Pearl Plank’s Roadtrip 1967

Pearl Plank was born in 1902 in Canton, Missouri. She was Henrietta Wagner’s granddaughter (Henrietta was Old Bill’s sister).

Trip Summary: Pearl left Canton, Missouri by bus on July 23, 1967 to Washington, Pennsylvania, where her 2^nd cousin Homer Wagner met her. She stayed with Homer and his wife Louise at their home in Houston, Pennsylvania, and then they drove to their trailer camp on Cheat Lake near Morgantown, West Virginia. She slept in their daughter Lois’ 17-foot travel trailer. They visited Mont Chateau, boated on Cheat Lake and the Cheat River, explored Cooper’s Rock and Cooper’s Cave, toured the Fort Martin Power Plant on the Monongahela River, and saw the meeting point of the Monongahela and Cheat Rivers.

Pearl, Homer and Louise then drove to Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, to visit Homer’s brother Arnold Wagner and his wife Jane and their children David and Ben. Her time there included shopping, meals at Hotel Magee, a play at Bloomsburg State College, visits to Berwick Presbyterian Church, Camp LaVigne, Magee’s Museum, Catawissa, Millville, Lake Jean, Ricketts Glen, Williamsport, Shikellamy State Park, Longwood Gardens at Kennett Square, and Gettysburg.

After Gettysburg, Pearl continued alone by bus to Washington, D.C., where she stayed at the National Hotel and took in all the DC sights: the White House, National Gallery of Art, Capitol, Smithsonian, Supreme Court, National Archives, Library of Congress, Arlington, and other landmarks.

She then traveled to Hendersonville, North Carolina, to visit relatives and friends on her father’s side Virga Wilson, Eleanor Plank, and Alletta Plank. She visited Sugar Loaf Mountain, Dana, Jump Off Rock, the Curb Market, and Opportunity House. And then in South Carolina to visit Mary Alice and Larry Maze, Hilda Belger, Viola Kirkwood, in Greer, and Wayne and Lucy Wilson and family in Clover.

Pearl returned home to Canton, Missouri by bus through Asheville, Knoxville, Nashville, St. Louis.

“Altogether it was a dream trip the most wonderful three weeks.”

Original typed copy scanned from the Lewis County Historical Society by Diana Thornton in 2026: Pearl Plank Roadtrip Journal 1967.pdf

Plank photo gallery: