A Thrive Test-Run: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Try
Editor's note: Wellness — we all need it. Today, allow writer Laura Jackson Roberts to take you along with her to Thrive. Next week, she'll share a salt sanctuary with you.
Unless you live under a rock, you...
West Virginia’s Remarkable Bats
I’ve got a history with bats. For 40 years, they’ve been invading my summers and my homes. A bat slammed into the wall and landed in a paint bucket. One entertained the cats for an evening, fluttering wildly, a...
Experience Wheeling’s Rowdy Past at the Francis Pier-Pint Brew-Off: Prohibition Edition
The logo was designed by Erin Rothenbuehler, programming and archives coordinator at the Ohio County Public Library.
According to local historian Sean Duffy, history and beer go together naturally. Luckily ...
PETROCHEMICALS AND THE OHIO VALLEY: Part 2 — Health Effects of Cracker Plants
Editor’s note: On July 16, the Ohio County Public Library hosted two experts at its Lunch with Books series. Dr. Matthew Mehalik, Ph.D., and Dr. Ned Ketyer, M.D., spoke to a crowd of over 100 about the environm...
PETROCHEMICALS AND THE OHIO VALLEY: Part 1 — Environmental Effects of Cracker Plants
Editor's note: On July 16, the Ohio County Public Library hosted two experts at its Lunch with Books series. Dr. Matthew Mehalik, Ph.D., and Dr. Ned Ketyer, M.D., spoke to a crowd of over 100 about the environm...
Caring for Coley: Mother, Daughter Give Hope to One Another
I’ve been hearing about Lisa and Nicole Goodson from a friend for over a year now. You have to write their story, my friend would say. And here’s my confession: I’ve had this interview on my to-do list for 15 m...
Roberts Ruminates: Horrible Creatures
I’ve got a lot of critters in my house. They’re all rescues. Our collie mix came from Marshall County Animal Shelter. We found the tortie cat at Ohio County and the tabby under a bush. Our German shepherd was f...
Second Annual Conference to Shed Light on Mental Illness
If there’s one word that describes Amy Gamble, the executive director of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Greater Wheeling, it’s open. She’s dedicated her life to mental health awareness, and thr...
The House in the Photo: A History of Echo Manor
There are many images of Wheeling from its early days, but certain photos just stick with us. One, in particular, generates discussion: a well-known sepia image from the turn of the century. Runners wind their ...
Coyotes: Truth, Myth and What We’re Getting Wrong
“Ithought it was our neighbor’s dog on the loose.”
“They are brave. Some nights when they are tracking/killing it is so loud.”
“Bethlehem is loaded with them. We got a Great Pyrenees to keep them away.”
...
Tick-Borne Disease: Fact, Fiction and Prevention
The other day I went into the woods to dig up some ramps. I wore socks and long pants as I crouched in the leaf litter. Later, I felt something on my stomach. It was a tick, moving as fast as it could toward my...
Artists Studio Tour to Showcase Local Artists at Work
If you’re not an artist, the world of art seems like another dimension. When we walk the halls of a gallery, buy a piece of jewelry or admire a hand-crafted dining room table, we only see the finished product. ...
A History of Disaster: How Piedmont and the Muskingum Watershed Lakes Came to Be
Each weekend in the summers of my childhood, my parents packed me and my brother up and took us to a little brown cabin at the end of a gravel lane. Woods surrounded the house on three sides, woodpeckers called...
Narrative Medicine: Using Patients’ Life Stories to Promote Healing
Cancer is a fact of life. We all know someone who’s fought it, and most of us know people who have both won and lost that battle. Cancer changes lives. It has a way of clearing away cobwebs and refocusing prior...
Perspective Is Everything: Living with Multiple Sclerosis
Editor's note: In this series, we’ll talk to locals who struggle with autoimmune disease and share their stories. Below, Ohio Valley resident Michele Meeks shares her experiences with Multiple Sclerosis.
WHA...
