newsletter 2-8

It was mentioned at our March meeting that the Blizzard mansion in South Parkersburg might be razed. An opportunity occurred to pose the question to Ralph Looney, the owner of the property in question. Ralph’s honest answer was that he did not know what would become of the stately home. He did relate that he had recently sold the market and adjacent property, including the Blizzard home.
The mansion was built circa 1920 for Reese Blizzard, a judge, businessman and nationally known horseman. In 1897, Judge Blizzard presided over the Jackson County murder case that led to the last public hanging in West Virginia. Mr. Blizzard was also the founder of the Parkersburg Rotary.
The Blizzard farm, an accumulation of several smaller properties, once comprised in excessive 400 acres. The farm encompassed much of the area west of Blizzard Drive, onto Pike street and west on Gihon Road. Mr. Blizzard once had his own quarter mile race track. It extended from near the mansion, through the area where Ralph’s Market is located, to Gihon Road.
After the farm was broken up, portions of the property became the site of Guinn’s Airfield, the Starlight Drive-in theater, and an automobile race track that operated as “Friskie Childers and His Hell Drivers”.
The airfield, which operated in the late 1940’s, was situated just west of the Farmer’s Market property. It was in the 1940’s that “Friskie and his Drivers” raced on a track in the area of where Pinewood Village is today. The drive-in theater was located near the corner of Gihon Road and Pike Street.
It is hoped that the old Blizzard home, one of South Parkersburg’s most unique structures, will be spared the fate that too often precedes commercial growth. Perhaps our group should send a request to the new owners, expressing our hopes that it will be saved.

In 1906, Judge Blizzard was selected as a member of the board of directors of the WV Agricultural Fair Association. Their job was to select a site to build what would become Shattuck Park. Blizzard soon became President of the Association. At the 1915 Fair, Judge Blizzard was awarded ten first premiums and ten second premiums for the standard breeds of horses.

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here is the way it was in the 1500s.
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good in June. However, they were still liable to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence, the custom today of carrying a bouquet when married.
Baths consisted of a big tub with hot water (at least at the beginning). The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children; last of all was the babies. By this time the water was so dirty that you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!”
Houses were different then, most of them had a dirt floor. Only the wealthy had something other than a dirt floor. Hence the saying, “dirt poor.” The wealthy had slate flooring that would become slippery in the wet weather of winter. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh, until when the door was opened, it would all start creeping out the door. It was remedied by placing a piece of wood in the entrance way. Hence the term, “thresh hold.”
In those old days they cooked at the fireplace with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they started the fire and added things to the pot. Meat was scarce, so it was usually a vegetable that was added. Daily, the family ate from the pot. The next day, adding more veggies and water, the stew was again consumed. Sometimes the conglomeration had food init that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old!”
Can any readers of H&P relate to any of these instances?
Submitted by Howard Wolfe.

What is the difference between a milkmaid and a swallow? Answer– The milkmaid skims the milk, the swallow skims the water! Have you ever skimmed cream from milk?