The Old Saying is that you can’t go home again and in my case this has been re-enforced by fate and time…..The house that I lived the first 7 almost 8 years of my life in and that my brother was born at has been gone these many years though nothing was ever put in its place so heaven knows why it was and in fact the house below us was also destroyed my aunt and uncle use to live there when I was a child. That’s me (next picture) on the steps of that house. I wonder if it has anything to do with the gas and/or coal which you see so much changes from now in this little town?

The house that I was born in was still standing–just–when I made my last trip there–a farm that had been in the family since 1903 now bellowing to some mining enterprise. My grandparents and my grandfather’s parents home and my parents lived there a while too—now slowly falling in on itself—I did not go there, no where near I could not bear to see the death of a place that was in my memories still a place of love and happiness where I spent summers until I was 16 or so and where I was loved and loved in return. Farewell I will keep the memories of you fresh in my minds and thus you can live on at least through me.

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.

George A. Moore

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Visited a historical site in West Virginia that I thought rated a Blog page on and that if you’re anywhere near the location you might want to visit.

First of all it is located in Glen Dale: The city of Glen Dale is located in the “Northern Panhandle” of West Virginia. Moundsville, WV, borders the city to the south. The city is 12 miles south of Wheeling, WV,

90 miles from Morgantown, WV,

160 miles from the Capital, Charleston, WV,

72 miles from Parkersburg, W.V.,

and 50 miles from Pittsburgh, PA

It is located in Marshall County.

population is 1552.

The city is home to many famous people among them are:

Major league baseball player George Brett was born here

Country music singer Lionel Cartwright was raised here

Country music singer and Grand Old Opray member Brad Paisley is also from here.

http://www.cityofglendalewv.com/city_of_glen_dale_location.htm

The community was named after Glendale, the farm of a local family.

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

Maya Angelou

THE COCKAYNE FARMSTEAD

1105 – 1111 Wheeling Ave

26038

www.cockaynefarmstead.com

and is describe as “Frozen in time–a glimpse into life in the 19th century. Built by Bennett Cockayne in 1850 and enlarged in 1890’s the farm house was once the focal point of a 300-acre, highly successful farm.

It was Bennett’s son Samuel A.J. who became famous as a breeder of purebred, fine-wooled American Merino sheep here. He won first prize at the 1876 Centennial Expo (Philadelphia) for the quality of his sheep’s wool. He also helped form the Wool Growers and Sheep Breeder Association in W.Va and served as treasurer.

The farm was called Glendale by Samuel’s wife Hannah and the town got it’s name from this farm.

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.

Lin Yutang

The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. The breed originated in Spain, but the modern Merino was domesticated in New Zealand and Australia. Today, Merinos are still regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep.

The three Merino strains that founded the world’s Merino flocks are the Royal Escurial flocks, the Negretti and the Paula. Among Merino bloodlines stemming from Vermont in the USA, three historical studs were highly important: Infantado, Montarcos and Aguires.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merino

By 1810 Australia boasted over 30,000 sheep and was one of the world Merino wool trade centers, together with the United States and Germany and by 1840 it was the most important Merino sheep grower, together with South Africa and New Zealand.

http://www.iwto.org/history-sheep

Home is where the heart is.

Pliny the Elder

The reason for the house being frozen in time is another Samuel Cockayne.

Samuel was born here and grew up here but as a young man he went to war in the Pacific against the Japanese in World War two and he returned with a desire to keep things as they were—and he retreated from society into his family lovely home. On this site you will find Ron Osmianski’s (who had a paper route when he was a boy, and Sam was one of Ron’s customers.) account of Samuel as well as other items about the late, reclusive farm owner) https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=135799232

Samuel lived in just two rooms of this lovely home, leaving the rest untouched. Part of the farm was sold off and part (across the road now from the Homestead is what I expect is a newer model) was taken for a new high school. When he passed away the family artifacts including furniture clothing, shoes, toys, jewelry crockery, original artwork and more were left as they had been for many many years within the farm house.

The two rooms he lived in at the rear of the house are preserved so that we the visitor can experience his return to a home front which he finds along with the rest of his world, changed and his efforts to change nothing else the rest of his life which ended almost thru the second year (2001) of the 21st century.

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.

Robert Frost

The house was left to the City of Glen Dale and now is part of an ongoing effort of preservation by a dedicated group of volunteers and with the help of a local archeologist.

There is an abundance of historical documents available for review and in addition to the homestead there is another house that dates back in the family, but has had much restoration and change and is currently used as a visitor’s center.

In addition to the house and visitor’s center there is an ancient pre-historic mound that sets back from the road and between the center and the homestead. This has been confirmed by Archeological testing as authentic and given the areas history of pre-historic mounds (see Moundsville http://www.wvculture.org/museum/GraveCreekmod.html) this is not surprising.