Wandering Photographers: An Afternoon With the Wheeling Shooters
I am not a photographer. I tried it for a few years when my first kid was born. I took some decent pictures, thanks to some help from my Nikon lenses and some great teachers at Oglebay Institute. Now, with the ...
There’s No Business Like Snow Business at Oglebay’s Slopes
The first thing Nick Janovich, Oglebay’s golf course superintendent and ski area manager, wants you to know about the ski slope at the Nutting Winter Sports Complex is that he can’t just whip up a batch of snow...
ROBERTS RUMINATES: Things That Go Click in the Night
At 2:30 a.m. the other night, I pulled back the curtains beside my bed to see sheets of rain ponding on the road. I watched for a long time. I listened, and I counted the seconds as the traffic light down the r...
Rescues Find Forever Homes With The Road Home Animal Project
We’ve all got that friend on social media who shares photos of shelter animals. That’s how I found The Road Home Animal Project. The non-profit organization in St. Clairsville, Ohio, is run entirely by voluntee...
ROBERTS RUMINATES: A Place for Piles
We tidied up our house the other day. It was in desperate need, and during the miserable exercise — one replete with whining and bickering and arguments about who was absolutely not going to pick up that shoe o...
Oglebay’s Holiday Tradition: The Best Light
The Festival of Lights is Oglebay’s crown jewel, and on Thursday, Nov. 8, it went live for its 33rd year. That’s a lot of years, a lot of light and a lot of excited young faces hanging out car windows. Many of ...
Happy Trails to Oglebay
Right now, people are walking in Oglebay Park. Some walk with dogs, some run through the woods. Some walk with a cane or motor along in an electric power-chair. Parents push strollers, and kids run ahead, aroun...
ROBERTS RUMINATES: Two Types of People
When I was a kid, Halloween was a fun time of year. We bought pumpkins at the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival, and on the way home, our elephant ear sugar-highs fueled elaborate costume plans. A few weeks later, w...
Lupus: Cruel and Hard to Diagnose
In this series, we’ll talk to locals who struggle with autoimmune disease and share their stories. Below, Ohio Valley residents Ashley Suder and Allison Stoner open up about their experiences with lupus.
Wha...
Schrader Center to Host Annual Ecofest Saturday
It’s Oglebayfest time again. During the weekend of Oct. 5-7, the hills of Oglebay will fill with vendors and visitors for the beloved annual event. Along with favorites like the Phil Maxwell Artist and Gourmet ...
Roberts Ruminates: Disorderly Conduct
I enjoy getting the mail. There’s always some hope when I go to the front porch each day. Maybe a paycheck has come, maybe a package from Amazon on which I’ve already blown said forthcoming paycheck. Maybe, at ...
What’s New at the Zoo? Animal Encounters and More
After 40 years of visits, I know Oglebay’s Good Zoo so well I could walk the paths with my eyes closed. Originally a North American zoo, the facility now focuses on rare and endangered species. Conservation is ...
One Tank Trips: Cathedral State Park
Just down the road from Deep Creek Lake, Md., sits one of my favorite West Virginia day trips, Cathedral State Park. It’s another spot I’ve recently discovered. As we traveled to and from Canaan Valley and Blac...
KAYAKING OUR CREEKS (Part 2): Below the Surface
While there’s no denying the beauty of our local waterways and the rising popularity of recreational kayaking, there’s also no denying that our creeks and rivers show the effects of pollution. Sewage, acid mine...
KAYAKING OUR CREEKS (Part 1): Paddling With Care
I recently paddled Wheeling Creek for the first time. I’ve paddled other rivers like the Youghiogheny, the South Branch and the Cheat. I’ve meant to do Wheeling Creek — it was just a matter of logistics. All ou...
All In a Day’s Work: Wheeling Symphony Musician Rescues Stray
Camille Rolla is a Pittsburgh-based pianist. She’s very talented. Recently, she subbed with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra for a concert series in the mountains of West Virginia.
