Switchbacks and Wagon Tracks      Downloads Switchbacks and Wagon Tracks - $16.00 (audio CD) Switchbacks and Wagon Tracks - $12.00 (audio cassette) Set of All Seven Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Recordings - $90.00 (audio CD - A $22.00 SAVINGS) Holding Rugged Ground      Downloads Holding Rugged Ground - $16.00 (audio CD) Holding Rugged Ground - $12.75 (audio cassette) Set of All Seven Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Recordings - $90.00 (audio CD - A $22.00 SAVINGS) We'd Be Millionaires If We had It Now      Downloads We'd Be Millionaires If We had It Now - $16.00 (audio CD) We'd Be Millionaires If We had It Now - $12.00 (audio cassette) Set of All Seven Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Recordings - $90.00 (audio CD - A $22.00 SAVINGS) Model Ts and Model Roads      Downloads Model Ts and Model Roads - $16.00 (audio CD) Model Ts and Model Roads - $12.00 (audio cassette) Set of All Seven Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Recordings - $90.00 (audio CD - A $22.00 SAVINGS) The Old Stagecoach Line      Downloads The Old Stagecoach Line - $16.00 (audio CD) Set of All Seven Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Recordings - $90.00 (A $22.00 SAVINGS) Took Off Running      Downloads Took Off Running - $16.00 (audio CD) Set of All Seven Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Recordings - $90.00 (A $22.00 SAVINGS) Old Virginians and Wildcatters      Downloads Old Virginians and Wildcatters - $16.00 (audio CD) Set of All Seven Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Recordings - $90.00 (A $22.00 SAVINGS) More Details: 1.) Switchbacks and Wagon Tracks: The Building of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike The rugged mountains of western Virginia were settled by hearty souls whose lives were very different from those on the large plantations of eastern Virginia. Transportation was difficult but essential. Improved roads to bring in supplies and to export goods to market were the lifeblood of these frontier communities. The political and logistical difficulties that had to be overcome to build the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike illustrated many of the challenges and difficulties of mountain life and set the stage for the bloody conflict to come in the American Civil War. The story of building the Turnpike, along with the railroads in its wake, shows how vital such transportation arteries were to the life and growth of western Virginia. You are invited to witness the evolution of animal and Indian trails into the region's premier highway linking western Virginia from the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River. Listen to the tales of early transportation, trade, and migration across the Allegheny Mountains in this gripping audio history from the Voices of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. 2.) Holding Rugged Ground: The Civil War Along the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Civil War enthusiasts will be captivated by the unfolding story of the Allegheny Mountain campaigns of early 1861 punctuated by lively West Virginia fiddle tunes and songs, cradled in the ambient sounds of the surrounding country side. Digitally recorded interviews with Pocahontas and Randolph County West Virginia elders detail memories of their families’ first-hand encounters in historic battles and their efforts to carry on daily life amidst the bloody War. The social divisions, passions and violence of the era left deep traces among the citizens of the new war-born state of West Virginia still resonating in recollections of their aging descendents. This production will engage listeners through its action-packed account of the Civil War in western Virginia, told by those who carry the tales forth from earlier times. 3.) We'd Be Millionaires If We had It Now: Reconstruction and Industrial Revolution Along the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike In the aftermath of the Civil War, life in the new state of West Virginia changed forever. With the help of a booming railroad system, it became possible to extract the abundant natural resources of the region. By the end of the 19th Century, timber and coal were being exported from West Virginia in astonishing quantities. Capitalists of the Gilded Age found it simple to exploit cash-starved mountain families, and vast tracts of land and mineral rights were purchased for a pittance. By the early days of the 20th Century, a previously agrarian life was transformed as farmers became loggers, miners, mill hands and railroaders to keep food on the family table. Dangerous working conditions, inclement weather, and the Flu Epidemic of 1918 compounded hardships. Stories of fortitude through hard times live on in this audio history production, the third in the four-part series, Voices of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. Join us as local elders recall with a grim chuckle that, "We'd All Be Millionaires If We Had It Now!" 4.) Model Ts and Model Roads: The Bumpy Ride into the Modern Era Along the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike Listen while West Virginia elders reminisce with a chuckle and a tune about the first time they saw "one of those blasted