| THEN & NOW: The Town of Helvetia
By Sheila McEntee
 On a spring morning in the tiny Swiss village of Helvetia, a persistent rain dampens lush, green meadows and swells the waters of the Buckhannon River, creating whitecaps that ripple against its rocky banks. Above a narrow valley, mountains draped in mist rise up, holding a cluster of quaint, historic buildings in a close embrace.
On this hushed morning the village stirs slowly, inviting a visitor to gaze at the shrouded hills and listen to the music of the river. Like the rippling waters, thoughts drift easily away to a time long ago, when a group of German Swiss settlers came to a remote West Virginia wilderness to carve out a new life.
The Early Settlers
In early 1869, a Swiss agent in Brooklyn, New York, offered a large tract of land in Randolph County, West Virginia, for consideration by members of the Grutliverein, a mutual aid society organized to help Swiss immigrants in Brooklyn. Farming their own property and living in community were attractive prospects to the immigrants, so it was decided that six members of the society would investigate the land. On October 15, 1869, the six men left Brooklyn and traveled by train through Philadelphia and Baltimore, then west over the Allegheny Mountains to Clarksburg, West Virginia. When they arrived in Clarksburg, they were told they could reach Randolph County only by foot or on horseback.
The next day the men began the arduous, 60-mile trek on foot through densely forested mountains. By the time they neared the designated land four days later, there was but a footpath that led through great stands of trees, some four and five feet in diameter. The men were impressed by the beauty of the wilderness, with its clear, rushing streams, and abundant wildlife. They met few people along the way—occasional English settlers who lived in rough clearings. "As they looked about them, the men perceived a natural paradise," writes David Sutton in One's Own Hearth Is Like Gold: A History of Helvetia, West Virginia (Peter Lang, 1990).
 When they reached their destination, the men set about building a one-room log cabin. They then journeyed back to Brooklyn, where they told other members of the Grutliverein of the beauty of the land and its great potential.
Yet no one else was willing to take the risks of wilderness settlement. Ultimately, only five of the six original investigators opted to make the move. These men and their families ventured back to Randolph County just two months later, in December 1869, making the grueling journey from the train station to the new land amid snow and bitter cold.
The intrepid band of 15, many of whom had been urban dwellers in Europe and the United States, survived the trip and reached the little settlement house. They lived there together for almost a year, until they could clear land and build their own homes. It was in the original settlement house, soon after their arrival, that the settlers chose the name Helvetia (pronounced Hel-vay-sha), the Latin name for Switzerland, for their new home.
Though the first settlers were well versed in gardening, carpentry, and other crafts, they knew little about homesteading. "These people were not Daniel Boone," says Eleanor Fahrner Mailloux, whose grandfather, Gottlieb Fahrner, settled in Helvetia a bit later, in 1873. "They were urban and cultured. They brought books and musical instruments with them, not guns and hoes. Some of the women would get so homesick for Switzerland, they would get together on Sundays, sing Swiss songs, and cry."
Still, the settlers made a home and a life, clearing land, planting corn, and learning by trial and error, and with the help of some local West Virginians. They learned to fish and hunt and gather wild foods. Though utterly isolated, they were creating their own destiny. They had enough food. They survived and began to thrive.
 In the 1870s, lured by the appealing and sometimes misleading advertising of land agent Karl Lutz, more German Swiss immigrants, as well as German immigrants, came to Helvetia. By 1880 the population of the village and the surrounding area numbered 407. Many who came were skilled craftsmen: blacksmiths, carpenters, millers, shoemakers, hat makers, bakers, and stonemasons among them. These settlers were a hardy lot, driven by a strong desire to avoid the struggles of wage labor in a new country and farm their own land.
By farming and practicing their trades, the settlers carved out a living. Many cleared land on upland ridges. Thus the village of Helvetia became the nucleus of a wider community. Author David Sutton notes that unlike the lumber and coal towns that had sprung up across West Virginia, where living conditions could be dirty and bleak, Helvetia was an isolated community of craftsmen and farmers. In Helvetia, every family worked together as an economic unit, growing and gathering food to feed its members. Once plowed, family gardens were maintained by women and children. Families also typically made their own cheese. And neighbor helped neighbor. Corn husking, butchering, haymaking, and woodcutting were community events, after which neighbors ate together, enjoyed homemade wine, played music, danced, and celebrated into the night.
Turn of the Century Changes
With the turn of the twentieth century came the harvesting of virgin timber in the forests near Helvetia. Farmers in the town increasingly began to produce food not only for themselves but for the lumber camps and hotels that were springing up nearby. Then, in 1917, with the help of the Agricultural Extension Service, the Helvetia Farm Men's Club, a farming cooperative, was established to help farmers improve their practices and market their products. The cooperative, and a subsequent Farm Women's Club, which worked on food preservation techniques and fundraising events, helped Helvetia maintain a strong community in the midst of a changing economy. The progress made by the groups ultimately helped insulate the village against the economic turmoil of the Great Depression. Their cooperative systems and self-sufficiency saw them through.
