There are a lot of constraints on what we write in 1632 because it’s based on the real world. One of those is demographics for the up-timers, in particular. Grantville is based on the real town of Mannington, WV in 2000. The demographics match. Virginia DeMarce spent a lot of time and energy creating something we call The Grid that has all the up-timers and their basic information (birth year, marital status, names, race, children, job, education) matches the 2000 census for Mannington. These things cannot be changed. In the end, though, I think it makes the town richer for those constraints. The entire story-arc I created for Irene Flannery came about because an artifact from exporting showed she had a child, but the rest of the grid clearly showed she hadn’t, which led to an entire chain of thoughts that resulted in Mrs. Flannery’s Flowers. – Bethanne Kim (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine) Baens Bar Question: Were James and Sharon Nichols really the only black people within the Ring of Fire when it happened? Multiple posters mentioned they had initially found it hard to believe. BarFly Research: Saving some research for some folks.. From the 2000 Census report for Mannington… 3 Black or African American9 American Indian/Alaska Native4 Asian0 Native Hawaiian/Other Pac Islnder0 Some other race15 Two or more races7 Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 08 July 2011 00:23 I lived in that area back in the late 70s and when I did the research on-site in 1999 one of the things I double-checked was to see if the racial demographics had changed much. They hadn’t. There is only one town in that area that has a black community and it’s a very small one. That’s in Grant Town, a few miles from Mannington. In fact, the “community” is pretty much one street, Paw Paw Street. Most of the black population of West Virginia — which is…
Grantville
It’s no secret that Grantville is based on the real town of Mannington. Eric explains how the name came about. – Bethanne (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine) [I didn’t copy the date and time on the first posts I copied, which are generally the most recent.] Grantville is a composite of the names of two towns in the area: Grant Town and Barrackville. I had originally planned to model my fictional town on Grant Town, because that’s where the power plant in the area was located. (I needed both a power plant and a high school to make the plot work, and I knew I’d have to move one of them. Moving a high school seemed a lot simpler.) But when I came to the area in 1999 to do the research, I discovered that in the 20 years since I’d lived there in the late 70s, a lot had changed. A couple of big malls had opened up on I-79 between Morgantown and Fairmont, not far east of the various small towns along US 250. They’d sucked the life out of the downtowns and turned them into bedroom communities, which is not what I needed. So I drove west to see what might still work. Barrackville had suffered the same fate, but Mannington (which is the westernmost of that little string of towns) was far enough from the malls to have remaining a fully rounded town. The high school is located just outside of Mannington so I switched my plans and moved the power plant. Voila. Such were the origins of “Grantville.” It had nothing to do with Ulysses Grant or any other person named Grant so far as I know. (Don’t ask me who Grant Town is named after. I don’t have a clue.)
Bethanne Kim, Publisher: Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine As a small town, up-time Grantville didn’t have a lot of claims to fame. Down-time? It’s the most famous place on the planet, reputed to be a magical place filled wealth and wonders untold. It’s a bustling city whose size is primarily constrained by the local geography. This local geography is one constraint that ensures it will remain smaller than many other cities for the foreseeable future, and that real estate will remain quite valuable. Up-time, the round “Red Barn” run by the historical society and the County Fair were probably the two biggest attractions. They also had Oktoberfest (relatively new in 2000) and the Great Buffalo Canoe Race. Interestingly, down-time Germany did not have Oktoberfest, which didn’t start until the nineteenth century. They did, however, have tons of local fairs, festivals, and other events, both secular and religious in nature, which are not included in this list. Attractions and Annual Events: Breitenfeld Day (September) This is a new down-time holiday to celebrate the victory at Breitenfeld. Canoe Race (May) The Great Buffalo Canoe Race was normally scheduled in May (up-time), but the exact date was based on water flow rates and other weather-related factors. It may need to be scheduled down-time. It also may need to be moved since Fairmont is gone and the new down-stream route may not work for a canoe/kayak race. Description: A canoe race on the Buffalo Creek between Mannington and Fairmont, WV. Saturday, May 6th, 2000. Rain date is May 13th, 2000. Sponsored by The West Virginia Police Reserves. Registration begins at 8:00am at the Hough (pronounced “Huff”) Park Community Building in Hough Park, Mannington. The race starts at 10:00am. Racers may drop over the falls at their own risk, but it is not recommended. The DNR and West Virginia Police Reserves are not responsible for any injuries or accidents. On Sunday, May 7th at 2:00pm there will…