Point Pleasant, West Virginia AND Hillbilly Hot Dogs!!!!

I have stopped by Point Pleasant West Virginia several times for the Mothman Festival over the last decade or so. (See here, here, here, and here).  Anyway, I have REALLY wanted to get back to Point Pleasant on a non-Mothman Festival day just to get more of a feel for the town...  and to enjoy the great little West Virginia place on its own.

So, me and my pal Rick got up early one morning when we both didn't have to work, and we headed for Point Pleasant!

We got there around 9am, and it was cold!  We were both craving some java, and I remembered that the cool little coffee shop, the Coffee Grinder, was around.  It was not in the same spot I remembered, but we ended up finding it at its current location, right by the Mothman Statue.  I talked to the nice ladies running the place, and they said they had been at the current location for a couple of years now.

Last time I was in town, I remember a very cool and odd little shop in the same location selling some interesting souvenirs.  The spot sold some of the more unique items relating to the Mothman.  They had a very local and DIY feel to them.  I remember picking up some very cool postcards and other items at the former shop where the Coffee Grinder now sits.

So, we ordered a couple of drinks and had a seat.  I had to have a cup of their Mothman coffee (I ended up buying a bag of Mothman beans to take home with me...  it was delicious stuff!).  The shop has a good amount of seating and it has a comfortable feel.  They have a "take one/leave one" book shelf that I thought was nice.  They also have a very cool life sized Mothman stand up with the face cut out for photo ops.

I hope Point Pleasant continues to support this little coffee shop; it is pure goldAfter we warmed up with some coffee, we headed down to the Mason Jar antique shop.  I always find some cool postcards or something like that here.  They do have some nice local items too.  I didn't find anything on this day though.

Next, we walked down to the Point Pleasant River Museum.  I have been wanting to swing through here for some time, and I feel bad that this was my first visit.  It was a cheap $5 each to go through the museum, and this was definitely a great value.  The museum is a couple of packed floors full of local history.  Lots of info on boats, and there is a very nice and HUGE aquarium on the first floor. There is more on the second floor, including a lot of stuff on the collapse of the Silver Bridge.  There is an amazing model, and a fascinating video you can watch on a man who was on the bridge (and survived!) when it fell.

This museum would be a lot of fun for kids, and there are some hands on displays.  There are some LOUD whistles and a fun simulator that lets you pilot a boat.  The simulator is very realistic (we heard that it is the same type of simulator used in training for real pilots).  We both really enjoyed trying to pilot boats!

We found some unique local books (and other items) in the museum's well stocked gift shop.  While here, we also talked to the friendly Fout sisters who were running the place. Martha Fout was very informative and helpful about a lot of local history, and we just had a great time talking with her.  She is big on local history, and she knew tons about the Silver Bridge and the town.

The Fouts are co-writers of the detailed and informative book, "The Silver Bridge Disaster of 1967" which I mentioned before.

We spent way more time at the River Museum than we expected, but that was OK- it was worth the time, and we really didn't have firm plans anywhere else.

Rick really wanted to check out the legendary Mothman Museum.  I have been many times, but the place is so cool.  And, at $3 admission, it is worth checking out every time you are in the Point Pleasant area. 

The small museum tells the story of the Mothman, the well known cryptid that haunted this area in the 60s.  The late John Keel wrote a strange book about people in the area seeing the Mothman (along with other strange sites).  I have said it before, but the BOOK, The Mothman Prophecies" is just an odd, scary read.  If you have ever been fascinated with ghosts, cryptids, UFOs, the book is a must read.

Luckily, the town has this museum devoted to the legend.  There are some interesting items related the scary events of the 60s on display.  There are toys of the Mothman.  Artwork is around.  Plus, the museum has props and other items from the Mothman Prophecies movie.

The gift shop is just as impressive.  Shirts, buttons, books, etc. etc. can be purchased here.  I had to have some buttons and a can of the museum's exclusive Mothman Energy Drink before we left.

We had a great talk with the fellow running the museum on this day.  I didn't catch this guys name but he knew a lot about the area and the legend.

In fact, we ended up talking to several locals on this day about different topics, though, since I was wearing a Mothman Festival t-shirt, the Mothman came up.  One person talked about how they had heard that local football players were responsible for the sightings!

Anyway, we had spent a very nice day walking around Point Pleasant, and on the way home, we were looking forward to some Hillbilly Hot Dogs!

I have mentioned these guys before (here and here) and you know I love Hillbilly Hot Dogs.  PLUS, at the Mothman Museum, they had a flyer saying that, if you took your receipt from the Mothman Museum in, you could get a FREE Mothman Hot Dog!  Oh yeah, you heard that right!  I ended up getting two other dogs and a canned drink (my total was just over $7 with my museum reciept).  Rick got some fried macaroni bites that were as good as they sound and I had one of those.  As always, we tipped a couple of bucks and the friendly young lady who waited on us sang the Weenie Song!

Oh, and Hillbilly Hot Dogs has $2 off coupons for t-shirts at the Mothman Museum!  NOW, I need to go BACK to the Mothman Museum!

I thought I might have trouble taking out 3 dogs, but I didn't.  It was almost 5pm, and this was our first real meal of the day though.  AND this is such a great place to go to hungry.

Co-owner Sonny was there the day we showed up.  I was glad to see that he was a friendly, talkative guy who loves his business and providing a quality product in a fun atmosphere.  His wife Sharie has been there on a couple of my visits.  They both seem warm and excited about what they do.

Rick told Sonny that he was thinking about taking the Homewrecker Challenge next time.  Sonny spent some time giving Rick advice on how to go about it.

Like I said, I have been to Hillbilly Hot Dogs several times, but this was Rick's first visit.  I asked Rick what he thought and he went on about how much he loved the place too.  AND, he said something I remember thinking after my first trip to the wacky Lesage Restaurant.  He said that the place is novel and fun, but the food is great.  He talked about how these were some of the best dogs he had ever had.

It was funny too, a couple from Columbus Ohio walked up to the door as we were walking out.  The man asked us if the food was any good.  The wife had watched a segment on a TV show about their food and location.  They came by, but once the husband saw the.... well... hillbilly style on display outside, he was reluctant to go in.

We both enthusiastically assured them that they would not be disappointed with the food.

It was getting late, and we still had a good 2 hour drive to make it back home to Kentucky.  We left Virginia stuffed from our meal at Hillbilly Hot Dogs.