Who can forget the herd of black and white Holstein Dairy Cattle grazing in the pasture fields along Rt. 21 and the barns of Bonham Dairy.

Coming north on Rt. 21 you passed the Virgil Tate Dairy. His hillside pastures were as clean of brush as a hounds tooth.

Still driving north and just opposite the Road Sign that says "Guthrie", was the beautiful farm home of George Jenkins, owner of Jenkins Feed Store in Charleston.

And just before you came to Whittington Hill you passed another - The Farmer's Dairy. Between Jenkin's Hollow and the Farmer's Dairy was a General Store owend by the Christy family.

In the vicinty of the Farmer's Dairy lived the Caldwells and the Dooley's, all old time residents.

And now we come to Whittngton Hill. It was Whittington Hill where you met your Waterloo if it snowed. You could expect the road to be slick. It was a two lane highway and "work" time in the morning and "going home" time in the evening brought problems. If one car couldn't make it up the hill that meant other cars couldn't move either. But one way or another you did reach the top with the help of fellow motorists and cinders scattered by the State Dept. of Highways. It often took 3 or 4 hours to go from the foot of the Hill on one side to the foot of the Hill on the other side. Somehow people took it all in stride and accepted it. Whittington Hill has always been a weather divider. On one side of the hill you might find heavy rain or snow or pea soup fog and when you reached the top and started your decent it would be magically clear. Voila! a magic wand had been waved.

At the top of Whittington Hill lived 3 Whittington brothers - appropriately enough - Owen, with the National Bank of Commerce and at one time Chief Probationary Officer, Ladd who operated a Service Station on the Sissonville Road and Elvin who was Maintenance Engineer for one of the U.S. Goverment Buildings in Charleston. Berneice Carter, daughter of Ladd, still lives in the old homeplace on the right hand side of the road coming north. The Owen Whittington place on the left hand side of the road was destroyed by fire several years ago, but his son Bernard lives farther back from Rt. 21 on property that has been in the family for more than 160 years. The Elvin Whittington family also lived on the left hand side of the road.

A tragic accident happened to Captain Keatley Whittington, brother of Bernard. He and 21 other Army men were flying to Charleston to attend the funeral of an Army Major when their Army plane was hit by a light plane piloted by a young flyer and the big plane crashed in the Cooper's Creek area as it was coming in for a landing at what was then Coonskin Airport, now Yeager Airport. A mass service was held for them at the Charleston Civic Cener. This happened on April 9, 1951.

Still coming north at the foot of the Hill lived a Tate family and they grew tobacco in a field close to the road. Tobacco may be poison to use, but it is a beautiful plant.

On past the old Tate place is a road turning off to the left and leading up to what is now the location of the W.Va. Agricultural Dept. The original owner of this site was Joe Tate a well known farmer. Several years ago he leased the property to the U. S. Government so that a Radar Station might be established. The Radar Station was to intercept any enemy planes or missiles approaching the territory of the United States. The buildings and many of the houses now used by the Agricultural Dept. were built by the Government. The lease was for 100 years.

Back on Rt. 21 and going North again we come to the Lock Haynes store on the right. Two old benches are still to be seen on the porch of the old building. It was on these benches many old sages sat and discussed the current events and 'lowed as to what they would do to make the world a better place. Now and then they would stop to expectorate a long stream of amber tobacco juice and to whittle a little on a stick while they pondered the question under discussion.

Next we come to the General Store and Service Station run by Gordon Young and his sons, Marie and Hillard. Prior to opening the Store and Service Station the Youngs had operated a dairy, selling their milk to the Bonham Dairy. When they quit the Dairy they sold their entire herd of cattle to the Bonham Dairy. 'Way back in he 1800's the great, great grandfather of Hillard Young owned and operated a grist mill on the very spot where Hillard's youngest daughter, Ruth Ann Derrick, now lives. Great, great Grandfather was named John Hickman Young. The Youngs emigrated to America from Germany in 1732.

Back to Whittington Hill for sometime just remembered - the beautiful lush rhubard patch belonging to Ladd Whittington. It grew on the left side of the road traveling north and it consisted of quite a few acres. It is all grown up in weeds now.

Back to Lock Haynes again. Eugene Tate opened a store next to the home of his father Sonny Tate and it burned Fri. night Aug. 12, 1988.

Also aross from Lock Haynes' store his brother Odie owned a Service Station where he sold Amoco Gas for many years.

Going north again from Hillard Youngs at the mouth of "Big Holler", just about where you now see Pitnam Snax/Pax (Tom's) headquarters stood a big store owned by Lawrence and Harrison Payne. Lawrence ran the store and Harrison traveled to Jackson Co. where he bought eggs and poultry and returned them to a store he operated on Sugar Creek and sold them.

Moving along, we stop next at the Bunny Wallace Store. The Wallace Store was located where Wolf Pen Creek empties into Tupper's Creek. You reached the store after crossing a quaint litte stone bridge. It must have been made of native stone. Bunny as a kindly man, and when a child visited his store that shild was given a sack of candy. It didn't take much coaxing to get children to go to the store.

If you felt the need of a cold bottle of beer you could always stop at "Red" Mayers Tavern in Cat Hollow.

On we go and very shortly you will come to the Rob Aultz Dairy. The old dairy barn is still standing. It no longer is usable, but you can still tell it was a barn.

