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I went to Point Pleasant, W.Va. to check out Mothman, an A-list monster that appeared there in the 1960s – and in a Richard Gere movie 40 years later. I was impressed with Mothman’s stainless steel, bulging muscle, anatomically correct statue in the middle of town. Every time I walked by from morning until night, there were folks posing. I assumed Mothman was the only jumbo-size piece of art in this tiny town
Then I took a morning stroll along the riverwalk and stumbled on even bigger art – hundreds of feet of a mural. It doesn’t take much brainpower to figure out that floodwalls make an ideal canvas and lots of rivertowns have gone that route. In Point Pleasant, they chose their extravagant colonial period history – a balance to the uber-modernistic Mothman, I guess.
As good a choice as the topic was the artist. I met him first “on the job,” doing the initial detailed sketching on the wall in a T-shirt and old hat. Simple lines outlined Native American villages and Cornstalk’s murder (the other big local legend along with Mothman).
I introduced myself and found out he was Robert Dafford, a pro from Lafayette, La. with a resume full of Ohio River town murals. He brought along a couple members of his own team, then picked up some locals to literally color inside the lines, was charming and easy to talk to especially after work when he hangs out at the Lowe Hotel bar. Here’s a hot tip – he has at least another two summers’ worth of work to do, so stop by and chat him up.
Berkeley Springs, W.Va. resident Jeanne Mozier is author of books including “Way Out in West Virginia” and received a Distinguished West Virginian Award in 2005.
