West Virginia Day

West Virginia celebrates its 150th birthday on Thursday, June 20, 2013. After breaking away from the state of Virginia during the unsettled days of the American Civil War, West Virginia was admitted to the Union as the 35th state.

The Martinsburg Public Library honors this occasion with some great guest speakers...

11:00 a.m.

Tricia Strader (of Berkeley Springs) will be portraying Belle Boyd on the mezzanine of the library. There she will discuss, as Belle Boyd, her life and role as a Confederate spy. 

Strader writes for The Journal and Valley Homes & Style Magazine. She enjoys writing about a variety of topics including community news, history, homes, people, arts/entertainment, and gardening. Tricia has been a Civil War living historian for thirteen years.

If you would like to read more about Belle Boyd, just go to our catalog and search for Belle Boyd.

1:00 p.m.

Local author Roger Engle will appear on the mezzanine to reminisce about his childhood growing up in Hedgesville. 

In his book Stories from a Small Town, Engle takes a mental journey of his childhood life and surroundings in a small rural town in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, between the years of 1948 and 1964. It is his first memoir.

A critic wrote of the book, "With tenderness and grit, he reveals both the challenges and opportunities of growing up in a working-class family during self-sufficient times."

If you would like to check this book out, you can! Find it in our stacks with the call number WV 921 Engl.R.