On September 7, 2024 at the Doddridge County Park the Doddridge County Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a festival in honor of one of Doddridge County’s most notable characters, Ephraim Bee. If your business or organization is interested in participating, there's still time to become a vendor or exhibitor.  

The legendary Ephraim Bee is one of Doddridge County’s most beloved characters. Ephraim was a blacksmith, innkeeper, magistrate, Militia Captain, Grand Lama of E Clampus Vitus, and was proud to have once been named the Ugliest Man in West Virginia. His gregarious personality and peculiar sense of humor took him from a small tavern in Lewisport to the Virginia State Legislature in Richmond, and then later, in 1863, to the newly formed West Virginia State Legislature in Wheeling. His name not only lives on in Doddridge County, but also in his nationwide fraternal organization, E Clampus Vitus, that is still in existence today.