Group marks CD release

By JODY MURPHY

PARKERSBURG - Members of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Alliance held a release party Wednesday for a new set of CDs featuring an oral history of the historic road.

The new three-set CDs feature more than 40 different interviews with people who recall stories of the turnpike and its history, focusing on the road from Buckhannon to Parkersburg. Duke Talbott, president of the turnpike authority, said the new CDs focus more on the history of the western end of the turnpike, covering Wood, Ritchie, Wirt, Gilmer, Upshur and Lewis counties.

"The story of the turnpike and of West Virginia tells the story of our country," says Mary Rayme, who is the coordinator of the nonprofit Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Alliance. "The turnpike encompasses the history of the United States, from Indians to early settlers to western expansion to new immigrants coming to help build the infrastructure of our new nation. These CDs tell the history of the turnpike and also reveal wonderful details about rural living in the old days of West Virginia."

Rayme did much of the transcript work and designed the CD cover.

The CDs, created by Carrie and Michael Kline of Talking Across the Lines, combine oral history, music and sounds that help to the tell the history of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike.

Many of those interviewed are locals with ties to and knowledge of the historic road. More than 20 people attended the release party at the Oil and Gas Museum in downtown Parkersburg.

The three CDs feature more than three and a half hours of material. Kline said the entire seven CD set features more than 100 different interviews.

The titles of the CDs are The Old Stagecoach Line: Living Along the Turnpike; Took Off Running: Race and Culture Along the Turnpike, and Old Virginians and Wildcatters: War, Wealth and Work Along the Pike.

The Old Stagecoach Line is 76-minutes of history that focus on early settlement of West Virginia by Europeans and Indians, Blennerhassett Island in Parkersburg and how small towns grew up around the turnpike. The Old Stagecoach Line also talks about way stations along the pike, gristmills, general stores and traveling the turnpike in old automobiles. Other track titles include Prisoners Building the Pike, The Great Depression, One Room Schools and Community Life: Horses, Games, Chores, Visiting, Home Remedies, Doctoring and Lending a Hand.

Old Virginians and Wildcatters focuses on the history of Early Parkersburg, West Virginia Statehood, the Civil War and Reconstruction. Other subjects covered by this audio history CD include Timbering and Coal Mining, The Ritchie Mines, The Oil and Gas Industry, Parkersburg City Life and Pike Towns.

The CDs will be available for purchase at $15 per CD or all three new CDs for $40 at the Oil and Gas Museum. All proceeds benefit the nonprofit turnpike alliance.

Talbott said the CDs are the final part of the audio history of the turnpike, but he wouldn't rule out future products.

"These things build on each other," he said.