Tygart Hotel artwork to honor ‘lost towns’ of Mon Forest
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ELKINS -- Artwork being created for the historic Tygart Hotel, currently under renovation, will honor five "lost towns."
Woodlands Development Group has announced "Lost Towns/Lost Communities," a collaboration with West Virginia artists to create artwork for the hotel exploring five "ghost towns" in the Monongahela National Forest.
"As a local community-based organization, celebrating our area's rich history at the Tygart Hotel is a priority for Woodlands," said Woodlands Development Group Executive Director Dave Clark. "We are excited about engaging these local artists to help tell the story of the Tygart and the region."
Ten pieces of art will be displayed prominently in public areas of the Tygart Hotel. The art will focus on the towns of Spruce, Burner, Osceola, Wildell and Evenwood, all formerly located in Randolph and Pocahontas counties. These towns all existed during the lumber and mining booms around the turn of the 20th century.
The project was initiated in 2022 and was made possible by support from the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area.
"The project will explore features that made each town unique as well as aspects that tied them together into a network of communities even at a time when travel was difficult and limited," a Woodlands press release states.
"The project also includes maps, historic photos, and descriptive interpretation about each town. This art will shine a light on the rich history of the Mon Forest, and the people and communities that built Elkins and the Tygart Hotel at the turn of the last century.
"We are excited to welcome to the Tygart Hotel project team artists Kylie Proudfoot-Payne, Sara Cottingham, Kelson Thorne, Nevada Tribble and Willa McWhorter," the release states.
"I hope I can create art that encapsulates the beautiful experience of living in this incredible landscape and community," said Tribble, who was born in Elkins and now lives adjacent to the Tygart Hotel. "I have watched the construction on this project with eager anticipation, and it is so exciting to have my art featured there."
McWhorter stated, "As an eighth-generation West Virginian, I thought I had a good idea of the history of this area. But through this project I have discovered a new love of our mountains and the people that dwell here."
Payne is a resident of Belington, and a fifth-generation West Virginian. She has been exploring the Lost Town of Evenwood and hopes to portray the complex relationship between the environment, community, and history of the area.
Thorne is a West Virginia native from Petersburg who is known for his large format murals exploring the unique beauty, character and characters of West Virginia. His goal is to bring attention to the stories of the people who lived and worked in the town of Burner.
Cottingham makes wood block prints out of her home studio in Morgantown. She is also a rural economic development specialist and in both parts of her life she finds inspiration in places that tend to be forgotten or overlooked. With strong personal ties to the Mon Forest and its communities, she is taking on the work of illustrating the Lost Town of Spruce and uncovering the rich history and surprising connections the area still has to our modern world.
Tribble practices an intensely local artistic style. A fiber artist, she makes much of her own paper and materials out of plants and objects found on site. Tribble is exploring the world around the Lost Town of Wildell and she sees this project as an opportunity to study the rise, fall and evolution of a community in the Mon Forest.
McWhorter, an Elkins native, is eager to contribute to the preservation and celebration of West Virginia history and culture. She is uncovering the long legacy and lost legends of Osceola, near the Sinks of Gandy.
The AFNHA, historian Steve Bodkins and the Mountain Arts District have provided ongoing support in this project. Woodlands encourages public participation and invites residents to share their own stories and connections to the ghost towns on social media platforms using the hashtag #LostTowns.
For more information about "Lost Towns/Lost Communities" and updates on the project's progress, please visit woodlandswv.org or follow @woodlandswv on Instagram or @WDG.WCL on Facebook.