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Huck Finn on the Ohio? LbNA #57018

Owner:Family Grave Seekers
Plant date:Feb 17, 2011
Location:
City:West Columbia
County:Mason
State:West Virginia
Boxes:1
Found by: Shalar
Last found:May 8, 2011
Status:F
Last edited:Feb 17, 2011
Huck Finn on the Ohio?

Mark Twain of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn fame was the pen name for Samuel Clemens. I thought it was interesting that his grandfather, also named Samuel Clemens, was an early settler of Mason County but was killed in 1805 in a house-raising accident. In those days, when a house or barn was built, the men of the community got together and helped build it in the tradition of “many hands make light work.” The women worked together to feed all the workers so while a “raising” was a considerable effort, it was also a bit of a social event while everyone was together. I’ll bet the kids had a blast! At any rate, the widowed Mrs. Clemens took the children, including a son who would be Samuel Clemens’ (the author) father, to live with her family in Kentucky. She eventually remarried and they lived in river towns on the Mississippi. But just think, if Grandfather Clemens had not died in the accident, the Clemens family might have stayed here in Mason County and Mark Twain might have written about Tom and Huck rafting on the Ohio!

http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/hmresults.aspx?County=Mason&Title=Mark%20Twain&Words=&Op=AND

Clues: To find Huck Finn on the Ohio? Letterbox, travel north on Rt. 62 in Mason County through Point Pleasant and the unicorporated area of Lakin. Notice the mile marker signs. You will pass the WV State Police, Lakin Prison, and Lakin Hospital on your right. On the left just past State Farm Road will be a West Virginia historical marker for Mark Twain. Continue to mile marker 30 and watch for a United Methodist church across the railroad tracks on the left. If you pass it, you will soon reach West Columbia United Methodist Church. Spilman Church was established in 1840 and with the Ohio River in the background, see if you can imagine scenes from Mark Twain’s books: Tom Sawyer, Sid and Mary attending church with Aunt Polly, Huck trying not to attend with the Widow Douglas, and Tom, Huck, and Joe Harper marching into the church during their own funeral when all thought they had drowned in the river, never to be seen again.

I parked across from the Rough Road caution sign and just before the guardrail starts. Scramble across the tracks to the church or back track and drive up to it. Notice the arborvitae on either side of the entrance? You’ll be interested in the camouflaged pouch in the tall one to the right. There are picnic tables nearby for stamping.

Please be discreet when retrieving and returning. Double check that all bags are resealed well. Let me know what condition the box was found and also how your visit to the area was by using the contact the placer feature. Happy Letterboxing!