The document provides details about three writing samples completed by Courtney Depottey for a regional living magazine publisher. The first sample summarizes an audio walking tour of Morgantown, West Virginia that illuminates stories about the city's history at 50 sites. The second sample profiles a local blues-rock band called The Roils and promotes an upcoming show. The third sample highlights winter activities available at Adventures on the Gorge resort, including ziplining, skiing, dining events, and a Mardi Gras-themed gambling night.

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COURTNEY DEPOTTEY
2424 FAIRWAY COURT, BURTON, MI 48509
810-516-3831
cdepottey83@gmail.com
These writing samples focus largely on writing that I have completed in the workplace.
“Excavating Morgantown,” “Rocking out with the Roils,” and “An Avalanche of Fun” were all
written for New South Media, a regional living magazine publisher.

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Excavating Morgantown
Dig into your city’s history with the Historic Downtown Morgantown Audio Walking Tour.
Strolling past 201 High Street, you would never guess that the narrow brick building
holds some of the city’s deepest secrets. But if you stop by and slip quietly up its dimly-lit
staircase, you’ll discover that it does. For, perched at the top of the building, is Main Street
Morgantown, where you can pick up a guidebook to the Historic Downtown Morgantown Audio
Walking Tour. The tour plunges you deep into the city’s past—where you can uncover the city’s
secrets, illuminate its most tightly-held stories, and maybe, just maybe, excavate the layers of its
complex and fascinating history.
In a city like Morgantown, there is plenty of history to dig up. Take, for instance, the
story of Morgantown’s origins. When the city was originally chartered in 1838, city trustees
couldn’t decide if they should ban hogs from public streets or if they should be given special
allowances because of their migratory instincts. (The hogs were banned that year, much to the
dismay of their supporters.) Or consider the story of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who was so
passionate about creating jobs during the Great Depression that she helped to found—and later
visited—the New Deal town of Arthurdale. On one of her visits to the town, she actually stayed
at Morgantown’s very own Historic Clarion Hotel Morgan. Even renowned Morgantown
industrialist Herbert Chester Greer has a story: he became so rich from his Preston County Light
and Power Company that he was able to acquire both the Morgantown Post and Dominion, the
city’s Democratic and Republican newspapers in the late nineteenth century.
The Historic Downtown Morgantown Audio Walking Tour illuminates many of these
very stories, bringing Morgantown’s past to life with recordings about 50 of the city’s most
fascinating and quirky historical sites. “One surprising fact that I learned about Morgantown was
that many of the buildings in the city are actually designed by a single man, Elmer Jacobs. But
you’d never guess it, the architecture styles are so different,” says Sami Rose, AmeriCorps
volunteer and local history expert. “One of the best aspects of the tour is that it illuminates what
wasn’t known before.”
The first stop on the tour is the Historic Clarion Hotel Morgan, where you can pick up a
pair of headphones and an MP3 player at the front desk. After that, there are 50 sites to choose
from, ranging from historic favorites like the Historic Clarion Hotel Morgan and the Monongalia
Arts Center, to more tucked-away buildings, like the John Rogers House at 156 Foundry Street,
where the eminent landowner supposedly celebrated the election of William Henry Harrison by
“lobbing a barrel of tar” in the air, or the Women’s Christian Temperance Union Building, where
the first women’s magazine in the state, called The White Ribbon, was published.
“It’s so hard to choose a favorite building, but I think one of mine has to be the Waitman
T. Willey offices, just because it’s so gorgeous,” says Sami. The offices are housed in an elegant
brick building at 172 Chancery Row, which was originally constructed in 1853. It served as a
home to the United States Senator Waitman T. Willey, who was known as a great orator and was
a staunch member of the Whig party. Today the building—converted to law offices—retains its
original sloping tin roof and glass-paned windows.
But don’t let all outer appearances fool you. For instance, the stately Princess Anne style
building at 244 Pleasant Street—complete with brick walls and a columned porch—was the
home of Dr. James Cox, a practical jokester who once substituted a phrase in a petition with a
phrase requesting the town surgeon’s hanging. Cox subsequently persuaded half the town to sign
the petition before they realized that it was a practical joke. And the squat brick building on High

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Street, with a faded marquee reading “WARNER,” actually houses a 1930s-style theater, Warner
Theatre, that drew praise from such stars as Loretta Young and George Arliss—via telegraph, of
course. Even Café Bacchus has an unexpected past—the cute restaurant was the home of Lucian
Philip, a young man who perished on The Titanic soon after his marriage to the beautiful Mary
Eloise Smith of Huntington. The story goes that he delivered his pregnant wife to a lifeboat and
promised to be reunited with her later, but wasn’t able to leave the ship before it sank.
There are stories like these at each of the 50 sites on the tour—and Sami is working on
developing mini tours focused on aspects of the city’s history, like architecture or founding
fathers—to draw even more people to the tour. “Not enough people know about the tour, or use
it,” Sami says. “But we’d like to make Morgantown’s history more open.”

