Gurkee’s finds international success after moving production to West Virginia. Ray Sickes is a natural entrepreneur. He sold real estate for a while, worked as a wedding photographer, and then ran a web design business while the Internet was gaining popularity in the late ’90s. But his most successful venture literally walked through his door. “One day my wife came…
Read More
What goes around comes around. After years of gathering dust, vinyl records are back in vogue—and West Virginia is teeming with record shops filled with vinyl, old and new.
Think all soap is the same? Think again. Soap. It might be the most utilitarian thing around—you can’t escape using it, and doing so isn’t usually a thrilling experience. Unless, of course, you’re using soap made by Phillip and Mary Peelish, the husband-wife duo behind the Wild Mountain Soap Company, based in Fayetteville. Wild Mountain soaps are different. They come…
Read More
This musical trio of sisters is making a name for itself on the country music scene. The Joseph Sisters got their start in music young—really young. Marybeth, the eldest, sang before she talked. “Mom says she would sit in her crib and just sing and sing,” says Shalyn, the youngest. Their first gig as a group was in the grade-school…
Read More
Danny Jones has a long résumé, but it’s being mayor that suits him best. photographed by Carla Witt Ford On June 15, 2015, elected officials, members of the public, and journalists crammed into the dark wood-paneled council chambers at Charleston City Hall to watch Kanawha Circuit Judge Todd Kaufman administer the oath of office to Mayor Danny Jones. He had…
Read More