Background on Moatsville
Meet The Ritters
The Moatsville String Ticklers
Ida L. Reed
Down To The General Store
Hillbilly - English Dictionary
A Hill's Eye View
Moatsville, in the sense of "the real world," exists in Barbour County, West Virginia. Even if you spend a week or so traveling through Barbour County you might not find it - unless you know where to look. These days, the post office is on more of a main route than Moatsville, itself, is.
I can't say how Moatsville was born. There's not much of a record on that. At least, not that I can find. There's a record on www.wvculture.org that shows Moatsville being there from about 1882, with a note that it was formerly "Carrollton" and was known as "Nicklow" from 1891 to 1894. A couple other names are noted, too: Cove Run and New Moatsville.
I do know that the center of Moatsville sort of shifted over the years. These days, I'm not sure you could say it even has a center. Back in the 1920's, most of the activity was down by the river and the railroad. In the 1960's, it was east of there, where two churches, the post office, and Mr. Moats' General Store were located by Raccoon Run. Close by, too, was the house that was once Moatsville's one-room schoolhouse.
With Moatsville meandering along the hollows between the hills, and wandering up various dirt roads to various farms, it seems to be one of those places where nothing ever happens. In the realm of music, though, it was home to Ida L. Reed and The Moatsville String Ticklers.
Turn of the 20th century - the depot at Moatsville
The Tygart River falls, near Moatsville and Arden