The remarkable story of Bluefield represents a unique combination of geology, geography, and opportunity. Once just the confluence of a handful of family farms in southern West Virginia, Bluefield was put on the map, literally,in the 1880s, when the Norfolk & Western Railway came to town. The company�s influence on the rural landscape was overwhelming, and soon, Bluefield was transformed into the center of a coal-fired universe and became a major thoroughfare for the then-thriving mining i...

Almost every American city enjoys a magical time in history when all the tumblers of fate, luck, hard work, and good fortune seem to fall into place, and the city enjoys a golden era. The 1940s were just such a time in the city of Bluefield. At the dawn of the decade, the United States was on the verge of entering the greatest war the world has ever known, and the coal that flowed through Norfolk and Western Railway�s Bluefield yard was destined to fuel an Allied victory. But there is so m...

After the Civil War, Capt. Isaiah Welch, a Doddridge County, West Virginia, native, took a job as a surveyor with Maj. Jed Hotchkiss of Staunton, Virginia. Hotchkiss had served as Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's mapmaker and charted Jackson's famous Valley Campaign, and Welch had been an officer of the 13th Battalion, Virginia Light Artillery. The war left Virginia's agrarian economy in ruins, and men like Hotchkiss and Welch worked to develop a new, industrial South. Welch surveyed the ...

Throughout its existence, Princeton has been a community at a unique three-way intersection connecting the heart of the Allegheny Mountain range with the fertile Valley of the Virginias to the east and the Cumberland Gap to the west. In 1837, the Virginia General Assembly formed Mercer County, named in memory of Revolutionary War general Hugh Mercer; at the same time, the county�s seat was named in honor of the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey, the 1777 battle in which General Mercer died. ...

McDowell County was established by an act of the Virginia General Assembly in 1858, two years before the start of the American Civil War. In 1863, the county was one of the 55 that separated from the Old Dominion to form West Virginia, thus earning the nickname �the Free State.� Long before this, though, McDowell County was known for its bountiful natural resources; a great geologist, Dr. Thomas Walker, touted these vast �coal lands� after his 1748�1750 exploration. Political leaders like ...

Originating almost a quarter of a century prior to the Civil War, Mercer County, West Virginia was namedfor General Hugh Mercer, a Revolutionary War hero. The county has been a crossroads for many events, including the Civil War and the establishment of an industrial economy after the war ended. When two mighty railroads, the Norfolk & Western and The Virginian, began shipping coal and timber to the once-agrarian area, Mercer County blossomed into one of the five most highly populated coun...

Bland County is one of the smallest counties of the Old Dominion, yet it is filled with spectacular, unspoiled, scenic vistas that rival any rural area on the North American continent. Bland County is a tree-covered paradise with no incorporated towns, and about one-third of the county�s 369 square miles are included in the Jefferson National Forest. The history of Bland County after the arrival of European settlers includes stories of patriotism, independence, as well as struggles against...

What does a reader do when his favorite author dies? One solution is write your own book. A tribute to that favorite author wouldn't be a bad place to start.

When a young Irish boy's grandfather suddenly disappears during the height of the Great Potato Famine, the boy decides to try and find him. His search takes him to England and to America, where he crosses the continent following rumors, learning about America and the Native Americans along the way.

One young boy's journey to manhood from a dysfunctional family to a ready-made military family, with sadness, sorrow and the things we learn.

When two people die almost at the same time half a world apart, but one returns from death with no memory of his previous life but memories from another life, how does the survivor cope with growing up and building a life he could never have imagined with the girl of everyone's dreams?

After years on the hunt, Cedar Kartes is finally within striking distance of Cudgel Conrad, the criminal who slew his brother and framed him for murder. With the help of Kali McAlister, his business partner and the woman he’s mustering the courage to court, he believes he can finally rid the world of a bloodthirsty felon.But nothing is ever easy in the Yukon. The new police commissioner has taken an interest in Cedar’s checkered past, a suspicious newspaperman is trying to make fri...