automobiles." Some hid, and others ran to hitch a ride. Hear the songs and stories of the days when all the neighbors gathered at one family's farm to wait for a train or to hole up for a Saturday night music jam. Join in the boisterous accounts of West Virginia towns on a Saturday night when the boys came in from the log woods. Feel the mixed emotions revealed through depictions of close knit communities centered around work in the tanneries and hard scrabble towns. Hear the accounts of a 101-year-old gentleman whose wife helped him keep the faith during the long years of the Great Depression until the President and Mrs. Roosevelt brought hopes of better times to West Virginia. Recall for yourself the reasons why we keep passing on the stories and music of earlier times, tales of fortitude and songs about spending time with friends and neighbors. 5.) The Old Stagecoach Line... offers a look at who first settled the hills and valleys now known as north central West Virginia. Indians traveled, hunted and sought shelter until Europeans took over the region. A wealthy Irish couple built a mansion of dreams on Blennerhassett Island in the middle of the Ohio River. Soon Europeans of all stripes collided in these wild lands, bouncing and bumping along the new frontier. By the early 1800s plans were being made for a road connecting eastern and western Virginia, and by 1847 hardworking engineers and hand diggers had carved out a rudimentary road, the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. Waystations sprang up for travelers to break bread, toast a cold night, and exchange tired horses for fresh ones. Lively communities were born around gristmills and general stores. Laugh a while with speakers in this first-hand account as they recollect driving the old road in the first clunky autos of the day. Picture crews of prisoners grading the Turnpike. Commune with people who survived the Great Depression by reaching out to neighbors. Imagine big boys climbing out the window of a one-room schoolhouse while the teacher looked on. Learn how old timers kept healthy drinking from clear springs, making homemade potions, and gathering in for community work frolics, sharing memories wrapped in the tapestry of grandma's quilt. Tracks 1. Early Settlement by Europeans and Indians 2. Blennerhassett Island 3. Building Small Towns 4. Planning and Building the Pike 5. Waystations 6. Gristmills 7. General Stores 8. Early Autos 9. Prisoners Building the Pike 10. The Great Depression 11. One Room Schools 12. Community Life: Horses, Games, Chores, Visiting, Home Remedies, Doctoring and Lending a Hand 6.) Took Off Running... tells of Europeans and African-Americans who traveled through or landed in north central West Virginia, working on the Turnpike, the railroad, and building Weston's massive Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum of hand-cut stone. Others worked in homes, farms and factories. Gypsies and Jesse James traveled the Pike. Cultures united and collided. Slaves worked in local inns and as secretive conductors on the Underground Railroad to freedom. Witness the drama of human courage as immigrants and slaves struggled to free themselves, assisted by brave allies. Climb up and downstairs to glimpse the impressive architecture and inside life of ParkersburgÕs finest homes, through the lens of black and white experience. And dance to the rhythm of some of West Virginia's best homemade music. Tracks: 1. Irish and Italians 2. Weston and the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum 3. Catholic Life 4. A Miniature United Nations 5. Pike Travelers: From Gypsies to Jesse James 6. Collage of Cultures and Language 7. Prejudice: The KKK and the Redmen 8. Slavery 9. The Underground Railroad 10. Burnt House 11. California House 12. Plantations and Abolitionist Colonies (Oakland and Valley Mills) 13. Julianna Street Homes: Upstairs, Downstairs 14. Parkersburg's Black Community 7.) Old Virginians and Wildcatters... depicts Tidewater Virginians who made up the ruling class of early western Virginia. They clashed with hillside farmers in a tug that erupted with the Civil War. Tensions of war and class broke the state in two and founded the new state of West Virginia. Fasten your seatbelt as you hear local people unveil the truth about such little known entities as the Constitutional Union Party. This political party, favored by West Virginia's ruling elite, supported slavery while remaining tied to the Union for the sake of finances. With the bitter taste of the Civil War still in the air, the rush to harvest West Virginia's giant trees was on. River rafters and sawmills turned timber into towns. The oil and gas industry took up where it had left off before the War. Speculators bet everything they had on the oozing black gold. Working men along the Pike wildcatted in newly developing oilfields and risked their lives on high derricks while women cooked and cleaned for boarders. Coal, oil, gas and timbering fueled lively economies in the great river city of Parkersburg and in rollicking small towns along the Pike. Tracks 1. Early Parkersburg 2. West Virginia Statehood 3. Civil War 4. Reconstruction 5. Timbering & Coal Mining 6. The Ritchie Mines 7. The Oil & Gas Industry 8 Parkersburg City Life 9. Pike Towns