Administration Building

The Administration building was constructed in 1934 to house the New Deal federal agencies which managed the newly formed Arthurdale experimental community. The Admin building is our main museum, and you can purchase tickets in the Craft Shop. Just past the Admin and Forge buildings, is our Chestnut Tree Orchard.

The Administration building was constructed in 1934 to house the New Deal federal agencies which managed the newly formed Arthurdale experimental community. First was the Subsistence Homestead Division, created in August of 1933, and it ran Arthurdale until its end in 1935. Then the newly formed Resettlement Administration took over until 1937, ending just after the last houses were built. The last supervisory agency was the Farm Security Administration which was in charge until the homes and other buildings were sold into private hands in the mid-1940s.

Going down A Road, on the right, you will see our Chestnut Tree Orchard, which is part of a project to restore the American Chestnut.

Arthurdale Heritage, Preserving Arthurdale, WV – Eleanor Roosevelt's New Deal Community. Arthurdale Heritage Inc.. Accessed March 20, 2017. http://www.arthurdaleheritage.org/.

Haid, Stephen Edward. "Arthurdale: An Experiment in Community Planning, 1933-1947." Master's thesis, West Virginia University, 1975.

Maloney, C. J. Back to the Land: Arthurdale, FDRs New Deal, and the Costs of Economic Planning. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.

Patterson, Stuart. “A New Pattern of Life: The Public Past and Present of Two New Deal Communities.” Doctoral Thesis, Emory University, 2006.

Penix, Amanda Griffith. Images of America: Arthurdale. Arcadia Publishing, 2007.

Ward, Bryan. A New Deal for America. Arthurdale Heritage Inc., 1995