‘Rockyside’ featured in spring edition of W.Va. magazine

NEW CUMBERLAND -- Tom W. Zielinsky and George B. Hines III are featured in the spring edition of Goldenseal magazine for their book, "Rockyside -- A Forgotten Mining Community."

"This is an extremely high honor and privilege for us to have our book featured in this great West Virginia magazine," Zielinsky said.

The Goldenseal is a quarterly magazine devoted to West Virginia traditional life and published by the state of West Virginia, Division of Culture and History. It documents the state's cultural background and recent history by means of oral accounts, research articles and old and new photographs. Subjects covered include labor history, folklore, music, farming, religion, traditional crafts, food and politics. Its purpose, according to its website, is to "serve not only as a device to preserve many aspects of the state's traditional life, but also as a means of communication for students and enthusiasts of West Virginia folklife."

"Rockyside" describes the small mining community once located just north of New Cumberland and which was bulldozed under to make way for a new highway during the 1960s. It contains pictures and stories of the men who worked there as well as the many factories that no longer exist but were very productive 100 years ago. It is a chronicle of local history, providing a glimpse of a lifestyle that was once so important to many communities in the area but now is a mere memory of a bygone era, according to Zielinsky.

"I worked with the current editor, Stanley Bumgardner, for more than a year getting just the right information and pictures for their selection process. We are thrilled and excited that our book was selected as a feature story, and we can't thank him and Goldenseal enough," Zielinsky said, noting it was the magazine's first story about brick making in its 44-year history.

It also mentioned the Rockyside painting done by local artist Jim Watson. The painting hangs in the Swaney Memorial Library in New Cumberland.

"On a separate note, we are both researching for information and especially photographs of a little community just south of New Cumberland called Zalia," Zielinsky said. Anyone with information or photos they would like to share can contact him by phone at (304) 723-3263 or by e-mail to tzielinsky@yahoo.com. "If enough information and photos can be obtained, another book might be on the horizon about this amazing little community of nearly 300 people," he said.