Appalachian History

It was in the summer of 1897 that I heard of one of these outdoor meetings and decided to attend for two or three days. I was driving a horse hitched to a two-wheeled cart. Arriving late in the evening and tying the horse to a sapling, I entered the preacher's stand just as the announcement of services was being made.

In the course of his remarks, the speaker said that there had been instances of stealing from the vehicles on the grounds and that other mischief had been done by hoodlums. It was stated that if such activities continued officers would be called to police the ground and catch the offenders.

Hearing this, and knowing that my few belongings were in a suitcase in my cart, I slipped out and hid under a thick bush where I could see my vehicle by the reflection of the light and also hear the preaching at the same time. I was only a few minutes in that place of concealment when I began to detect that some persons were bent on mischief. Soon I saw some young men searching in a wagon. Next they came to my rig and began to search it. In a loud gruff voice, I asked them what they were after. They peeped around to see where the voice came from, but could not see me for the thick underbrush. They turned back to the cart.

Again I asked them what they wanted in that rig. They replied they were after water. I asked them if such a place looked like it had any water, and then ordered them to make themselves scarce or they would find something they were not looking for.

All the while, I kept in the dark so that no one might see how young or small I was. They quickly left to other parts of the ground. Several gangs of hoodlums were around that night, and it was well that I took it upon myself to police my vehicle.

The Harris family.

In two or three days after I came the meeting closed with a number of conversions, some sixty in all. On the closing night there was a testimony service. It was suggested by one of the preachers that only the converts in that meeting were to testify, and each was to tell whom God had used in bringing him to Christ.

Among the Christians present was a little, sweet-faced girl about fifteen years of age, who was very timid. Yet of the sixty that testified that night this little girl was given credit for more than half of the number, the balance being divided among other Christian workers.

The preachers, some six or eight, had about a dozen to their credit. Thus, we see that when the heavenly record is opened at the rendering of rewards, many who credit themselves with so many converts will be crestfallen as they hear the judgment of justice at the great tribunal of God and find that they have gained only a small increase for the amount that the Lord has invested in them. Ministers should be very careful about stringing the fish that others have caught.


---excerpt from TEARS AND TRIUMPHS, The Life Story of a Pastor-Evangelist, by John William Harris, Louisville KY, Pentecostal Pub, 1948

John William Harris (1870-1960) was a widely traveled evangelist. His ministry began in 1896 and it flourished at the turn of the century. He held meetings primarily in Ohio and surrounding states, including Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. He also ministered extensively in Kansas and Texas. He settled his family in Hinton WV.


sources: www.voiceofthenazarene.com/pdfs/h-folder/HDM1864.PDF
http://mountolivetcamp.ratcliffs.net/olivetpart1.pdf

It was the Chesapeake & Ohio’s first luxury passenger train - the Fast Flying Virginian, or F.F.V. It debuted on May 11, 1889, shortly after the Ohio River Bridge between Covington, KY and Cincinnati opened, and it ran daily between New York, Washington, and Cincinnati. Any Virginia aristocrat of the era would’ve instantly recognized C&O’s not-so-veiled reference to the "First Families of Virginia.”

The F.F.V. was electrically lit and was the first C&O train to provide dining service. The C&O laid over two diner cars every night at Hinton, WV. The railroad company served meals on a schedule both on this train and later on its other luxury trains The George Washington and The Sportsman.

The F.F.V.’s two diner cars were only on the trains during meal times, which for westbound trains would have been just after the 7:30 AM departure from Hinton. No doubt there were plenty of grumbling stomachs among passengers who’d been on the train for 24 hours since boarding at New York City’s Pennsylvania Station!

Laying the diners over at Hinton permitted the C&O to service eight trains (4 east and 4 west) with seven diners, and permitted the diner crews to sleep at night off the railroad.

The two diners were stored on a short siding near the station and next to an icehouse; they were iced via its top loading bunkers. The diners were switched in one car ahead of the train’s rear.

This F.F.V. breakfast menu from May 1900 offers up meals for a dollar that include such choices as: Baked Apples and Cream, Broiled Sea Fish, Sirloin Steak, Spring Lamb Chops, Shirred Eggs, and Saratoga Chips (we know this 1853 kitchen innovation from Saratoga Springs, NY as potato chips).

Wilbur Wright may very well have eaten from this menu in September 1900, when he traveled on the F.F.V. transporting most of the components of the first Wright Flyer out of Cincinnati en route to Kitty Hawk, NC.

Wright would’ve also known the train that carried him to Old Point Comfort, VA, as "the Vestibule Limited." His train consisted of a "…combined car, day coach, dining car, Pullman sleepers and observation car, assuring all the creature comforts, and affording unobstructed views of the magnificent scenery along the route."

The May 1900 menu mentions that “Our table water is from the celebrated Healing Springs of Virginia.”

“The Healing Springs of Bath County, VA are a short distance north of the Chesapeake & Ohio R.R.,” according to Appleton's Illustrated Hand-book of American Summer Resorts, “and are unrivaled by any others yet discovered in Europe or America. The waters of this spring are stated to be almost identical in their chemical analysis with the famous Schlangenbad and Ems waters of Germany.

Illustration caption reads: "Delightful meals are served in these attractive L&N 'PanAmerican' diners." Circa early 1920s. The PanAmerican was comparable to the F.F.V.

“Their temperature is uniformly 84 degrees Fahr., and the water is regarded as highly beneficial in cases of scrofula, chronic thrush, obstinate cases of cutaneous disease, neuralgia, rheumatism, ulcers of the lower limbs of long standing, and dyspepsia, in some ‘hopeless cases’ of which it is said to have worked cures.”

By 1948 travelers on a "coach budget" could order more humble fare in the F.F.V. diner car. They'd find Stewed Prunes with Cream (30¢), Breakfast Figs in Syrup (35¢), a Jelly Omelet (65¢), or two Poached Eggs on Toast (50¢). The Griddle Cakes with Syrup were 45¢ (a dime more with honey); as were French Toast with Marmalade. Milk Toast (25¢), RyCrisp (10¢), and Doughnuts (10¢) were also on the menu. Coffee and tea came by the pot (20¢), and milk by the bottle.

Eastbound F.F.V. service was discontinued in 1962, and on May 12, 1968 the F.F.V. made its final run.

sources: http://www.cohs.org
www.centennialofflight.gov/wbh/train/trainstory.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3943/is_200402/ai_n9393522
http://members.cox.net/wsimonton/steam.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3943/is_200603/ai_n17185636/pg_14
Appleton's Illustrated Hand-book of American Summer Resorts, 18th edition, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1893



Fast+Flying+Virginia FFV Chesapeake+and+Ohio+Railroad Hinton+WV appalachia appalachian+history appalachian+mountains+history