Lisa told me about the cute and quaint Griffith & Feil Drug and Soda Fountain in Kenova, so the next change I had to visit Kenova, I stopped through.



The pharmacy occupies that back portion of the store, and the aisles are lined with products, but the remainder is dedicated to the soda fountain and seating.

According to the menu, the pharmacy was born with the town of Kenova and has been remodeled to an old-time appearance with a 1929 soda fountain, tin ceiling, hardwood floors and walls filled with pictures of history from the Ceredo-Kenova area. The pharmacy began in 1892 and moved around to a few locations before settling into its current position in 1943.

The menu is huge. I was thinking it was just ice cream and handmade sodas. False. They also have burgers, chicken strip baskets, pulled pork, chicken salad croissant, club sandwiches, BLTs, hotdogs, grilled cheese, corndogs, salads, reubens, wings, Italian subs, monte cristo sandwiches, and more. Tom ordered the monte cristo, which he seemed to enjoy.




I knew I wanted something from the soda fountain. And they have a ton of tempting desserts - milkshakes, banana split, brownie supreme, turtle sundae, drumstixx sundae. Gosh I would so go for ANY of those, but I wanted to go a little bit more traditional.

I narrowed it down to an ice cream float or an ice cream soda. The ice cream floats have a hearty scoop of ice cream added to a phosphate. The ice cream soda is a phosphate blended with ice cream topped with a second scoop, whipped cream and a cherry. The more, the better, so I went with the latter.

I got cookie dough ice cream with coke. I don't even know what this combination is, but it's very, very tasty. The coke ice cream was fizzy and sweet. And the ice cream - uh, can't go wrong with cookie dough. So good!

The pharmacy is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The soda fountain is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

Grade: A

If you don't make it to the Morgantown Farmers Market within the first half hour of it opening (which is 8:30 a.m.), you might not snag some fresh eggs from Cheslock Farm.

They often have more items, like corn or other veggies. But get there early, because there isn't much better than farm fresh eggs.

After our wine tour, we stopped in Parkersburg for dinner at J.P. Henry's Restaurant. J.P. Henry's was recently named to the 101 Unique Places to Dine in WV list, which quickly moved the sports bar up to the top of my want-to-try list.

The dining area is full of TVs - more than 60 - and lots of team memorabilia from WVU, Marshall, Ohio and Ohio State. Plus pool tables!

The menu features items like burgers, steaks, pasta, fish, ribs and salads. Because the menu listed the burgers as "legendary" and flame-grilled, certified black angus USDA choice beef, it sounded like a winner. I got the classic gourmet gourmet burger, which is topped with fresh onion, shredded lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo, and I got it with cheddar cheese. This was a good burger. They didn't skimp between the buttered and grilled bread, the thick patty, plenty of onion and pickles. Good flavor, and not over-cooked.


The service needed some work. My glass ran completely out twice, and that's a big pet peeve of mine. Plus I had to actually flag down the waitress to fill the glass the second time. And to get ketchup. And then to get a second bottle of ketchup because the first was empty.

Overall, though, it would be a solid place to watch a game and get your belly full.

Grade: B

I tried visiting WineTree Vineyards before when I was in the area, but I was driving from the opposite direction, and there were no signs really indicating where it was. So we passed it up. THIS TIME, I took I-77 right to the Emerson Avenue exit and found WineTree Vineyards with no problems at all. 

WineTree Vineyeards is a farm, vineyard and winery all in one. Craig and Candice Bandy purchased the WineTree Farm in 2001 to expand their grape-growing abilities, which they had been doing as a hobby for years. They sold the first bottle of wine in 2008, and produce traditional style dry white and red wines, as well as sweet wines.



When we first walked in, there were folks already there. So, we kind of had to mill about the tasting area waiting for our turn. There are no appointments at WineTree; instead, the WineTree Vineyards Tasting Room is open Memorial Day through Labor Day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. From September through May, the tasting room is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. January and February, tastings are available 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday and weekdays by appointment.



This wine tasting differed from the others in that the actual owner was not there to talk us through the wines; instead, the daughter helped out. While she had a good handle on the the wines, there were a few questions she wasn't able to answer. Also odd was two guys who were hovering at the appointment, trying to condescendingly be funny ('Let me guess your names! Is it Brittany?'). So, the vibe here was totally different from the others.

They have a good number of wines, including noiret, cabernet sauvignon, red satin, riesling, chardonnay, traminette, cayuga white, Lighthouse (off-dry white wine), MainSail (a dry white), catawba, angel blush (blend of catawba and fredonia), fredonia, and hummingbird (blend of two North American native grapes and Cayuga white). I liked their sweeter wines more than their dry ones. And I ended up taking home a bottle of the hummingbird!

To visit: Take the Emerson Avenue Exit off of I-77, go west on Rt 68 towards Parkersburg for 200 yards. Jesterville road is directly across from the Emerson Commons entrance. Drive 0.7 miles down Jesterville road and look for the signs. The vineyard, tasting room, and gift shop are on the right side of the road.

WineTree Vineyards is located at 772 Jesterville Road, Vienna, WV 26105. 304-865-0507. Main phone is 304-481-4856.