In October 2017, in celebration of my retirement, I went on a road trip to West Virginia to gather information about riverboats and relatives. This was mainly to gather background for my book about Anderson Henley McVey and Louisa Jane Ellis McVey, who eloped to Ohio on the riverboat Kanawha Belle. I’ve mentioned it before, and some of you may be tired of hearing about it.
One of my main stops was in Point Pleasant, where there was and is a River Museum. The person in charge when I was there, Jack Fowler, died recently, so I don’t know what has changed in the meantime. There were lots of old photos of riverboats, models, souvenirs, and informative materials. In addition, there was (and hopefully still is) a simulator on which folks can learn to navigate a riverboat. This technology has actually been used to train boat pilots. I tried it out, and you should be thankful that you were not on a real boat with me because I did not display any impressive navigational skills. However, Jack Fowler was very helpful and patient in trying to show me what I needed to know. Even so, the video is downright hilarious and more than a little embarrassing.
In addition, he assisted in finding sources about the Kanawha Belle. A source I have mentioned before, Way’s Packet Directory, was where he found the most detailed information. I took a lot of pictures of displays in the museum. My photography skills are not much better than my navigational skills, but maybe you can get the idea of what I saw and did when I was there.
Besides the river museum, there is, of course, a monument in memory of the Battle of Point Pleasant-not sure I can find my photo of that. There is also a plaque in honor of Ann Bailey, who was a heroine if there ever was one. You’ll also see the bridge between Point Pleasant and the state of Ohio that replaced the one that famously collapsed in 1967. I will also post a few pics of some of my distant McVey relatives that I spent time with while I was there, as well as my ancestors Anderson and Louisa McVey, who inspired the research.
Don’t forget that there is a state park in Point Pleasant now, and you can find more information on these websites: The River Museum and Tu-Endie-Wei State Park.