Back to the Waterfront

A representative cross-section of America makes its way to Morgantown’s riverfront. Many times, I have traveled to other cultures to experience a slice of life foreign to me, but the banks of the mighty Monongahela hold up a mirror to my own as surely as a Thornton Wilder play made us look at ourselves in another decade. Curiously, both seem to reveal the same decade! It’s Our Town revisited. This is not because Morgantown is backward, but quite the opposite, the first small city in the region to return to the water, which always calls to a pastoral longing in ourselves.

The riverfront revitalization program has brought out the community and visitors, not just the transient, partying WVU students. In fact, brew pubs aren’t drowning so many goldfish in beer bowls, and the fish are now safe and happy in the "Mon" River! Playboy isn’t commenting on the "party school" anymore, but city planners everywhere in the country are taking note of the direction Morgantown is defining for American small cities (under 30,000). Students actually outnumber locals, unless Westover, municipality on the opposite bank, is factored in. The summer amphitheater on the lawn, the bikes with training wheels for rent/sale at Whitetail Bikes, and grandparents strolling along the Caperton Trail announce to 30,000 WVU students that they must be absorbed into the community, not ravage it !

Sitting on the patio at the bike shop, I smiled at the three-year-old whose father held him on the seat of his shiny new machine. What a beaming face! Students shopping there for spandex circled round him and helped the family make the appropriate adjustments to handlebars and seat. The shiny-faced little boy was smiling ear-to-ear as he enjoyed being the center of attention. A grandpa decided against the fold-up style, and I finally had my turn with one of the many busy salesmen. So many customers filled the store, the clientele spilled out on Saturday onto the patio, where we all had lunch while we were waiting. Arlo Guthrie would have called it a "movement"!

It’s a self-sufficient community with restaurants of every flavor, hotels right along the trail (including a beautiful new Radisson that opened just last week), scheduled stage and impromptu musicians, stores for supplies, boat and kayak rentals and tours, festivals, park, vendors’ carts, a WVU forest right in the city limits, glass works tours, an "antiques walk" (large shop) at Seneca Center, and a trailhead in the restored train depot. Two paved trails, Caperton and Deckers Creek, link up with the greater rail/trail system. All this is in addition to the authentic, colorful High Street downtown with creative local merchants and more a block away. The riverfront is a community where I’ve enjoyed forgetting about the rest of the world and the present time, a place where time slips away and carefree yesteryear is not just make-believe.

Quick Tips:

I can drive home, but here’s my itinerary for the first weekend I can stay:
1. Check into the Radisson--on the trail with patio tables
2. Ride the PRT or Personal Rapid Transit from downtown to Evansdale Campus and back -- anyone new to town can find the station on University Avenue, a short walk from Radisson, and get a good intro to the city and river from the high rails.
3. Walk one block from PRT downtown to Wings Ole for lunch.
4. Take back steps down to the trail and turn left to Whitetail or right to Wamsley Cycle for rental or purchase.
5. Check out Antiques Walk at Seneca Center -- same building, same floor as Wamsley.
6. Upstairs, gather info on tours, festivals, and theater at Visitor Information. Look in at Glass House Grill, same level, and make reservations for dinner (opens 5pm).
7. Ride north, south, or east, working up appetite.
8. Ride back to Radisson for swim and shower.
9. Walk, ride, or drive a few blocks toward town to Deckers Creek bridge; turn left before bridge to Oliverios or La Casa. After dinner, consult info gathered for play, concert, or brew pub.

Best Way To Get Around:

Two bike rentals and sales are on Caperton Trail. Besides Whitetail, there is Wamsley Cycles in the basement of Seneca Center. Their deck is a step off the trail, and they carry the Trek Navigator, a comfort Mountain bike used by more rentals than any other, I believe, because it handles like a dream and provides comfort for the long ride. Whitetail rents Giant mountain comforts, which also offer incredible smoothness and sportscar handling, and they have a special rental price for the entire weekend from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. To me, this spells long-weekends-on-the-trail for visitors and new bikes for locals like me! With these stores and Pathfinder on Spruce Street downtown, Morgantown is the place to shop for bikes. If biking isn’t your thing, try a kayak, canoe or skates rental from Whitetail. For more info on bike shops and stories about WV and regional outdoor sports, including biking, running, and skiing, see IPlayOutside.

Interstates 79 and 68 intersect at Morgantown. Parking for those carrying their bikes can be found on Clay Street, off Deckers Creek bridge. For flights, US Airways is the only carrier, and Radisson has a courtesy van. (I checked.)

