Oglebay Park
Description
Oglebay Park is a self-supporting municipal park, the only one of its kind in the United States. The area on which the park exists was first occupied by Western pioneers in the late 1700s. A long procession of families farmed the land until mining magnate Earl W. Oglebay purchased the twenty-five acre plot. Oglebay expanded the holdings to include seven hundred fifty acres. He used the farm as a passion project for researching and developing agricultural advancements. After his death in 1926, the estate was willed to the city of Wheeling on the condition it be used as a public recreation area. Wheeling Park has expanded considerably since then and is a premier resort destination in northern West Virginia.