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by William D. Moore (Author)
Hedgesville, West Virginia is a metaphor of history for the United States of America. It is old. It began with a spring. This book offers a delightfully vivid portrait of the strength & trials of this small American village-town and how it contributes to the strength of the Republic as a whole. It grew with the pace of the settlement of the nation and reflected these changes by a microcosm of recorded information. When the area was animal trails and verdant brush and trees, there was located a spring of natural, ever flowing water and civilization grew around this gap in the mountain. Later Indians came and used its waters and possibly made a temporary settlement. By the 1720's, settlers from the northern colonies who were originally from Ireland, Germany, and others, came to make their homes in the land beyond this gap in the mountains. Commerce, the westward expansion, Skinners Gap, a town, the Civil War, prosperity of the 1880s, schools, doctors, village life --- these are the major themes of the book. This archive history chronicles these things by documents, newspaper accounts, written remembrances, and specific research that is rich in local names, families, and recorded events. It may inspire others to research, write, and then share with future generations, other stories of this area and its rich, historical heritage.
Author Biography
ABOUT THE AUTHOR William D. Moore spent his childhood years at the little hamlet of North Mountain Depot which is one mile north of Hedgesville, Berkeley County, WV. When he married Mary Kate Eckerd, he moved to the Town of Hedgesville where he spent the next twenty-nine years. Twenty-four of those years were as an elected official for the little municipality. For his public service career he received the highest civilian award from the state, he was awarded the title Distinguished West Virginian by Governor Arch Moore in 1987 He graduated from Hedgesville High School and went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Shepherd College (now Shepherd University) He taught English at Martinsburg South Junior High School for three years. He went on to do graduate studies at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania where he received his Masters Degree in Guidance & Counseling. He worked for thirty years for the Washington County, MD Board of Education. Bill and Mary Kate had a daughter, Laura Andrea Moore. Together they restored and refurbished The Summit House a circa 1839 structure in the Town of Hedgesville. He began another career as a Presbyterian Lay Pastor for the Tabler Presbyterian Church in Berkeley County, WV. He has been a pastor there since 2000. The Eastern Panhandle Mission Council of the fifteen Presbyterian Churches awarded Mr. Moore an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree for his participation and leadership In 2011.
