Daytrip destination: Eerie, fascinating Philippi, West Virginia, is worth the drive

PHILIPPI, W.Va. — The country roads of West Virginia often reveal hidden delights for inquisitive travelers who are fascinated by quirky and sometimes touching bits of local history and lore.

My family and I found such a delight last month while making a detour for a rest stop in Barbour County, about 40 miles south of Morgantown.

The stop revealed stories about the first land battle of the Civil War, a poignant and macabre example of 19th-century psychiatric treatment and medical experimentation and, last but not least, a local tie to The Addams Family – yes, that Addams Family.

Although we’ve often driven through north-central West Virginia, this was our first stop in Philippi, a town of about 3,000 people located at the intersection of U.S. routes 119 and 250.

The sight of a beautiful and unusual covered bridge spanning the Tygart Valley River first lured us away from the gas station we’d stopped at near the center of town.

During our explorations, we learned that the 312-foot-long, two-lane “double barrel” bridge was built in 1852 and was once used as a barracks by Union soldiers during the Civil War.

But our real dive into local history would begin at the old train station next to the bridge, where stood a historical marker titled “Philippi Mummies,” and a banner hung proclaiming the dates for an upcoming “Lurch Fest.”

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Fortunately, the answers to all the obvious questions awaited us inside the former B&O Railroad depot, built in 1911 and now the Barbour County Historical Museum (www.barbourcountyhistoricalmuseum.org).

When we stepped inside, the first thing we saw was a mannequin depicting the huge character “Lurch” from "The Addams Family" television series.

We were immediately welcomed by museum guide Marisa Terwilliger. 

“Admission is free, but it’s $1 to see the mummies,” she informed us.

Sold.

Terwilliger, who works at the museum through AmeriCorps, was a terrific guide who told great stories.

Philippi, we learned, was the site of the first organized land battle – actually more of a skirmish – of the Civil War, on June 3, 1861.

Reportedly, no one was killed at the Battle of Philippi, where Union troops attacked and scattered a Confederate force. But the battle did result in the first amputations of the war, including a leg of 18-year-old Confederate soldier James Hanger. Hanger would later design an articulated artificial leg for himself using barrel staves, then found a company producing artificial limbs. The Hanger Orthopedic Group is still a leading supplier of prosthetics.

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The Battle of Philippi was also the first in history in which both sides arrived at the battlefield by train, according to some accounts.

As for our admission to the mummy room, it was money well-spent.

Displayed are two human bodies preserved in 1888 by local farmer and amateur (mad?) scientist Graham Hamrick, who was hoping to sell his secret mummification formula, and actually received a patent on the process.

The bodies he used were two deceased inmates of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in nearby Weston, whose remains went unclaimed by their families.

Hamrick never made money from his formula, but the mummies did tour Europe with P.T. Barnum before eventually finding their way back to Philippi.

However, the real story in the mummy room isn’t the weird science and weirder marketing of the 19th century, but the sad fate that often awaited those whom society deemed abnormal.

Terwilliger recounted the somber circumstances of those unfortunates who found themselves committed to the state lunatic asylum. 

The pretexts for commitment were many, especially for unusual or inconvenient women. The mummies are believed to be two such female inmates, one who died of tuberculosis, one who died in childbirth.

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Among the interpretive displays is a copy of a letter one of the women had sent to her family, asking to be allowed to come home to Philippi. 

The letter was returned unopened.

On a lighter, if no less ooky, note, the creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky presence of Lurch was, as it turns out, easily explained. The 6-foot 9-inch actor who portrayed the character in the 1960s television series, Ted Cassidy, grew up in Philippi and is still, understandably, a hometown hero. Cassidy, who died in 1979, will be celebrated Aug. 6, outside the museum at the town’s annual Lurch Fest (search “Lurch Fest” on Facebook).

The festival will also feature live music, craft beer, arts and crafts vendors, and a costume parade and contest. (Yes, I’d probably go as Uncle Fester.)

For more information about Philippi, visit www.philippi.org.

Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.