rural towns and farms along the way. More significantly, for some, Route 88 is the lifeline that...

The Wheeling Ambulance: A Civil War Hero

April 16, 2018

Even though no battles were fought here, Wheeling was an important site during the American Civil War. Camp Carlisle on Wheeling Island provided training for Union soldiers, and the Atheneum on Market and 16...

Reeling From All These Wheelings (Part 2)

March 18, 2018

EDITOR'S NOTE: Part one of this essay explored several of the most commonly known Wheelings. Today's part two explores Wheelings in Indiana, the South and in places rather unexpected. The Indiana Wheelings ...

Reeling From All These Wheelings (Part 1)

March 17, 2018

The settling of Wheeling, W.Va. (then Virginia), by the Zane family is a story common to most locals. In 1795, white settler Ebenezer Zane changed the name of the area he had claimed through tomahawk rights fro...

The Writing on the Wall

October 15, 2017

Wheeling natives have made their mark all over the nation and the world. They are actors, like Joyce DeWitt and John Corbett; labor activists, like Walter Reuther; musicians, like Leon “Chu” Berry and Mollie O’...

An Ode to Wheeling Summers

July 2, 2017

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By Christina Greer The headlines are depressing. “The most miserable state in the US is West Virginia. For the fifth year in a row!” (The 2014 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index) “West Virgin...

The Enduring Mystery of the Grave Creek Stone

December 26, 2016

(written with Rebecca Taylor) As a girl growing up in 1980’s Moundsville, West Virginia, my* teachers must have taken me and my classmates on tours of the Mound and its museum more than a half a dozen times ...

Digital Storytelling Class Focuses On Wheeling

November 19, 2015

Bringing Archives to Life A Weelunk partnership with Archiving Wheeling. For more great Wheeling stories visit www.archivingwheeling.org. Most history lovers are familiar with Ken Burns’ epic documentari...

A Seat of Frontier Justice: The Old West Liberty Courthouse

November 1, 2015

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I recently spent the day in the little town of West Liberty. I have been fascinated by the history of the hilltop village since my undergraduate days at West Liberty University, but back then I had no idea just...

In Full Bloom: Nicky’s Garden Center

October 11, 2015

On the way back from Sunday brunch at Oglebay, we decided to stop by Nicky's Garden Center's new location on Warden Run Road to buy my mother-in-law a flower for her birthday. What we found was a whol...

New Endeavors at Olney Friends School

July 30, 2015

I arrived on campus just in time for lunch, which gave me the perfect opportunity to learn all about the organic farm at Olney Friends School, an independent, progressive high school in Barnesville, Ohio. As I ...

Words & Music Celebrates 25 Years

July 17, 2015

I first walked in to Words & Music my freshman year of college. As the only West Liberty commuter I knew without a driver’s license or a car, finding a way to the Stratford Springs' bookstore was a bit more...

Mmm . . . Popcorn Opens at Market Plaza

June 3, 2015

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My son insisted he could smell the popcorn by the time we hit the former Kaufman’s storefront. He held fast to his dad’s hand as he skipped down the alley and into Market Plaza. We were heading out to our first...

“The Stag,” the Myth, the Legend

May 16, 2015

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Every time I visit “The Stag” at Oglebay Park, I wonder how many Ohio Valley children have perched themselves on his smooth, verdigris surface. How many families have spread a picnic blanket in his shadow on a ...

Looking for Home: Rebecca Harding Davis and Me