WELLSBURG - After organizing a celebration of the discovery of the Grimes Golden apple for more than 30 years, the Wellsburg Applefest Committee is working with other Brooke County groups to preserve the place where it all started.

The committee will take time from preparing for the annual festival, which will be held Oct. 2-4, to hold a special event Sept. 19 to raise funds for improvements to the Grimes Golden Roadside Park, which marks the site of the variety's discovery by local farmer and public official Thomas Grimes in 1802.

The park is at the intersection of state Route 27 and Bradys Ridge Road, where a short access road extends to it.

The fundraiser will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Wellsburg Moose Lodge at 844 Main St. and include barbecued sandwiches and various finger foods and desserts and music by The Light Touch.

Tickets are $15 each and may be purchased at the door or from Applefest Committee members Michael O'Brien, who can be reached at (304) 737-1212; Rita Ramsey, (304) 737-0466; or Shirlie Rogers, (304) 737-2482.

Those attending also will have an opportunity to learn more about the park, the Grimes Golden Apple and their possible connection to the legendary Johnny Appleseed.

Michael O'Brien, co-chairman of the Applefest Committee, said the group is working with the Brooke County Park and Recreation Commission, Historic Wellsburg and Bethany Scenic Byway Committee, Brooke County Museum Board and Brooke County Commission to raise funds for the park.

Ruby Greathouse, secretary of the museum board, said the groups hope to secure funds to replace or repaint the park's sign and trim or remove trees that present a hazard to passing motorists or the Grimes Golden apple trees found at the park.

Greathouse said the park is a key landmark along the Historic Wellsburg and Bethany Scenic Byway, a 22-mile section of roadway extending from Brooke Hills Park through Wellsburg and to the Alexander Campbell Mansion in Bethany and back to the park via state Route 88.

County officials have secured the designation from the West Virginia Department of Education in hopes of promoting various points of interest to tourists. A volunteer committee is working with consultants from Michael Baker Engineering of Charleston to plan signs and other means of promoting and improving the route.

A number of groups have been involved in marking and improving the site over the years.

The sign and park's picnic shelter were established through the efforts of the Friends of Brooke County with support from the Franklin Community Fire Department and Auxiliary, Northern Panhandle Resource and Conservation Development Council, Aladdin Signs and Geraldine MacWilliams, Grimes' great-great-granddaughter.

According to various sources, Grimes was a farmer and member of the Wellsburg and Washington Turnpike Commission who created the Grimes Golden by grafting parts of a quince tree and Bellflower apple tree with a Gates apple tree. The result was an apple with a golden peel and spicy flavor.

But there also are stories that the tree and others there were planted by Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman, a Massachusetts man who became legendary for planting apple trees through much of the Northeast and Midwest, including Georges Run in Jefferson County.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)