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Sixteen years ago Hilda Blake and the late Sue Riggs shared an idea for a community event that would enable Marshall County residents and others to join in an observance of an early 1800s heritage festival honoring the former community that was settled prior to West Virginia becoming a state in 1835. The festival was to take place within the walls of the former West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville.
The name they chose for the event was Elizabethtown Festival.
“We just wanted to acquaint people with the fact that Moundsville was once known as Elizabethtown,” Blake said.
The first settlement in what was called the Flats of Grave Creek was made in 1771 by an Irish immigrant’s son, Joseph Tomlinson, who, along with his brothers, Samuel and James, set out from Maryland to find a home site in the Ohio Valley for their families. They built a cabin at the Grave Creek Flats near what is now Moundsville Middle School.
Joseph Tomlinson’s wife, whose name was Elizabeth, joined him and other family members in 1772 at the Flats of Grave Creek. That same year they built a stockade around the cabin, thus establishing Fort Tomlinson. The fort would fill a key role during the early period of the Revolutionary War, as it was a means of defense and a base for supplies.
By 1798, after a number of people had moved to the flats and established homes for their families, Joseph Tomlinson Jr. decided to lay out a town and call it Elizabethtown in honor of his wife.
Getting back to the festival, it has evolved into a gathering that brings together musicians, craftsmen, collectors and many more in the spirit of celebrating the past while enriching the future.
Prior to the 2013 festival, Robert Tomlinson, a resident of Martins Ferry, contacted Moundsville Economic Development Council Director Suzanne Park regarding the possibility of participating in the festival.
Not only did Robert Tomlinson participate in the 2013 festival, but it also attracted other descendants of Joseph Tomlinson, along with some members of the St. Clairsville Chapter of the Ohio Society Sons of the American Revolution. The chapter members, dressed in Revolutionary War gear, presented the American colors for the opening ceremony. They also conducted seminars for anyone who might wish to find information pertaining to their ancestors.
It was during last year’s event that Robert Tomlinson informed Park that he, along with the OHSSAR, would like to place a bronze plaque at the grave site of his great-great-great-great grandfather, Joseph Tomlinson, Jr., who is buried in Mount Rose Cemetery in Moundsville, and that he wanted the ceremony to take place in conjunction with this year’s Elizabethtown Festival.
Tomlinson was in Moundsville this past week to attend a meeting of the Elizabethtown Festival committee, and prior to the meeting I spoke to him about Joseph Tomlinson, Jr., the Revolutionary War, and with other historical data. It was at that time that he unveiled the plaque.
Tomlinson said that he became interested in learning about his ancestors while a student at Ritchie Grade School in Wheeling, but it wasn’t until he had retired some three years that he had time to do so.
In addition to learning about his ancestors, he was interested in finding the grave site of Joseph Tomlinson, and to do this he spent considerable time at the cemetery looking for the plot of ground where Joseph Tomlinson was buried.
He said that some 30 years ago the headstone was vandalized. Because it was made of sandstone and had been there for number of years, Joseph Tomlinson having died in 1825, the stone was in such condition that it was never reset.
Robert Tomlinson said a ceremony will take place beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the grave site, and that ancestors of the Tomlinson family are encouraged to be in attendance, along with members of the OHSSAR, the Moundsville Economic Development Council, the Marshall County Historical Society and others.
By the way, the wording on the plaque reads:
Joseph Tomlinson, Jr., Revolutionary War, Captain Of the Guard, Born Oct. 12, 1745, Died May 30, 1825. Dedicated Sept. 13, 2014 by Ebenezer Zane Chapter OHSSAR.
Once this ceremony is completed the OHSSAR members will participate in the opening of this year’s Elizabethtown Festival. The event’s hours on Saturday will be from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. next Sunday.
Entertainment on Saturday will include the band, “Plum Lost;” Oglebay Dancers; Tim & Stephanie Benson; author Marc Harshman; and singer Willie Day.
Next Sunday’s entertainment will include Heritage Dancers, fiddler Stevie Lynn Boles, portrayer Patty Sue Cooper of Parkersburg (her 18th-century character for this event being “Mad Anne Bailey”), and Tim and Stephanie Benson. While the cookie contest will not be changed, the apple contest will. It is being called “Anything Apple,” thus, anyone wishing to enter can prepare a type of dessert which contains an apple ingredient.
New this year will be a homemade soup cook-off. Like the cookie and apple contests, the recipe must be included.
The festival will include vendors, exhibits and demonstrators of pottery making, baskets, estate jewelry, dolls and accessories, fudge, jams, jellies, bread making, primitive crafts, maple syrup and candy, wooden toys, candles, wreaths, fudge, custom tiles, personalized keychains and more.
This year’s festival committee consists of, in addition to Blake and Park, Jane Klug, Cassie Clark, Karen Baker, Tricia Goode, Pam Rine and Vanetta South. There is no admission charge. Anyone desiring additional information about the Elizabethtown Festival can call 304-845-6200.
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John Marshall High School graduate Dr. Zachary Loughman, assistant professor of biology at West Liberty University, will be the speaker for the monthly WLU-Marshall County Breakfast Club at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at Perkins Restaurant in Moundsville.
Loughman will be discussing his research on crayfish. To date, he has discovered and named three new crayfish species.
Last spring he was named as a member of Generation Next by the West Virginia State Journal. Generation Next is an annual award designed to publicize stories of incredible things professionals younger than 40 are doing throughout West Virginia.
Those planning to attend the breakfast may RSVP to jknierim@westliberty.edu or by calling 304-336-8301.
The breakfast is “Dutch Treat” with walk-ins welcome.
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A new attraction in conjunction with this year’s Dungeon of Horrors at the former West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville will be a paint ball shoot.
At the end of the DOH, those wishing to take part in the paint ball event, will be able to purchase paint ball ammunition. They will be assigned to a cubicle in the South Yard, and have the opportunity to “shoot” individuals dressed as zombies.
The Dungeon of Horrors begins on Sept. 26.