I remember when "Wings" first opened. It was the talk of the town! A few decades ago, when Morgantown had more than its fair share of vegetarian restaurants (markets, too), the establishment became a favorite for bean burritos and salads with guacamole--good guacamole! (Curiously, their burritos had no meat, but their "Mexi-rice" was loaded with chunks of chicken breast!) The owners were fitness enthusiasts, avid joggers, rumor had it, so it was dubbed "the healthy Mexican," and because of its low prices, which persist to this day, even poor University students could afford to dine here every time they went downtown. Wings introduced me to sopapillos and celery or fries with blue cheese, and I’m still a fan of their burritos. Years ago, when I almost drowned on my Youghiogheny River raft trip, Wings comforted me on my way home. Still wet after my drive back from Pennsylvania, I felt at home with a baseball team fresh from the park. In short, it’s a local institution. A success story, Wings now has three locations and a website: WingsOle.

Since I moved to another WV city not far away, I hadn’t visited Wings in years, but the Arts and the River Festival lured me back with my bike to try the city’s new trails. Actually located at a higher level on University Avenue at the foot of the Westover Bridge, the restaurant has a deck, now with steps down to the riverfront park and Caperton Trail. After a long ride, I was eager for a reunion. Inside the front door, I stopped to look at murals: "This is new!" On closer examination, I noticed the artist’s signature. A friend of mine, David Merrill is as "wild and wonderful" as West Virginia’s slogan. A painter of coal miners and mountain men, these cowboy scenes were a diversion for him.

I couldn’t find any change in the menu. Prices even looked about the same. Stepping up to the counter, I ordered a beef chimi-burrito and Mexirice, and my partner wanted a chicken fajita, Mexirice, and salad with guacamole--"best salad in town," she insists. The girl at the counter gave us a number, and we found a table. I don’t consider Wings "fast food," but one orders at the counter, and then waitresses deliver meals to tables. Service is fast and impeccable, as the student population supplies fairly alert wait staff, and food is simply too good and too healthy to think of as "fast." Besides, what fast-food establishment has O’Douls beer on tap? The only factor relevant to that plebian genre would be price--under $10 for two people.

At the table, we debated pros and cons of all the restaurants in this town, as we were both former residents, and decided Wings should be figured among the most unique. Pleasant decor with plenty of plants and baskets on a high shelf all around the room is rather "homey." Next time, we’ll try the deck.

Seneca Glass Company closed in 1983. I took the tour before then, as did other Morgantown residents. When Jackie Kennedy chose Morgantown Glass patterns for the White House, locals bought from "seconds" tables in warehouse outlets and learned about blowing glass and about the 14 major companies that made handblown lead crystal in the Morgantown area since the 19th Century. I still have my mother’s vase of crinkled cobalt blue, and I remember bright green, purple, and gold she bought. They are all now on display in the hallways, antiques shop, and glass museum of Seneca Center, as well as the famous West Virgina "golf ball" pattern stemware and other pieces that could take as long as 12 hours for workers to make.

Riverfront Museums, Inc. is open only Saturdays and Sundays, but other Center attractions are open weekdays, too, and include boutique and specialty shops, the "Antiques Walk," Glasshouse Grille, Wamsley Cycle, and Morgantown Visitor Information. There is also a hallway with tables covered with upholstery fabric on sale, drastically reduced, next to The Furniture Stop (new furniture and decor items). This upscale, multi-purpose, two-story mall with plenty of parking in front makes good use of the former Seneca Glass Company’s building (on the National Register of Historic Places) and preserves this bit of regional industrial history for the community to enjoy. I have spent entire afternoons browsing through rooms of antiques while women shopped boutiques for "special" clothing, like tapestry jackets that didn’t seem too overpriced.

My latest trip, I discovered beautiful antiques: wonderful oak secretary for $1500, set of 4 dining room chairs for $800, and walnut dresser for $800. Some large furniture items were thousands. Anyone looking for special pieces that are already perfect would love this place, and another room had glassware, kitchen, and smaller items with smaller price tags.

I noticed that Glasshouse Grille, Morgantown’s best restaurant (local concensus), is now open for lunch. The Grille is so popular, reservations are necessary for weekend nights, but it’s worth the trouble for Italian and Cajun selections and West Virginia trout. They also have a seafood market and deli, and they have their own website. Awards from Wine Spectator the last three years, the terraced herb garden, the brick patio, and all fresh ingredients commend them to my taste and liking. They make complete the experience of this historic spot with their West Virginia wines.

Driving down Beechurst or riding on the trail, one can’t miss "Seneca Glass" on the red water tower or the original stack towering over the building complex. Visitors shouldn’t be misled by unattractive metal parts of the building--other parts are 19th-Century brick, and the inside is nice with wooden floors and brick walls.

Links to most of the specialty shops can be found at Seneca Center’s website.

