PENCE SPRINGS W.Va. (Hinton News) – A lot of my stories are about the history of Pence Springs. That is because it was the history of this tiny town in Summers County that fueled my collecting local history in general. That combined with the fact I was born and raised here, having grown up roaming the Pence Springs Hotel while my mother was a chef there and becoming so close to Ashby Berkley over the years just led to this area being the area of the county that I am so passionate about.
This is the original certificate from when Andrew Pence entered the water in the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. This certificate was to pay homage to the fact Andrew Pence took the silver medal before all of the other contestants from around the world. Giving this area of the county national and even international recognition.
Up until then, this community was still called Stockyards. The name was officially changed to “Pence Springs” after Mr. Pence won this award to place honor upon him. The large wooden bottle you see here was constructed here in Pence Springs and hauled to the fair to sell the water out of. After winning silver it was hauled back to Pence Springs on the railroad where it sat by the spring for several decades.
This photo was when it was being constructed to be sent to St. Louis. It wasn’t quite finished yet, but the completed large bottle looked just like the water bottles with a maroon oval paper label. It was used for advertisement and to sell water out of at events that were held on the grounds during the 1920s through the 1940s.
My grandfather Bernard Thompson could remember going to picnics at what is now the Pence Springs Flea Market. He could remember being all of the ice cream and watermelon you could eat. As a young boy growing up in Talcott, WV this felt like a huge event and traveling from Talcott felt much longer than the 11.5 miles it is. But that was in the Model A days and travel took much longer, even with short distances like it was.
When Ashby Berkley first purchased the Pence Springs property in the early 70s, I am inclined to believe it was 1972. This certificate was hanging in the bottling house. Mr Berkley briefly bottled and sold the water shortly after purchasing it. He then placed this framed certificate on a stand by an antique showcase he had in the front lobby of the Pence Springs Hotel with other memorabilia from the hotel and spring in it.
Two interesting side notes, I purchased the showcase Ashby used to display his historic memorabilia at one of his auctions he had in 2002. The other is if you were ever in the springhouse prior to it being torn down you might recall a large 25-gallon crock hanging from the ceiling.
This crock was used to make the ingredients for the ginger ale that was made with Pence Springs Water in the early 1900s. This crock was traced back by Ashby and found buried under a building on the railroad track side of Pence Springs.
