by Kate Shunney
Two Morgan County men were honored by the West Virginia Division of Culture & History in March for their work capturing, preserving and promoting the history of the county.
These “History Heroes” were nominated by local organizations that have seen and been involved in this history preservation work. 
David Abruzzi of Largent and Terry Golden of Berkeley Springs were the 2025 honorees from Morgan County.
Abruzzi was nominated by the Town of Paw Paw in recognition of his work to uncover and record the historical significance of several key buildings in the town, conduct interviews of the town’s oldest citizens and prepare history pamphlets to correspond with a walking tour of the town.
Golden was nominated by the Morgan County Historical and Genealogical Society, with special attention to his “enthusiastic and active” membership in the history group as a representative, volunteer and leader of projects. Most recently, Golden has been leading an effort to update and replace historical placards through the original Town of Bath.
West Virginia Archives and History calls the “History Heroes” an award to “give state-level recognition to individuals chosen for dedicated service on behalf of an organization’s programs or for a recent significant contribution to state and local history through research, interpretation, publication, or preservation.”
West Virginia History Day, which is the occasion for the state to award the recognition to historians, was started in 1997.
“It’s about sharing history,” Abruzzi said of his work tracing the stories of the builders, owners and occupants of Paw Paw’s most significant structures.
“I’m an architect. I’ve always been fascinated by old buildings and the stories behind them,” he said.
photo courtesy of the WV Archives and History Commission
Retired from Air Force, Abruzzi and his wife moved to Morgan County and became interested in the historical significance of some of the structures they encountered. After being involved in historic landmark work in the Town of Bath, Abruzzi shifted his focus to Paw Paw, which is the home of unique buildings tied to the prominence of the tannery industry and to the fruit orchards which fueled the town’s economy.
Due to Abruzzi’s deep and thorough work tracing the roots of these structures, four of Paw Paw’s properties are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and three more have been deemed eligible for placement on that list.
The first of these was the Mayor’s Office & Lockup, which was built in 1893. Abruzzi helped the town get that structure listed on the Register in 2023. The following year, his research and documentation led to the listing of three more Paw Paw buildings – St. Charles Catholic Mission Church, built in 1876; Senator P.E. Nixon House, built in 1909 and Paw Paw’s Two-room Black School, built in 1928.
Consolidate Orchards’ facilities, including the packing plant and the orchard’s HQ are both eligible to be listed on the National Register, as is Paw Paw’s B&O Train Depot, built in 1882.
Abruzzi said “history winds up in books at some point” but living history – the ways people and places remain in use – are around us all the time.
“In a small town, everyone is part of that story,” he said.
With the help of town officials, local residents and historical archives, Abruzzi keeps looking for ways to capture the history that Paw Paw contains, hoping others will be interested in it and will want to get to know the town better.
“What I’m hoping to do it create some opportunities in Paw Paw,” he said. He called the History Hero award “humbling.”
Terry Golden, retired from a career in naval intelligence, said he balks at the name of the award the state gives to champions of local history, but said he believes history is of great importance in today’s world.
“People need to be more interested in saving history. If people aren’t interested, they might not save it,” he said.
“I’ve always been interested in history,” said Golden. His father was in the Army and the family lived in places around the globe, affording Golden an exposure to cultures far and wide.
“I got a look at other countries’ history,” he said.
He majored in history at Shepherd College, then spent 24 years in Naval intelligence.
“We had to know why things happened,” said Golden. “If you don’t know history, you don’t know why.”
He blames his daughter for triggering his most recent round of interest in history when she got him a subscription to Ancestry.com.
Golden started looking at his family connections, and started stopping in the Morgan Room of the Morgan County Public Library, which houses the Morgan County Historical and Genealogical Society. One of the members “managed to talk me into joining” the group, he said.
Golden’s interest in finding family cemetery plots expanded outward, and soon he was finding missing grave plots, using a plot locator and investigating who was buried where.
“I started by wanting to locate all veterans,” Golden said.
Mysteries arose, like a plot where a man and wife were listed on the headstone together, but the husband turned out to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with his second wife instead.
Golden admitted he likes a mystery to solve – whether it’s the location of a cemetery plot or the name of a veteran listed on a state memorial or the story of a person who is buried only under an initial, not a full name.
“Anyone can read a book about Ulysses S. Grant, but who is looking up the Civil War veteran who’s buried here?” he said.
Golden is, it turns out.
His most current history project is recreating the historical markers that adorn the original plots of the Town of Bath as it was first laid out as a town. In 1976, to celebrating the Bicentennial, plaques were made to show those 133 original lots, where they were located and who they were owned by. With an eye toward the nation’s 250th birthday next year, the Morgan County Historical & Genealogical Society has refreshed the signs with the help of The Morgan Messenger, and will distribute them to be hung or mounted at each lot.
Golden credits Fred Widmyer, a West Virginia History Hero himself, for starting the sign effort. Just last week, the new aluminum placards were delivered.
Over the summer and throughout the rest of the year, Golden said he hopes to get in touch with current property owners to get permission to replace their history marker signs. A brochure lists each lot and its history, giving visitors a chance to take a self-guided tour of Bath. Golden said he wants to promote that tour to youth, too, and families to spark new interest in the stories recorded in history.
Morgan Countians to be named History Heroes since 1997 include Leonard Davis (1997), Kathern Allemong (2002), Jessie L. Hunter (2003), Betty Lou Harmison (2007), John Douglas (2010), Jeanne Mozier (2011), Nancy Harvey (2013), Fred Widmyer (2017), Rick Unger (2023), David Abruzzi and Terry Golden (2025).