Travelin' on we come to the Martins Branch Rd. which turns off to the left and directly across the road you turn right to Lakewood Drive. As you made a left turn to go down Martins Branch there stood the General Store operated by Adam and Coleda Aultz for many years. The store building is now gone and Sissonville High School has been built on acerage that was once part of the Rob Aultz farm.

On the right as you start down Martins Branch was the Teedy St. Clair store. Of the the St. Clairs that lived in the area at one time, Jim, just recently retired from Kelly's Men's Shop, is now the only resident. His wife Louise is a teacher at Wallace Heights School.

Another Land Mark just before you reach Martins Branch is the Old Thaxton School House more than 100 years old. Harding Coffman, who lives in Mundy Hollow, says his father attended the school there. Earl Young lived there for a long time. It was bought recently by Johnny Layne and he intends to remodel the building for residency.

Back on the road again and headin' north.

To the left where you now find Flinn School, the Mormon Church and Laurel Meadows housing development was Kanawha Farm Dairy owned and operated by Mr. Lloyd E. Smith, a well known Charlestonian, who was the manager of the stately old Kanawha Hotel, one of the Hotels of its day. It is now occupied by the Job. Corp. In its heyday it took care of many dignitaries. Karney E. Tinney, local resident, was Business Manager of Kanawha Farm until its closing. Aldersgate Methodist Church and Floral Hills Garden of Memories were once part of Kanawha Farm. The stately old home with its wide porch is still standing and was recently bought by Dr. Rex Cummings.

On we go to Pocatalico and once again we envision the Morecott General Store. The old building is still there, but is used for a restraunt. The old house where Mr. Morecott and his wife Nora Mairs lived is still on the hill above their one time business. The housing development to the right is called Morecott Addition.

Now we approach another hill, Archibald Hill, with its steep grade and sharp curves. On clear crisp night and mornings you could hear big tractor trailers climbing the hill. School buses would get stuck and many times children who rode the buses would have to wait endlessly. Many of the trucks would jack-knife and traffic would be held up for hours. The Buena Vista School, a two room "Temple of Learning", was on the left you topped the hill. It has been made into a home. The name Buena Vista means Beautiful View in Spanish.

Gathering momentum as we descend Archibald Hill, and with a sharp lookout for a very sharp curve, we once again reach level ground. To the left is a building where Luther and Agatha Parsons had a grocery store and later Karney Tinney had an electric Shop. It was at this spot on Rt. 21 that high water would stop all north and south bound traffic. This was before Interstate 77. Interstate 77 has created blessings as well as heartaches. But they call it progress.

On across the Derricks Creek Bridge we come to what is now a community Swimming Pool. It was once the site of a large store owned by the Stogdon's.

Have to back up again to the Martins Branch and Lakewood Roads. The St. Clair home stood beside the store. It was quite a large house. On the Lakewood side, the hill on the right had a number of American Chestnut trees. Native Chestnuts were killed by a blight many years ago. In fact the blight started in 1904, brought here from Asia on infected Chinese Chestnut trees, and by 1950 all our natyive trees were gone. What fun it was to go "Chestnut hunting" in the fall. Those were the "good ole' days". The Riling Dairy was also to be found up Lakewood.

Backing up again to the plane crash on April 9, 1951. Two other Sissonville soldiers also lost their lives, Pvt. Dennis Ivan Meeks and Tech. Sergeant William H. Shelton.

On the road again and on the old section of Rt. 21 - now called Starlight Drive - lived Miss Em Taylor. She was a crack shot and 'tis said she could stand on her front porch and bring down a squirrel from on of the near by Oak trees with on shot from her rifle.

In the same area, up the hill to the right is the St. Clair Cemetery.

The Aultz Cemetery is on the hill just above the North Hill's Baptist Church.

Down the road again to what is now Maranatha Church and Church School. It used to be called Bias Chapel, a Methodist Church and forerunner to the present Aldersgate Methodist Church which stands on what was called "Tank Hill" - so called because of the water storage tanks for Kanawha Farm Dairy.

On to Stogdon's and Millertown. There the Miller Bros. sawmill was located. And there in the log house lived my friend Nelle Fisher Miller. We both taught at Wallce Heights. I used to call her Nellie Bell. I have worked with her daughter, Jane Gibson, for several weeks and find myself calling her Nellie.

Still going north we come to Red Hill and on top of the Hillwas the Red Hill Kennels.

I have just about covered the things that "used ot be" on the "Sissonville Road" - U.S. Rt. 21 - the things I remember personally, byt many other things shall be listed so you the reader can recall your own personal memories.

But I cannot end this saga without paying tribute to all the wonderful people I have known in the almost 51 years I have lived on the Martins Branch Road. And to the many boys and girls who came my way in the school classroom. I love all of you. You provide the precious memories.

And to all the members of the Sissonville Bicentennial Committee with whom I have worked, I salute you. You have all been wonderful. We truly have come a long way together since our first meeting Nov. 24, 1987. You deserve high praise.

To all the present settlers and to all future settlers, I hope you will always be proud of your heritage for this area is stepped with interesting people and accomplishments and many untapped sources remain to make their mark and leave their foot prints in the sands of time.

To borrow line from famous TV commentator, Walter Cronkite, "That's the way it was", goin' north on the old Sissonville Road.