 |
| Punjab The Camel! |
 |
| Levi Shinn Log House, Shinnston |
West Virginia is open for business and #vacation #travel fun! Come on down!
NOTE: Due to possible COVID-19 restrictions, which seem to be changing daily, before you travel or book Anything, CALL every place you want to go and make SURE they are open and operating! I have included phone numbers for almost every place we went to and enjoyed in this post. Although I have also included website hotlinks, do NOT rely on websites and online reservation sites- they are often not kept up to date! Every place we stayed at was spotlessly clean, and we had NO negative issues whatsoever! Dan and I are not kids- he is 73, and I am 61- and we had a fabulous West Virginia getaway!
Part 3: Shinnston and meeting Punjab the Camel!
From Berkeley Springs we drove 2.5 hours down to Shinnston, in Harrison County, so we could see our good friend Kathleen Panek and stay at her B-&B, Gillum House Bed-and-Breakfast: https://gillumhouse.com/ Tel: (304) 592-0177.
 |
| Gillum House Bed-and-Breakfast |
Kathleen has been to our inn several times, but in all our years here we had never been able to get up north to see hers! Gillum House was built in 1912; Kathleen and her husband John purchased it in 1994 and opened it as their B-&-B in 1996. Kathleen was the President of the West Virginia Bed-and-Breakfast Association, and one of the first people we met when we decided to buy our historic property and create the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre; she gives an excellent Aspiring Inn-KeeperCourse which we took prior to opening the Elkhorn Inn. I made Kathleen promise to take us to experience two special things in Shinnston that she can arrange: to meet Punjab The Camel and feed him carrots, and to see the historic1770s Levi Shinn Log House! Shinnston is named for Levi Shinn, who settled in that area with his brothers and cousins circa 1772. By 1778 Levi had built a 2-story log house for his wife (nee Elizabeth Smith), and their 9 children. The original log house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, still stands on the original site, and Kathleen has the permission of the Shinnston Historical Association to take her guests inside! A two-story Log House is quite rare- for its time it was definitely a mansion! Occupied until the 1970s and wonderfully maintained, it was super-cool to be able to go inside and look at all the furnishings and historic items! (A note to lovebirds: Kathleen arranges Elopements, and she can arrange for you to be married in the Shinn Log House! https://gillumhouse.com/elope)
 |
| Levi Shinn Log House |
 |
| Levi Shinn Log House |
 |
| In the Levi Shinn Log House |
 |
| In the Levi Shinn Log House |
 |
| Upstairs Bedroom |
 |
| Log House Chinking |
 |
| Upstairs in the Levi Shinn Log House |
 |
| Inside the Levi Shinn Log House |
 |
| Upstairs Bedroom |
 |
| National Register of Historic Places |
 |
| The Levi Shinn Log House |
Dan and I loved meeting Punjab the Camel and his horse, zebra, and burro friends, and feeding them carrots! This was another truly unique WV experience, as I don’t think anyone expects to find a camel- much less a truly sweet and good-natured, carrot-eating one- in the mountains of West Virginia!
 |
| Me and Punjab! |
 |
| Punjab’s Burro Buddy! |
 |
| Punjab loves carrots! |
 |
| Feeding the horses carrots… |
 |
| Dan feeding Punjab a carrot! |
 |
| Me, Kofi the Zebra, & Punjab’s Butt! |
That night we all sat on the Gillum House front porch, ate pizza delivered from the new East of Chicago Pizza: https://www.facebook.com/EOCShinnston/,drank West Virginia wine, and caught up on a million things- a lovely evening! We stayed in Gillum House’s Gillum Room, which has a private bath with an antique claw-foot tub- which I loved! You can see all the guest rooms here: https://gillumhouse.com/rooms-rates
 |
| Gillum House Guest Room |
 |
| Gillum House Guest Room |
 |
| Our Claw-Foot Tub! |
Kathleen’s B-&-B is famous for her world-wide selection of coffees, which she roasts fresh for her guests, and for her scrumptious breakfasts, which we were privileged to enjoy! I especially loved her Blackberry Cobbler, which she makes from her garden’s blackberries, and tops with her sinfully rich “Mock Devonshire Cream”! When we left she gave us a “take-away” box of cobbler, which we happily devoured on the road!
 |
| Simpson Creek Covered Bridge |
From Shinnston we headed south towards Cass, but at Kathleen’s suggestion we first stopped at the Simpson Creek Covered Bridge, which dates from 1881, and is one of only 16 covered bridges left in West Virginia, and then the MannCave Distilleryand Lambert’s Winery!
 |
| Simpson Creek Covered Bridge |
 |
| Ducks at the Covered Bridge… |
MannCave Distillery:
https://www.manncave.com/Tel: (681) 533-1001 inWeston, WV is a brand new and truly unique distillery with an amazing backstory! Stephen and Wendy Mann are crafting and selling excellent whiskies, vodka, and gin, that literally won medals right after they opened in 2019! What makes MannCave so unique and truly West Virginian is that their spirits are made from the crystal-clear Artesian spring water that lies beneath two abandoned 1930s coal mines! Their successful creation of the MannCave Distillery is an incredible and truly West Virginian story of ingenuity, grit, and perseverance that really hit home with us, given our experience creating the Elkhorn Inn: https://www.manncave.com/our-story/ We were treated to an excellent tasting by Stephen, followed by a tour of the distillery by his daughter, and we bought their superb gin and whiskey. Check out their Facebook page and give it a “like”:
https://www.facebook.com/spikeworld (One of the great things about MannCave is that it’s actually easy to find, thanks to 8 bright blue signs at literally every turn along the way- something truly unique in West Virginia, where directions often start with “turn left at the Chevy up on blocks” and end with “turn right where the old schoolhouse used to be”. LOL)
 |
| At MannCave Distillery with Stephen Mann |
 |
| MannCave Distillery Tour |
 |
| MannCave Distillery Tour |
 |
| Dan checking that corn mash! |
 |
| MannCave Distillery |
We then drove to Lambert’s Winery http://lambertswinery.com/ Tel: (304) 269-4903,a beautiful winery also in Weston, WV, had a tasting, and bought several bottles of wine to take home!
 |
| Tasting at Lambert’s Winery! |
As we headed south towards Cass, history-buffs that we are, we stopped to see a number of historic sites, including the log cabin at Jackson’s Mill, the site of the boyhood home of Stonewall Jackson, which is now a 4-H camp, and the Weston Colored School, which is now also a Veteran’s Memorial. There’s truly gorgeous scenery to enjoy, barns with cool, old ad signs, deer and wildlife all over the place, wildflowers out the wazoo, and 1000s of fun street signs all over West Virginia, from Country Girl Road to Moo Cow Lane, and we enjoyed more than a few of all of the above on this road trip!
 |
| At Jackson’s Mill |
 |
| Jackson’s Mill |
 |
| Weston Colored School |
 |
| Weston Colored School |
 |
| Battle of Middle Fork Bridge |
 |
| Herman Guy Kump, 19th Gov. of WV |
 |
| Along the way… |
 |
| Pocahontas County on one side… |
 |
| Gee Lick Road! |
 |
| Randolph County on the other side! |
 |
| Mingo Flats |
Next: WV Road Trip, Part 4: Cass Scenic Railroad!
West Virginia is open for business, and #vacation #travel fun! Come on down!
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
