West Virginia, Morgan County

Berkeley Springs. A highlight of the Apple Butter Festival, held each October since 1974, is a Beard Contest. “Babes judging beards always draw a crowd,” Jeanne Mozier writes, adding: “Contestants have been known to work from one year to the next to win. One local park bum wore his blue ribbon around for two weeks.” As if this weren’t enough of a draw, the festival also boasts a rubber-duck race and a hog-calling contest to which the hogs “thankfully never seem to show up.” For more information, visit https://www.berkeleyspringschamber.com/apple-butter-festival. See also Mozier, Jeanne. Way Out in West Virginia: A Must-Have Guide to the Oddities and Wonders of the Mountain State. 4th ed. Charleston WV: Quarrier P, 2014. Pages 73 and 333. 

Cacapon Mountain (which crosses into Hampshire County). A complex local legend of strangers from another shore, an enchanted gold mine and rival magic systems, published in 1888. For details, see Hampshire County.