Where History Meets Celebration: The Oddfellow Manor and the Mountain State Forest Festival

Elkins has always been a town where history is not just remembered, but lived. Walk its streets in autumn, when the hills are ablaze with color and parades wind through Randolph Avenue, and you can feel the layers of time pressing close—the industry that built it, the institutions that sustained it, the traditions that still gather people together. Two of the strongest threads in this fabric are the IOOF Group Home, standing watch since 1908, and the Mountain State Forest Festival, first celebrated in 1930. At first glance they may seem like separate stories—one a home of care and resilience, the other a celebration of pageantry and pride—but woven together, they tell a fuller tale of how Elkins has always balanced service, heritage, and community.

A Town in Its Prime

At the turn of the twentieth century, Elkins was buzzing. The shrill whistle of locomotives cut through the valley, carrying timber, coal, and passengers east and west. Sawmills along the Tygart Valley River thundered with life, the smell of fresh-cut spruce and hemlock thick in the air. Families walked brick-lined streets to markets, churches, and schools, proud of a town that had risen from wilderness in just a few short decades.

It was in this climate of growth that the Independent Order of Odd Fellows established their children’s home on the hill above town. Completed in 1908, the Odd Fellows Home was not just a shelter—it was a promise. At a time when state systems of care were limited, the Manor stood as a beacon of fraternity, education, and self-reliance. Its brick walls rose solid and sturdy, designed to last as long as the values it represented.

Life at the IOOF Group Home

For the children who lived there, life at the Manor was structured but purposeful. Mornings began early, with breakfast in the dining hall, followed by chores that kept the home and its grounds alive—tending the garden rows, milking cows, or gathering fruit from the orchard. The Odd Fellows believed in more than charity; they believed in equipping the next generation to live capably and independently.

Classrooms rang with the scratch of chalk and the murmur of recitation, while the fields outside offered lessons in patience and endurance. Evenings might end in song, stories, or the comfort of shared routines. Though the Manor was born of necessity, it carried with it the spirit of family—an understanding that in caring for each other, communities endure.

The Festival is Born

Two decades later, Elkins faced a very different season. The year was 1930, and the Great Depression had cast its long shadow across the nation. Factories closed, families tightened belts, and uncertainty settled into every household. Yet even in this hardship, Elkins looked to its forests—the vast expanses of hardwood and pine that had shaped its economy and culture—for inspiration and strength.

Out of that moment came the Mountain State Forest Festival. Conceived as both a celebration and a statement, the Festival sought to remind West Virginians of their greatest natural asset. It honored forestry not just as industry, but as heritage and as future. The crowning of Queen Silvia, the colorful parades, the forestry exhibits, and the gathering of bands and townsfolk all declared: we are still here, and we will endure.

For those who walked the streets that first autumn, the Festival must have felt like a bright defiance—an act of joy and unity in the midst of difficulty. The hillsides were already brilliant with color; now the town itself matched them in vibrancy.

Parallel Histories

While the first queens processed through downtown and schoolchildren waved flags in parades, life at the Manor went quietly on. Supper was served in the dining hall, homework spread across desks, and the same orchards were tended as they had been for decades. Yet it is easy to imagine a child at the Manor standing on the hillside, hearing the distant music of the Festival drifting upward, or seeing the torchlight of evening parades from afar.

In this way, the Manor was a silent witness to the Festival’s rise. Both institutions, in their own fashion, were rooted in the same soil of Randolph County. The Festival drew crowds into the streets to celebrate forestry and tradition; the Manor instilled in its young residents the values of labor, resilience, and community that made such celebrations possible. One was vibrant and public, the other quiet and steady—but together they reflect the heart of Elkins.

Carrying Legacy Forward

Today, nearly a century later, the Mountain State Forest Festival is one of West Virginia’s oldest and most beloved traditions. Each Fall, marching bands, dancers, craftspeople, and foresters converge in Elkins, filling the air with music, laughter, and pride. The coronation of Queen Silvia remains a centerpiece, tying new generations to a tradition first begun in hardship but carried forward with joy.

And on the hill, the Oddfellow Manor is stirring with life once more. Its mission today echoes its original purpose: to be a place of care, education, and self-sufficiency. Plans for gardens, orchards, workshops, and community gatherings are not so different from what the Odd Fellows first envisioned over a century ago. In this way, the Manor and the Festival continue to speak the same language—celebrating land, heritage, and the strength of community.

A Shared Story of Resilience

Taken together, the histories of the Oddfellow Manor and the Mountain State Forest Festival remind us that Elkins has always known how to balance work with joy, care with celebration, memory with hope. The Manor’s brick walls testify to decades of service and shelter; the Festival’s pageantry testifies to decades of pride and endurance. Both are legacies worth preserving, not only for what they were, but for what they continue to inspire.

As autumn settles once again on the mountains, we see the truth clearly: heritage is not simply something handed down—it is something lived, nurtured, and celebrated. In the Manor and in the Festival, Elkins holds both halves of that truth, and together they continue to shape the story of our town.