Finds

Our awesome two-part TV segment on the “Traveling West Virginia” series by Brad Rice

If you haven’t seen our sweet TV debut yet, it’s now on YouTube. This originally aired a few weeks back on Eyewitness News in WCHS and WVAH on Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia during their weekly “Traveling West Virginia” segment by photojournalist Brad Rice. Part 1 is about “Scavengeology” as a new field of science, …

Read moreOur awesome two-part TV segment on the “Traveling West Virginia” series by Brad Rice

The first “Thanksgiving” in America was in Virginia – and it’s in December

Most of us who are interested in Virginia history know that Virginia’s Jamestown settlement preceded the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, but do we also know that the Jamestown settlers celebrated their own “Thanksgiving” in 1619 – before the Pilgrims arrived? Today would not be Thanksgiving if Virginia history got its due. Americans would be …

Read moreThe first “Thanksgiving” in America was in Virginia – and it’s in December

Relic Revolvers found in Montana, the Ohio River, and at the site of a Civil War battle

Here is a set of three different revolvers, in relic condition, which have been scavenged from the ground in some pretty interesting places. This first one is a Colt Single Action Army, which was dug in Montana, about 13 miles from the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn, where Custer and his army were …

Read moreRelic Revolvers found in Montana, the Ohio River, and at the site of a Civil War battle

James McBride: his actual musket, and his epic life as a frontiersman and soldier

Family tradition has it that this French and Indian War era American musket was used by James McBride (1726-1812) to fight in the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774. It was previously on display at the Augusta County Historical Society Museum in Staunton, Virginia, as part of their year-long exhibit on Lord Dunmore’s …

Read moreJames McBride: his actual musket, and his epic life as a frontiersman and soldier

Mysterious Valley of Virginia Flintlock Found in Fincastle

This is an original 19th century flintlock “smooth rifle,” .45 caliber, which belonged to a family in Fincastle, Virginia. It was possibly made somewhere around there, around the lower valley of Virginia, next to the mountains – though probably not in the mountains. I posted pics of it a while back, with the information I …

Read moreMysterious Valley of Virginia Flintlock Found in Fincastle

Biscayne Trade Axes: the earliest known metal axes in North America

As early as 1608, John Smith, of the English Jamestown settlement, discovered that some natives around coastal Virginia were already armed with French metal axes. The Tockwoghes, the tribe in possession of the axes, testified that they had obtained the implements from the Isquesahanocks. Smith visited this tribe also and was informed that their iron …

Read moreBiscayne Trade Axes: the earliest known metal axes in North America

Native American “Scalping Knives” – the truth, the fiction, the business, the bloody history

Lately I’ve had a thing for Native American trade knives, commonly referred to as scalping knives – or scalper blade knives. They were all-purpose and could have been used for everything from butchering, to of-course, scalping enemies. In my own research, I’ve found that there’s not a whole lot out there on these knives – …

Read moreNative American “Scalping Knives” – the truth, the fiction, the business, the bloody history

The Homemade Mountain Chairs of Virginia and West Virginia

The Virginia Rural Slat-back chair is the chair of the common man, and particularly special to Virginia (especially what would become West Virginia post 1863). It is unique to the region, and has coasted under the radar through the years of the city-dwellers with the taste for a more refined object to sit upon (though …

Read moreThe Homemade Mountain Chairs of Virginia and West Virginia