For the best initiation to the downtown waterfront community, visit one of the great outfitters for sports supplies. This isn’t just shopping--it’s an experience of West Virginia and what it’s come to stand for. This state is the outdoor wonderland, and Morgantown’s outfitters have the expertise, energy, and commitment to show us all how to enjoy it. Everywhere in town and in every industry, this retail community is unique in its concept, service, and involvement. You don’t just rent or buy a bike here--you learn what you need first, and you learn from salesmen who know.

Wamsley Cycles is a step off the trail. We pulled our old bikes up onto the deck and entered the hallway in the lower level of Seneca Center. This is the place to try Treks. We had ridden them years ago at Bike Chicago on Navy Pier and had fallen in love with the Navigator, Trek’s "mountain comfort" model. This style is exactly what one needs for long, upright rides on West Virginia’s trails. Without trying it, we eliminated the Navigator 100, the $299 model, because it didn’t have front suspension, only seat suspension. The #200 model has both and is $40 more. Out on Caperton Trail, it rode well, and I couldn’t find any complaint but the seat--it wasn’t gel! The salesman said gel isn’t used much anymore, because it isn’t durable. "Durable" is secondary to comfort for this mid-life guy, so I would need to buy a different seat, which would make the Trek more than I want to spend. In short, I didn’t buy here, but I will remember the laidback, friendly attention, return to Wamsley for supplies, and recommend them to my friends for rentals ($10/2 hrs., $25/day, $50/weekend).

Besides Trek, their other featured brand is Specialized, a little less expensive, and in addition to bikes, they have fitness equipment, treadmills, steppers, and exercise cycles. The owner, Chip Wamsley, is an expert framebuilder who learned his trade from Jack Taylor in England, one of the world’s best, so this shop caters to expert riders with personal specifications for parts and frames. It’s the place to "talk shop," to get repairs, and to get special needs addressed. They also have shoes, gloves, racks, and much more jam-packed into the store. The salesman’s stats were wasted on us, since we cared only about comfort, but peak performance proponents must stop at Wamsley.

Everyone visiting Morgantown must stop at Seneca Center, the historic glassworks building that houses the bike shop, so Wamsley Cycle can be combined with an afternoon of antiques and boutique shopping, Visitor Info gathering, and lunch, all in the same building. Wamsley has a website.

Saturday morning, Whitetail Cycle and Fitness was the center of activity on the waterfront. A huge building, the former WV Paper Company in the historic Wharf District, houses the largest specialty outfitter in the state with kayaks, canoes, and bikes of every size and frame. An active, informative staff comprised of athletes was getting their workout carrying bikes over rows of other bikes out to the trail for customers to test-drive. "Take it for a spin up to La Casa." When I laughed (the Mexican restaurant isn’t far), Mac agreed, "Okay, a little further."

The pony-tailed baby-boomer and I were practically friends by now--he had adjusted my handlebars three times; seat, four. Straddling the front wheel, he had held the bike upright while inspecting my position and posture and lecturing me on "butt comfort," shoulder and wrist torque, fatique, and leg position. Finally, everything felt so good, I couldn’t hold back, but as I took off, Mac ran alongside me explaining, "I forgot to tell you about these new brakes . . . " The giant mountain comfort bike ($309) is a fantastic choice with incredible "sportscar" handling and exactly what I needed, but I hesitated, feeling guilty--I already had a decent mountain bike I bought secondhand and ride only a little. Mac asked, "What’s your comfort worth?" He has helped people get what they need for a long time, and I started to realize what a good sales staff is worth--I’d ride more with these guys to fit me perfectly with exactlly what I need. Mac got me thinking straight, and I saw the younger salesmen busily involved, too, with customers age 6 to 65.

Whitetail handles other bike brands--Diamond Back, GT, Kona, and Serrotta--in racing, mountain, and touring styles, and they are the largest Schwinn dealer in the state. They have Heritage and Wilderness Systems kayaks and canoes for sale and rent, as well as in-line skates for adults and children. There is a good inventory of shoes by New Balance, Saucony, and Brooks. Swimwear and biking apparel were on sale racks on the patio by the trail, and accessories for various outdoor sports are arranged according to departments around the perimeter of the warehouse-type room. Bikes of every size and frame are available for rent, including bicycles-built-for-two and side-by-side surrey with canopy top. Child or pet carriers and trailers are also offered.

So much to choose from, we were more exhausted from sampling the inventory than from the earlier 10-mile ride on our old "clunkers," as we now labeled them. The bar with stools looked like a good place to sit with health drinks and think over the possibilities. Here, we learned more about the specialty cafe menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, made fresh daily, all healthy selections for athletic types. There is also a freezer where we helped ourselves and meals made for the trail.