She’s also a dog rescuer.
...
Roberts Ruminations: Intruder Alert
When Shawn woke me up the other night at 1 a.m., I’d been in the middle of a dream about a raspberry cheesecake. One moment I was reaching for a fork, and the next, a jittery man stood over me.
“Laura!”
“...
Oglebay’s Access to the Parks Program Provides Opportunities for Togetherness
When we think back to our own childhoods in the Ohio Valley, we likely find our memories are inextricably intertwined with the green hills of Oglebay Park. There are many storied traditions. Some families spend...
Beekeepers Keep Food on the Table, Honey in the Cupboard (Part 2)
Standing beside John Welty’s hive, cradling the little worker bee who died when she stung my protective suit, I feel as though I’ve just committed ecological sin. Honeybees are in trouble, after all. It’s all o...
Beekeepers Keep Food on the Table, Honey in the Cupboard (Part 1)
I’m stepping into a beekeeper’s suit today. It’s not heavy garb, but it’s puffy and cumbersome. Once the hood goes over my head and the gloves go on, there’s no way to scratch my nose, which immediately begins ...
Hop On Over to Zoo Brew
For one night each June at the Oglebay Good Zoo, the kids go home. The strollers roll away, the little red wagons head out, and the calls for popcorn and train rides fade into the evening sunset. After regular ...
Hop on Over to the Zoo Brew at Good Zoo
For one night each June at the Oglebay Good Zoo, the kids go home. The strollers roll away, the little red wagons head out, and the calls for popcorn and train rides fade into the evening sunset. After regular ...
Discovering Reiki: a Path to Healing
My hands have been tingling on and off for three days. They tingle as I write. At times the sensations move down to my feet or through my arms. Three days ago, I would have Googled the symptoms, diagnosed mysel...
The Autoimmune Sisterhood
Autoimmune disease is on the rise in our country. In decades past, the term “autoimmune” wasn’t widely known, but today, 50 million Americans live with an autoimmune disease. That number is climbing, and women ...
ONE TANK TRIPS: Cranesville Swamp Preserve
Summer has finally arrived. With it comes the opportunity to get out of your house and into nature. In this mini-series, I’ll be visiting semi-local parks and giving you the summary, so you can plan your next o...
Weather Balloon Launch: ‘Truly a Five-Sense Experience’
Fifth grade at Wheeling Country Day School is a special year. The most senior class serves as leaders and sets examples for other students. They get to visit the Stone Lab in Lake Erie and the capitol buildin...
West Virginia Writers Celebrate 40 Years of Literature
On the second weekend in June, a pack of unique and wonderful people descends upon the Cedar Lakes Conference Center in the green hills of Ripley, W.Va. They’re artsy folk, young and old, with a common bond: th...
ONE TANK TRIPS: Tomlinson Run State Park
The warm weather is finally returning to our area. With it comes the opportunity to get out of your house and get into nature. In this mini-series, I’ll be visiting semi-local parks and giving you the summary, ...
Wheeling Threads: An Artistic Endeavor in Community Spirit
There’s a lot of talk on social media about Wheeling. It often falls into two areas of discussion: the Wheeling that was and the Wheeling that will be. As a late Gen-X’er, I’m not quite old enough to remember t...
Roberts Ruminates: Beans and Weenies
I didn’t drink coffee until my first child was born. For 27 years of my life, I got by on ante-meridiem pep alone. But when the kid came along, as you can imagine, a steaming cup of artificial energy became an ...
Return of the Eagle — The Poster-Child for Ecological Success
The first time I saw a bald eagle here in the Ohio Valley, I had to blink to be sure I was awake. I was born in the late 1970s when eagles were still a rare treasure, a bird you might see out in a western natio...
Roberts Ruminates: Ode to This Road
The National Road runs like an artery right through our community. It wasn’t originally meant to come through Wheeling, though. It began in Cumberland, Md., and ultimately ended in Vandalia, Ill., but thanks to...