The title of this photo essay was inspired by my dear sister, Ann, who as a little girl would stand alone on a large limestone rock poking through the grass of our backyard on Winchester Avenue. Closing her eyes and stretching out her arms like a small ballerina, she would imagine that she was standing on the top of the world!

In retrospect, Martinsburg was "the top of our world" for those of us who grew up there in the '50s and '60s. With arms outstretched, we embraced this world with the unmatched intensity of adolescence. Some of us stayed; others left. It's my desire that, no matter where you live today, you will once again enjoy "walking" along the streets of Martinsburg and its surrounds through the pages of this book.

The city is changing quickly; the subjects of several of these photographs have disappeared forever in the three short years since I began the work of capturing what remains of these once-familiar sights we took for granted. Hopefully, you will hear the echoes of our shared experiences as they resonate through this collection of images and pause to listen and remember "our world."