A Photographic History of Ridgeley and Carpendale, West Virginia

Once the westernmost outpost of civilization in the American colonies, the towns of Ridgeley and Carpendale, West Virginia began their lives as a trading post called Fort Ohio in the 1750's. In the late 1800's, the area began to develop into a bedroom community for the nearby city of Cumberland. The photos in this book start around the time of the Civil War, with early photos of the Calmes mansion, the Potomac Club, and early businesses like the Ridgeley Brothers' Icehouse. The book includes historic photos of Ridgeley and Carpendale businesses, schools, floods, parades, sports teams, civic organizations like The American Legion and Volunteer Fire Department, the town's two championship football teams, and much more. Chapter List 1. The Potomac Club and the Early Development of Ridgeley 2. The Growth of Ridgeley 3. Dreyer's Beach and the Potomac River 4. Carpendale and Wiley Ford 5. Floods 6. Schools 7. The Class of Ridgeley 8. The Ridgeley Volunteer Fire Department 9. The American Legion Post 10. The Ridgeley Boy's Club 11. People 12. Town Government 13. Early Football 14. Champions: The First and the Last 15. Basketball 16. Baseball 17. Ridgeley's Greatest Generation 18. Ridgeley's National Hero With over 230 pages of historic photos and text (and nearly 500 photos), the book is a comprehensive look back at the development of this small town along the Potomac River.


About the Author
Gary Clites is a 1957 graduate of Ridgeley High School. He is the author of Ridgeley and Carpendale, West Virginia from 1750: A History. He is an active member of the Allegany County Civil War Roundtable, the Allegany County Genealogical Society, is vice president of the Frankfort District Historical Society, and is a participant in the Mineral County Historical Video Project. He has recently been involved in projects to preserve historic cemeteries in Mineral County, West Virginia and Allegany County, Maryland, to preserve Stewart's Tavern in Short Gap, West Virginia, and to protect and develop the Folcks' Mill Battlefield in Allegany County, Maryland. In 2012, he was named a "West Virginia History Hero" by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and was recognized by the state legislature in Charleston. He is currently working on a project to catalogue and preserve historic quarries, kilns and furnaces in Mineral County, West Virginia and Allegany County, Maryland.