Illustration by Aaron Williams.
Mother Baked Bread: Layuna Rap and Lowell Lewis remembering homemade breads of this valley:
“The highway winds down through fields in which appear outcroppings of blue limestone. In spring, the misty green pastures are thickly sprinkled with gleaming yellow buttercups.” – West Virginia Writers’ Project, 1941
Buttercups and buttered-bread mark the town of Frankford. Founded in 1769, Frankford was the first settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. The town was once a trading center; now it is well known for a bakery, offering salt rising bread, cornbread, pepperoni rolls, subs and pizza.
Salt Rising Bread: Lowell Lewis, who owned a bakery in Frankford until 2013, remembering his mother’s salt-rising bread. Lowell has since closed his bakery due to health issues. The bakery in Frankford is now called Over the Top Bakery, and is owned by Gloria Jones, of Clintonville, and Shannon Kirk, who is from Frankford. The bakery still gets its cornmeal from Reed’s Mill, in Monroe County, and offers sourdough bread, pizza and cinnamon rolls and sub sandwiches. However, they do not serve salt-rising bread. 304-497-9949.
Here is Lowell talking about the bakery he opened for a few years in his mother’s honor.
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Frankford was named for an early settler Frank Ludington. Visitors will find evidence of the past throughout the town in historic buildings that still stand along the . Listed below are historic buildings that still stand today along US 219 or just blocks from the highway. Go ahead, stop and have a look…
- The Post office, formerly “The Mill Building”, located along US 219.
- The McCraw Funeral Home, formerly “The CJ Store”, located along US 219.
- The Old Telephone Operator Building, still stands on Williamsburg Road
- King Curl Hair Salon, where The Frankford Store Co. once stood, located behind the Telephone Operator Building.
And is also a close drive to:
- 10 m. Historic Lewisburg, full of unique shops and dining, including Bella, The Corner Gourmet Store
- 18.5 m. White Sulphur Springs and The Greenbrier Resort
- 10.4 m. Carnegie Hall
- 10.3 m. Lost World Caverns
For information on traveling to Greenbrier County, contact the Greenbrier County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, 1-800-833-2068.
Salted Meat and Molasses: Life Before Refrigeration
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Bottlecaps for Coins: Children’s Memories of the Old CJ Store (appears when you click on the story) *To see the mural mentioned in this story call in advance to the McCraw Funeral Home:(304) 645-1228
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Social Gathering and Groceries: Story of the Frankford Store Co.
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Wild Ramp Dinner: *Carl Gillilan, was born above the Frankford post office. View his postcard and envelope collection mentioned in this story.
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