Monday (Labor Day), September 7

We still had many hills, valleys, and curves to travel as we headed east from Parkersburg in western West Virginia.

After four days of traveling through this state, we decided they must purchase these arrow signs in bulk, because they are everywhere – warning of a sharp turn ahead. 🙂

We had three stops planned for the day – to see this church, lunch in a nice restaurant, then home.

This tiny church – Our Lady of the Pines – is located near Silver Lake, West Virginia. By what I read, there are claims that is the smallest church in the continental United States.

The chapel’s exterior measures 12 feet x 24 feet.

Our Lady of Pines was built in 1958 by Mr. and Mrs. Peter Milknit. They built the tiny chapel as a memorial to their parents.

It is usually unlocked, but due to COVID we could not see inside.

The inside of the building features an altar and 12 one-seat pews.

All of the church’s fixtures, including its tabernacle crosses and candle holders, are handmade. The altar’s linen was hand woven in Lithuania by Mr. Milknit’s grandmother.

The church has been meticulously maintained, throughout the years though its caretakers remain invisible. Masses aren’t held there, but like the tradition of many ancient churches, it exists as a holy way station, or a point of refuge.

Over the course of decades of loving maintenance, her staff has quite intentionally chosen to continue not-updating her title as “smallest church in 48 states,” therefore leaving wiggle room that is nothing short of fascinating. Two states’ worth of churches will always be able to be smaller, and Our Lady of the Pines’ claim will remain, technically, true. (Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states in 1959).

Next to it stands the world’s smallest “mailing office.” This is not a post office just a mailing office – serving the community of Silver Lake. Mail is picked up and taken to the nearby post office in Elgon.

Before leaving I took a few closeup shots of flowers and bees.

We smiled when we again came to Route 219 – which felt like “home” to us during the first two days of this trip. No matter where we went, we ended up at Route 219.

We went out of our way a bit to drive by Deep Creek Lake, which brought back memories of being here for several days with our friends Earl and Arlene Sauder – probably a dozen or more years ago.

These pictures were all taken while driving, but it was easy to see that a lot of people were enjoying Labor Day on the lake.

The house on the left reminded us of the one where we stayed with Earl and Arlene’s family.

After Deep Creek, we began looking for a nice restaurant for lunch. I remembered a restaurant from our time with Earl and Arlene, but I couldn’t remember its name – only that it reminded me of Switzerland. I put a nearby restaurant search in my cell phone and eventually saw Penn Alps. That’s it!

We enjoyed a delicious meal for the last stop of our anniversary trip. Cerwin got lasagna and I ordered the soup and salad special: a cup of German vegetable soup, ½ chicken salad sandwich, and egg custard.

Penn Alps has a German ancestry of the Amish and Mennonite communities, which is reflected in many of the entrees.

The restaurant and artisan village were founded in 1958 by Dr. Alta Schrock to help create a market for cottage industries and a cultural center to showcase the area’s arts, crafts, music and history. Most of the craftsmen are residents of the Tri-State area.

Penn Alps Restaurant and Craft Shop are housed in the last log hospitality house on the National Pike still serving the traveler. Three of its six dining rooms were once part of the log stagecoach stop, Little Crossings Inn.

Spruce Forest Artisan Village, a part of the extended Penn Alps campus, has grown from a few cabins to some 12 log and frame structures of early vintage, two of which date to the Revolutionary War Period. Most of these provide studio space for artisans. The Miller House and Compton School have narrating hosts who volunteer time during the summer.

Artisans work in various media, including: bird carving, basket making, hand-loom weaving, and hand-thrown pottery. Also produced in the village are stained glass art, hand-forged iron, hand-crafted teddy bears, and hand-crafted natural soaps.

Cerwin was ready to head home – and that is probably a good thing – because I might have found a hand-crafted bird that I didn’t need. 🙂

Look at the smile on Cerwin’s face. We are back on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Though he enjoyed the past four days, he didn’t like the hairpin turns as we went up and down valleys and found the turnpike a place to relax.

Our exit.

One more hill and we are home.

We arrived at home just before 4 PM – after 880 miles. I have cropped, deleted and edited 542 photos for my blog.

The mushrooms that had just come up the night before we left – four days earlier – were now a bit over the hill.

This is a general idea of the roads we traveled during our delightful tour of West Virginia.

We are now dreaming of doing something similar in Vermont and New Hampshire.