Birch River Monthly Spotlight September 2001 - The Legend of Strange Creek |
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| Around 1795, a member of a surveying party became lost near the
mouth of the Holly River in Braxton County and thus became the central figure
in the enduring legend of Strange Creek The skeletal remains of the surveyor, a man named William Strange, were supposedly found many years later on Strange Creek, which at that time was called Turkey Creek. Over time, the legend has grown and Turkey Creek became Strange Creek, which is what it is known as today. Strange Creek begins on the western side of Powell's Mountain in Nicholas County, flows through the Clay County community of Dille and ends in Braxton County. It enters the Elk River at the village of Strange Creek. Somewhere along this route, an exhausted, starving William Strange is believed to have died. Accounts vary, but the most common is that he died near where Big Run comes into Strange Creek about two miles below Dille. The heart and soul of the legend is that he carved his own epitaph on a beech tree at the spot where his remains were found. The epitaph went something like this: "Strange is my name and I'm on strange ground, and strange it is that I cannot be found." Lending authenticity to the story are historical accounts that a man named William Strange was, indeed, a member of a survey party on the Holly River and that he became lost and was never seen again. He may have wandered across country, after crossing Elk River and wound up on Strange Creek, which would be a straight-line distance of about 17 miles. Or he may have meandered, including crossing Birch River or even following it for a ways. Whatever may have happened, he created a legendary story that has continued to fascinate people over the ages as the inevitable question is asked: How did Strange Creek get its name? |
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