The Midland Trail is a highway to history. In the country s earliest years, it carried the tide of settlement westward. During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate troops marched along it. In the years before World War I, it became a link in a great transcontinental roadway. When numbered highways were introduced, it was designated U.S. 60. Today, there s history waiting around every bend of its 180 miles. The trail enters West Virginia from Virginia just a stone s throw from White Sulphur Springs, then winds its way through just about every era of West Virginia history before it reaches the little town of Kenova, where it crosses the Big Sandy River and heads into Kentucky. This book is the next best thing to getting in the family car and setting out to personally explore the Midland Trail. If you re fortunate enough to make such a trip, you can use it as handy guide so you don t miss anything along the way. If you can t travel the trail in person, these vintage picture postcards and other historic images provide an armchair visit that takes you over mountains, along rivers, through lush valleys and into small towns. Here s White Sulphur Springs and its world-famous Greenbrier Resort; Lewisburg, home of the General Lewis Inn and the other Carnegie Hall; Malden, where Booker T. Washington spent his boyhood; Gauley Bridge, a town that changed hands numerous times during the Civil War, and Cedar Grove, the oldest settled community in the Kanawha Valley. You can pay a visit in these pages to Hawk s Nest, with its breathtaking views of the New River; Babcock State Park, where the Glade Creek Grist Mill may be the most photographed subject in West Virginia, and the Glenn Ferris Inn, which has been welcoming travelers since 1839. The Midland Trail connects West Virginia s two largest cities, Charleston and Huntington, and both offer history-lovers much to see and enjoy either in person or in the pages of this unique pictorial history. History beckons... Along West Virginia s Midland Trail. A veteran newspaperman and the author of a number of books on local and regional history, James E. Casto grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, where he graduated from Marshall University, earning a BA in journalism and an MA in English. Casto was a reporter and editor at The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington for more than 40 years before he retired. Active in community affairs, he has taught both journalism and English as a part-time instructor at Marshall. Costumed as Collis P. Huntington, who founded the city of Huntington, he appears at civic clubs, schools and other groups in a first-person program that offers a glimpse of the famed rail tycoon s life and times. In 2004, Marshall presented him with its John Marshall Medal of Civic Responsibility in recognition of his services to the university and the community. In 2005, the City of Huntington Foundation inducted him as a member of its Greater Huntington Wall of Fame. And in 2006, the Cabell County Public Library named its James E. Casto Local History Room in his honor.