CUMBERLAND — Monday’s eclipse didn’t cause enough darkness for a decent nap, Bill Berry joked, but it made for an illuminating experience, figuratively speaking, of course.
He and his wife Cathy were in Cumberland to watch the partial celestial crossing.
“We decided at the last minute that we wanted to see it,” she said of leaving their wooded home in Keyser, West Virginia, and heading to the Queen City where they had a better chance to see the event. ”
In 2017, Cathy Berry used a cardboard box with a small hole in it to view an eclipse in Baltimore.
The couple donned eclipse glasses to watch the sky on Monday.
“This is neat,” she said as the eclipse began. “I’m glad we did this.”
At roughly 3:03 p.m., she and others at the Cumberland Times-News parking lot noticed a change in the atmosphere.
“It feels cooler,” Cathy Berry said.
By about 3:16 p.m., the sun, roughly 98% blocked, resembled a banana just starting to be peeled.
Roughly an hour earlier, Rebecca Moran and her husband Tom Farrell were downtown looking at the skyline, but not because of the sun situation.
Farrell is a contractor and was checking out rooflines for an upcoming project.
“I’m also in the window business,” he said.
Like Cathy Berry, Moran viewed the 2017 eclipse.
“I was on the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh,” she said. “It was great.”
Moran, author of the lifestyle and cook book “Living Well: Unlocking Health and Flavor with a Colorful Lifestyle and Recipes,” and Farrell planned to view the eclipse from outdoor chairs at their Winchester Road farm.
“Maybe with a glass of wine, too,” he said.
Doug Eichhorn is a general residential contractor who moved from Montgomery County to Cumberland six months ago.
“History and mountains,” he said of factors that influenced his relocation.
Eichhorn was downtown shopping for bowls at Fort Cumberland Emporium where he talked of his interest in seeing the eclipse.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said. “I love the moon.”
Robyn Valle and Ron Clark were driving from their Green Pond, New Jersey, home to visit his family in Cottageville, West Virginia.
On the way, they decided to stop in Cumberland to view the eclipse.
“We saw the sign that said ‘Historic Cumberland,'” she said.
The couple sat on benches near Allegany Museum to watch the sun and moon show, which was a bit too long for Clark.
“It’s protracted,” he said. “I’d like to see the Reader’s Digest version instead.”