It’s amazing what a pothole can tell us about the past. For most of my childhood years growing up in the Woodsdale area, I never knew that Bethany Pike was once a brick road. Well, at least that’s what the sizable pothole on Bethany Pike near Hamilton Avenue has shown us.

In recent weeks, the surface of the road has eroded enough to unveil the hidden gem of red bricks. While I have been dodging the growing depression in the road, I also have been fascinated to know more about the road.

Letting my imagination run wild, I can picture the early automobiles that first put tires on those bricks. Before the modern wheeled vehicles, travelers were most likely on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages. Riding up the road, it’s not hard to imagine such sights when seeing the fine mansions and homes of our early settlers. Some remain while others are barely visible.

As for the road, Bethany Pike actually morphs into W.Va. 88 or Route 88 to non-journalists. This winding road leading north through Oglebay Park was once referred to as “the cow path to culture.” It received its nickname because the long and winding road eventually did and still does, take you to West Liberty University and Bethany College.

These two institutions of learning continue to provide some of the best educational experiences for anyone willing to make the trip north up the famed cow path. But first, make a stop at Oglebay.

Oglebay Park, once a before-its-time farmland, is a reminder of those glory years of Wheeling’s early families. All you have to do is visit the Mansion Museum in the park to grasp a true sense of how life was before and after dirt roads became brick surfaces.

While the carriage house stables on the farm were lost to fire years ago, many of the original buildings in the park remain thanks to the continued maintenance and diligent upkeep of such treasures.

No longer are there dirt or too many brick-paved roads left in the Ohio Valley, but somehow the potholes manage to bring about a reminder of those times when bumpy roads were all the norm.

Reminder: Please slow down and take it easy on the road workers as they get busy to repair those pesky potholes.

Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.