Walmart Mural in Moorefield

West Virginia

Walmart’s Community Mural Program has reached the town of Moorefield in rural West Virginia. My view was partly blocked by mobility carts, which were being charged. These carts are very popular, not only with disabled people, but also with folks who have lesser mobility challenges, such as sore feet or arthritis. Walmart is such a big store that many of us get tired before we’re finished shopping. I’ve never tried driving one of these carts for fear that I’d run into something.

I peered behind the carts to see the signature. The artist is H. McCullough.

Monday Murals / Mosaics

The scenery near the store is still farmland.

Moorefield to Lost River State Park

Since autumn leaves first change color at higher elevations, I drove into nearby West Virginia on Tuesday to view foliage and take pictures. I found a mural in Moorefield, which I’ll show some other day. Then I drove back eastward on a mountain road that I traveled once before, in 2020.

On that occasion, I followed the route from the other direction, starting in Lost River State Park. If you want to try this road, I recommend starting in Lost River because that way, you are navigating narrow curves next to the mountain rather than next to a cliff. I did meet another car on one of those curves this time, but fortunately the driver was cautious and stayed in his own lane.

Sorry, I don’t have any pictures of the scary parts of the road. There was no room to pull off. I had to wait until I found a driveway or a wide shoulder before I took pictures

For most of this route, my navigation app did not get a signal, but I remembered the road from six years ago. From Moorefield, you take South Fork Road to Lost River State Park Road. At some point up in the hills, it changes into Howards Lick Road, which eventually reaches the park. (For those who don’t know the term, a lick is a spring or a creek.)

In Lost River State Park, WV

Return to Capon Springs Pond

Hampshire County, West Virginia

This pretty little pond is in the resort town of Capon Springs, on the western side of Great North Mountain.  Since the foliage is beginning to change there, I should probably show some views in color.

 

I just realized that I took similar pictures last October.

Mural on South Branch Inn

Moorefield, WV

This huge painting is by artist Kelson Thorne. He calls it “Through the Trough,” referring to a gorge on the South Branch of the Potomac. The Trough was documented in 1748 in the writings of a young surveyor named George Washington!

The artist has painted a number of murals in West Virginia. I hope to see some of them during Heritage Weekend in September.

Sharing with Monday Murals

Across the street is a shop in a white barn decorated with a painted barn quilt.

A West Virginia Town, Reflected

This is Thomas, West Virginia. I took this picture some time ago and just came across it in my ridiculously large collection of digital photos.

Give Purrs a Chance

Berkeley Springs, WV

Monday Murals

This is a large cat adoption center where visitors can spend time with cats and purchase cat-themed gifts. See their kitten cam. 

Mural with Deer and Flowers

Independence Street, Berkeley Springs

This mural is long and the only way I could get it all in one picture was to use panorama mode on my phone. That’s why the shape of the building is distorted. Perhaps I could avoid that if I used a the tripod.

The artist is Maggie Sudnick of Dog on Boat Studio. 

Mosaic / Monday Murals 

Another Mural at the Ice House

Berkeley Springs, WV

Snow and ice have prevented me from venturing far from home recently, so I’m digging in my files again for pictures that I took in the fall and did not share here. This large painting shows vines with an assortment of birds plus a rainbow.

I inspected the picture to find the artist signature and noticed that there are other names, apparently from financial supporters. The artist is Mary Ellen Snyder. The gallery is in a former cold storage building. 

Mosaic Monday / Murals 

Dancers Mural

 Berkeley Springs, WV

Monday Murals

This mural is in the Ice House Gallery. I saw it back in the fall.  

It reminds me of a painting by Picasso. 

Oh, someone pointed out that it looks like a Matisse and I agree!

Bridges at Capon Lake

Hampshire County, WV

The metal bridge over the Cacapon River is no longer open the vehicles, but is maintained as an exhibit. It is a Whipple Truss bridge and was first erected in 1874.  A structural engineer named Squire Whipple is known as the father of iron bridges because he figured out out how to build strong metal bridges by mathematically analyzing forces and stresses in structures, incorporating double intersection diagonals into the truss design. 

Nearby is a more modern bridge that was built in 1991.

Color! Art and Foliage

 Berkeley Springs, WV

The red cardinal is painted on a wall outside a place called the Cardinal Bar. I happened to see it when I went to Berkeley Springs to view art and fall foliage. Autumn colors don’t last very long, so I make an effort to get out there and see them.

In the hills outside of town is a stained glass studio called Frog Valley Artisans. I already have a pretty piece from there hanging in my window, so I refrained from buying anything this time.  I enjoyed looking though.

 

The one I own is a landscape, but peace signs seem to be popular.

A little farther out Route 9 is a spectacular overlook, so of course, I drove out there.

Linkups: Monday Murals and Mosaic Monday

Pond in Autumn, Capon Springs

 Hampshire County, WV

Capon Springs is a charming town known for its mineral springs. It was established as the town of Watson in 1787, but eventually became known as Capon Springs after the nearby Cacapon River.

I drove there on Thursday to enjoy the autumn colors. I decided to go through Wardensville on the way home and take Trout Run Road over the mountain. On an impulse, I turned up a steep driveway to a small church that I had noticed before but had never photographed.

This is Mount Vernon Union Church near the mountain community of Perry. I was unable to find any information online except that it has a cemetery. A sign by the road says that the church is open from June through October. I imagine that the driveway becomes impassable In wintry weather. 

Dodd Hall

Wardensville, WV

This is the main building of Camp Pinnacle, Hardy County's 4-H Camp. It was open to the public last weekend, so I made it part of a ride to West Virginia.

Many years ago, I worked with the 4-H program in Alexandria, Virginia. My children enjoyed being members of 4-H. For those who don't know, it's an educational program sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with state universities and local jurisdictions.

Scenery, an Irresistible Subject

I take a lot of scenic pictures, even though I'll never find fame or fortune from them. I'm not Ansel Adams, and after all, anyone with a cell phone can take decent landscape photos. I do make an effort to take pictures of other things, but pretty scenes are irresistible, and I think that people like seeing them as a virtual tour, especially when there is text explaining where they are.

Below our three collages of landscapes that I published on this blog in the past. These all happen to be in West Virginia because I grouped them together. I guess I like categorizing things, and the first set features black and white pictures with bodies of water in them. I wasn’t even aware that they all had water when I put them together, but I guess that water helps provide contrast and patterns that show up well in black-and-white.

Next we see Seneca Rocks and a winter view from Panorama Overlook near Berkeley Springs.

West Virginia is known for its beautiful mountain scenery. It’s known as the Mountain State, as well as Almost Heaven and God’s Country. If you’ve ever flown over it, you may have marveled at the endless rows of ridges. 

The larger pictures in the last collage show the Blackwater River and the much-photographed mill at Babcock State Park.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday

Today in Blackwater Canyon

 Davis, WV

My sister is visiting and she shares my love for mountains. We drove west to Blackwater Falls, which gets more snowy weather than we do in Virginia. It was beautiful but cold. I wish you could hear the roar of the river as it plunges over the cliff.

I have been to this gorgeous park before, especially since Corridor H opened. It’s been many years, though, since I visited in snowy weather. The starker landscape reveals a drama that is obscured when there are more leaves on the trees.

Skywatch / H2O