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Rocking out with The Roils
Kevin Hamric has been playing music ever since he’s been four or five years old. “I was always
interested in music, from my parent’s music to my sister’s music,” Kevin says. “I did take some
piano lessons as a kid, but as I grew up, I was really enamored with the guitar.” That interest
soon crystallized when his fifth grade music teacher, Bill McMillion, introduced him to such
classic bands as Pink Floyd and the Beatles, opening up a whole new world of music. Kevin
began taking lessons from Bill, and at the age of 15, began writing and performing his own
original songs.
Kevin’s passion for music continued well after he graduated from West Virginia University with
a degree in journalism, and he began searching for another musician to help him play his
acoustic shows around town. He found Leo Schlosnagle—a drummer originally from Accident,
Maryland—and after discovering that the band name they wanted to use, The Rills, was already
taken by a small rock group in Europe, the two of them settled upon The Roils. “We thought
about slight tweaks to The Rills, but the concise, punchy sound of it was getting lost. I liked the
artful complexity of homophones, and when ‘roil’ came to mind, the meaning was just fitting to
what we felt was going on,” Kevin says.
The band currently plays blues-centered rock, tinged with an indie and alt-country undertone,
although the style has changed significantly over the years. The band currently consists of three
members, lead singer Kevin, drummer Leo, and lead guitarist Chris Baker, a second grade
teacher and avid cycler who joined the band in early 2013. The band plays at such local venues
as Black Bear and McClafferty’s Irish Pub—and will headline at 123 Pleasant Street this
upcoming Saturday.
“We are really excited about this Saturday’s show at 123 Pleasant Street. We will be sharing the
evening with local groups Rock Bass and Ye Gods & Ye Little Fishes, as well as local artists,”
Kevin says. The show at 123 starts at 10 p.m., and cover costs $5. “123 is a great venue to see
regional and nationally touring acts as well as local artists,” he adds. “I enjoy going on any given
night to hang out and listen to other bands, so playing there is always exciting. We put together
an entertaining lineup of bands for people to have a good time. It’s a Saturday night with our
friends playing music, so it’s hard not to have fun with that.”
The band will be selling their first EP, called Hello Serpent, at the 123 show. It was originally
recorded last summer, and includes versions of original songs like “Baltimore,” “Build Your
Still,” “Guitar Playin’ Man,” and “Master Plan.” “It’s fun! And we hope people dig it,” Kevin
says. “Right now, we’re really just playing to have fun, and we hope to keep that element of fun
in all of our shows. But one thing that we would like to explore more in the future is recording
more original songs.”

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An Avalanche of Fun
Have an avalanche of fun at Adventures on the Gorge
Whitewater rafting on a hot summer’s day. Ziplining through lush green foliage. Mountain
biking up narrow, twisting pathways lined with ferns. These are some of the experiences that
leap to mind when Adventures on the Gorge is mentioned—but did you know that the resort also
offers plenty of unique activities to do in the wintertime? Whether you’re looking to cozy up
with a glass of wine on a winter evening, hit the slopes, or send chills down your spine by
participating in a murder mystery dinner, Adventures on the Gorge offers an avalanche of winter
activities.
’Tis The Season
If you’re an outdoor enthusiast, one of the must-do winter activities at the resort is the TreeTops
Canopy Zip Line Tour. Slip on a harness, tighten your helmet, fasten your carabineers, and take
that step off the ledge—and you’ll go flying down among the trees on a wire, experiencing the
thrill of speed and taking in the beauty of the stunning winter landscape. Overall, the tour
includes 10 zip lines from tree to tree, and stretches over 730 feet. You can also take advantage
of the sheer freedom that winter has to offer by purchasing a day pass to Winterplace Ski Resort,
where you can shred a little snow, tackle your own Black Diamonds, and have a little bit of fun
while you’re at it. Take skiing or snowboard lessons if you are a beginner, or even enjoy a day of
snow tubing if you’re not quite ready to hit the slopes.
Outdoor adventurers can lodge at Wild Rock during the wintertime, where they can choose from
the cozy Tree House, the elegant Martha’s Place, and the Paddle House, perched just above the
New River Gorge. Or, adventurers can rent a deluxe cabin to enjoy the beauty and peace of the
winter world. Either way, make certain to take advantage of the season: there’s so much to do
and to see.
Warming Up
If you’re more of an indoors sort of person—or just love cozying up and enjoying the season
from the warmth of heated rooms—Adventures on the Gorge also offers plenty of activities for
you. In fact, the resort organizes various buffets, dinner and wine parings, murder mystery
dinners, and even a Mardi Gras-inspired Monte Carlo Night for anybody who doesn’t want to
venture too far outside during the winter months. “There are a lot of winter events at Adventures
on the Gorge,” says Letita Roberts, manager of Chetty’s Pub at Adventures on the Gorge. “The
events that we have organized are all high-energy, and there is a little bit of something for
everyone.”
Even regular dinner events can be an adventure at the resort—buffet dinners are organized
around holiday themes like Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve, and Valentine’s Day, and dinner and

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wine pairings take guests on culinary expeditions through regions like Italy, Greece, Africa,
Thailand, Napa Valley, and Appalachia. Some of the more colorful dishes available include West
African peanut stew, mint and garlic-rubbed lamb loin, and root beer braised short ribs. (In case
you couldn’t guess, that last dish was Appalachia-inspired).
But one of the most unique events that the resort hosts is the Monte Carlo Night. The evening
includes delicious food, live music, Mardi Gras-themed decorations, and, of course,
opportunities to gamble. “The Monte Carlo Night is actually my all-time favorite winter event.
There’s a little bit of something for everyone there—everyone spends the evening talking and
dancing, and it’s just a good time overall,” says Letitia. Guests can play a variety of games, from
bingo to blackjack to craps to roulette, and enjoy delicious food from around the world at the
Mardi Gras-inspired event. The evening takes place in the Smokey’s on the Gorge Restaurant, a
gorgeous space with a 180 degree view of the mountaintop.