 During the Second World War, many young Helvetians left the town to serve and to support the war effort. After the war, farmers in Helvetia, like many small, rural farmers, found they could not compete with the efficiency of western farming. Young people now left the town for jobs in cities and the population shrank. Some villagers maintained family farms while pursuing jobs in lumbering, coal mining, teaching, and other services. But by the 1960s, Sutton writes, "agriculture as a distinct way of life in Helvetia had run its course—its central place in community affairs had ended."
Helvetia Today
Today Helvetia remains a tiny mountain village where descendants of the early German Swiss settlers still carve out a life and maintain the rich cultural and agricultural heritage of their forebears. For many years tourism has been a mainstay of the town's economy. Indeed, the village was the first district in the state to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors to Helvetia are welcomed warmly by townspeople, who organize many events throughout the year to celebrate Helvetia history and to showcase traditional music, dance, crafts, and life ways.
As their ancestors did before them, many Helvetians—there are about 100 now in the village and surrounding hills—combine farming and gardening with other occupations, including health care services, contracting, consulting, food service, and others, in order to live in the hills they love. As it was in the early days, the town is self-governed by committees and clubs, among them the Helvetia Farm Men and Farm Women clubs, the Garden Club, the Helvetia Dancers and Singers, and the Restoration and Development Committee. Through these groups townspeople promote their cultural heritage, improve town buildings, plan events, and address and resolve problems.
In the early days, children in Helvetia's ridge-top neighborhoods attended nearby one-room schools. Today the town's children attend the K-12 school in Pickens, the state's smallest school, with an average student population of about 45. The school boasts an impressive academic rating and students "are just about tutored there," says Eleanor Betler, a resident of Helvetia's Hilltop section who manages the newly developing Helvetia Archives. Betler's four children, now grown, attended the school.
 Though Betler grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, she spent memorable summers in Helvetia with her grandparents, playing outside, helping with farm chores, and learning to folk dance. One year she attended a wedding in Helvetia, where she met her husband, Howard "Bud." The Betlers are the third generation of Bud's family to live on the Hilltop farm. After Bud sold his logging business in the late 1960s, he and Eleanor began working for the school system, he as a bus driver and she as a school secretary. They also continued to raise sheep and work their farm and garden.
"We work very hard to be here," says Eleanor. "You either love it here or you don't. The people who are here want to be here."
Though now retired, the Betlers are members of Helvetia Shepherds, a group of families who raise sheep and send raw wool to a mill on Prince Edward Island, Canada, where it is made into beautiful blankets and yarn. These items are sold at Blue House Gifts in the village, at the Hütte restaurant (see page 10), and online at www.helvetiawv.com. Eleanor also makes handmade soaps, which are sold in the gift shop and the Helvetia General Store.
At the request of her son Bruce, an avid collector of Helvetia artifacts and now a Benedictine monk in Germany, Eleanor is spearheading efforts to organize the town archives. The growing collection is housed next to the Helvetia Public Library in one of the town's former one-room log schools. With encouragement and assistance from townspeople and archivists at West Virginia University, Fairmont State University, and the Upshur County Historical Society, Eleanor is compiling oral histories, photographs, and many other artifacts to preserve Helvetia's history.
Several early Helvetia residents, including Gottfried Aegerter and his son Walter, were skilled photographers; thus the town's history, particularly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is very well documented. Hundreds of historic Helvetia photos can be viewed at www.libraries.wvu.edu/wvcollection.
"The archives have taken on a wonderful life," Eleanor says. "Descendants of the original families have been very generous about sharing things with us, and we've helped some people make family connections."
Also very much alive are the Swiss arts in Helvetia. Dancers, singers, and musicians from the town travel in state and out of state to perform, and they continue to learn about technique, costumes, and bells and other accessories from Swiss performers from Washington, D.C. The national performers "treasure the fact that someone is keeping Swiss heritage alive to the extent that we do," Eleanor says.
Visiting Helvetia
On the second weekend in September, the streets of Helvetia swell with people and with pride, as the town hosts its annual Community Fair. People arrive by tour bus, car, and motorcycle to enjoy a parade and traditional Swiss dancing, singing, flag swinging, and yodeling, performed by townsfolk on the Meadow Stage. Among the many agricultural and craft exhibits on display in the Community Hall are samples of exquisite tatting and lacing, as well as floral arrangements, fruits, vegetables, and baked goods. Amid the aroma of authentic sauerkraut and bratwurst, visitors can browse an extraordinary collection of historic photographs in the Community Hall. Throughout the day, people can also view exhibits at the Archives and line up at the Hütte for a delicious Swiss meal. Saturday concludes with an evening of square dancing, polkas, and waltzes.
