08/07/2026
History has a way of surprising us.
Recently, West Virginia historian and HRDO board member Elizabeth Satterfield spent time researching in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, where she uncovered correspondence between Anne Lorentz of Buckhannon and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt dating to late 1933.
In Anne's letter, she shared an article she had written about Helvetia and noted that she was also working on a play inspired by the community. A month later, Eleanor Roosevelt replied that she had read the Department of Agriculture's story about Helvetia and looked forward to reading Anne's article.
For many in Helvetia, stories of the Roosevelts' interest in our village have been shared for generations. This newly uncovered correspondence adds another documented piece to that history while reminding us that Helvetia has long captured the attention and imagination of people far beyond our valley.
One passage from Anne's letter feels especially meaningful today. She wrote that many of the older residents were already gone and worried that their stories might disappear with them.
Nearly a century later, her concern still resonates. Yet Helvetia's story continues because each generation chooses to preserve and share it through photographs, recipes, music, traditions, oral histories, and discoveries like these.
We are grateful to Elizabeth Satterfield for her careful archival research and for sharing this remarkable find with our community.
History is never truly finished. Sometimes it is simply waiting in an archive for someone willing to keep looking.
Special thanks to Elizabeth Satterfield and the Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Papers at the FDR Presidential Library, National Archives, for helping preserve and share this important piece of Helvetia's history.