Betty Biggs, who meceed the 2008 Community Fair entertainment, is a direct descendant of original Helvetia settlers, and she teaches children traditional Swiss singing and dancing. "When they can walk, they can start," Biggs says. Perhaps the children will one day dance the "Helvetia Waltz," a composition, Biggs tells an approving audience, about a girl with "love on her mind and ramps on her breath."
In addition to the Community Fair, Helvetia hosts many events throughout the year, inviting the public to share in their Swiss history and culture (see sidebar). Many events feature music by the Helvetia Star Band.
 Throughout the year, hunters, anglers, hikers, and others also find their way to Helvetia. The town is but a short drive from both Kumbrabow State Forest and Holly River State Park.
For certain events and at peak fall foliage time, The Beekeeper Inn, Helvetia's only bed-and-breakfast, fills quickly. The former home of Helvetia beekeeper Frank Wuerzer, the charming and historic inn dates to 1880. It features comfortable furnishings and turn of the twentieth century artifacts (a framed marriage license from 1907, a picture of the lovely Mary Pickford, a spinning wheel); three bedrooms with generous and modern baths; a fully equipped kitchen with a vintage pot-bellied stove; and an upstairs deck overlooking a meadow and stately hemlocks. Guests drift off to sleep to the sound of the rippling Buckhannon River, then wake to a full breakfast at the Hütte, complete with fresh fruit, homemade breads, and plenty of pferfernüsse (see Editor's Pick, page 2).
Note: Guests will find no television or telephone at the The Beekeeper Inn. "One man got so bored, he ran outside and turned on his car radio," reports innkeeper Eleanor Mailloux. "But another couple said they finally began talking to one another."
 Blue House Gifts, operated by artist Judith Mills Gray, features Helvetia-made products and art, as well as a variety of works by other area artisans. Also featured are Scherenschnitte, delicately cut paper and wood designs by Swiss folk artist Rolf Brunner. The shop is open Thursday through Monday from Memorial Day through mid-November, or by appointment. For more information, call 304.335.6853.
As this issue went to press, the Cheese Haus and Healing Honey shops were closed, but the Cheese Haus is expected to reopen in the future. When open, the Cheese Haus offers visitors the opportunity to see modern cheese-making equipment, as well as vintage tools of the trade: an early copper kettle, cheese harp, milk cans, and scales.
In Helvetia's Historic Square, the Helvetia Museum, housed in an early settlers' log cabin, is open during events and for school groups. The collection includes the original Swiss flag brought by settlers, as well as rustic furniture and other historic artifacts.
Whether you come for an event, or just to get away, Helvetia streets are made for strolling. Take in the history and the hills. Visit the General Store and pick up some Pickens maple syrup or a Helvetia souvenir. Spend a quiet moment inside the little Zion Presbyterian Church, built in 1882. Take a walk in the Helvetia Cemetery. Or just sit beside the river.
In Helvetia, you can still behold the natural beauty that reminded the first German Swiss settlers so much of their homeland, as well as the little village they worked so hard to establish. The combination is something very special indeed.
Says Mailloux, "People often ask me, What is it you've got here? What is this wonderful feeling? I tell them it's the spirit of the ancestors."
Imbued with that spirit, Mailloux, who lives in a historic home in the village, often walks up to the ridge-top farm where she grew up. There she likes to take a deep breath. And take in the view.
"The further up you go, the straighter your back gets and the more your head comes up," she says, smiling. "And you are someone. And you feel it."
For more information on Helvetia events, visit www.helvetiawv.com, call the Helvetia Public Library at 304.924.5063, or call the Hütte at 304.924.6435. For The Beekeeper Inn, call 304.924.6435.
2009-2010 Helvetia Events
Swiss National Holiday
August 1, 2009
With Swiss canton flags flying, enjoy grilled bratwurst, folk dancing, yodeling, alpine horn blowing, flag swinging, and a square dance.
Flea Market, Chicken Supper and Dance
August 15, 2009
Shop, then enjoy a delicious, down-home supper and an evening square dance.
Helvetia Community Fair
September 12-13, 2009
(See article for details.)
Helvetia Day
October 17, 2009
Walk the original settlers' path, which features dramatic views and spectacular foliage, and enjoy an evening square dance.
Fasnacht
February 13, 2010
(always the Saturday before Ash Wednesday)
This time-honored Swiss ritual features a costume parade, masked ball (square dance), and a midnight bonfire, where Old Man Winter is burned in effigy.
Ramp Supper and Dance
April 24, 2010
(always the last Saturday in April)
Come early for this popular event, featuring fried and fresh ramps, beans, ham, fried potatoes, applesauce, cornbread, a drink, and dessert. An evening square dance follows.
For more information on specific events, visit www.helvetiawv.com, call the Helvetia Public Library at 304.924.5063, or call the Hütte at 304.924.6435.
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The Hütte
