West Virginia Women's History Trail

Entries on This Tour

Located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace showcases the home in which the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author was born in 1892. Located in Hillsboro, West Virginia, the structure has been restored and maintained by the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation. The home interprets the early experiences of Pearl's life that helped shape some of the major characters and plotlines of her books.

2. Greenbrier Hall, Greenbrier College For Women

Greenbrier Hall was constructed in 1921 as part of Greenbrier College for Women. The college, first known as the Lewisburg Academy, was founded in 1812 by Presbyterian pastor Dr. John McElhenny. The school was closed during the Civil War, but reopened in 1875 as Lewisburg Female Institute. In 1911, the school was renamed the Lewisburg Seminary and Conservatory of Music. In 1923, the name was changed to Greenbrier College for Women. The college closed in 1972. The building is now home to the Lewisburg campus of the New River Community and Technical College. Greenbrier College buildings, such as Carnegie Hall and North House, continue to be used to serve the educational and cultural needs of the community.

3. Altamont Hotel

The Altamont Hotel was built in 1897, in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Four generations of women owned the hotel. It hosted many officials and businessmen who frequented the nearby county courthouse, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 29, 1979.

4. Cedar Grove (William Tompkins House)

Cedar Grove, also known as the William Tompkins House, is a historic home located at Cedar Grove, Kanawha County, West Virginia. Built in 1844, the house stands as a tribute to the growth of the Kanawha Valley in western Virginia prior to the Civil War, which was largely due to the salt industry. Well-known West Virginia writer, Mary Lee Settle (1918 – 2005), is a descendant of the Tompkins. She spent summers at Cedar Grove and, for many, the home is seen as the imaginative wellspring of her writing.

5. Charleston Woman's Improvement League

In 1898, Black women in Charleston, West Virginia, organized a self-help civic organization called the Charleston Woman’s Improvement League. The League sponsored cultural events, supported education, and promoted a variety of causes that were important to members of the city's African American community. The women were particularly active in mentoring young women, creating two auxiliary organizations: Polly Pigtails for children and the League Teens for young women.

6. Elizabeth Harden Gilmore House

Elizabeth Harden Gilmore was a Charleston funeral director and a pioneer in the civil right movement in West Virginia. Gilmore was a leader and one of the founders of the local chapter of Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) that led sit-ins throughout Charleston. She also worked to secure the admission of African American Girl Scouts into the previously all-white Camp Anne Bailey. Gilmore led the first sit-in against the Diamond Department Store’s lunch counter in Downtown Charleston. Thanks to her leadership, the store opened the lunch counter to African American patrons in 1960. In 1988, Gilmore's home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts continue to restore the home and operate it in a way that honors Gilmore's legacy.

7. Littlepage Mansion-Charleston Civil War Trail

Charleston, like the rest of western Virginia, was contested territory during the early years of the Civil War. Confederate troops attempted to capture and hold the city at several points during the course of the war. A marker at this location tells the history of the first engagement in Charleston. In July of 1861, Henry Wise's Confederates attempted to build a small fort at this location in anticipation of a battle with Union troops under the command of General George McClellan. The owner of the property, Rebecca Littlepage, reportedly denied Wise's demands and successfully compelled the Confederates to both leave and spare her home from destruction as they had originally promised.

8. Memphis Tennessee Garrison House

This small frame house was home to Memphis Tennessee Garrison, a leader in the African American community who served as one of the vice presidents of the NAACP. Garrison spent the majority of her life living in rural Appalachia. After teaching in a one-room school in Gary, West Virginia, she retired to Huntington. She worked to secure resources for schools, supported local civil rights initiatives, and became a vice president of the NAACP. Garrison lived at this home from the 1950s until the 1980s. During those years, she opened her home to many in the community. She also used the home to host numerous meetings where leaders of the African American community came together to discuss their challenges and propose solutions. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2017 and is being preserved by community leaders who hope to turn the home into a community museum.

9. Diamond Teeth Mary Memorial Marker

Singer Mary Smith McClain was born on August 27, 1902, in Huntington, West Virginia. Living in an abusive environment, Mary left home at the age of 13, hopped a train, and joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels in Memphis, Tennessee. From this point on, Mary became known as "Walking Mary," singing for the traveling minstrel show. From the 1920s to the 1940s Mary's career took off and she crisscrossed the country and performed alongside numerous blues and jazz legends. She also toured Europe three times. Mary passed away in 2000, and per her request, her ashes were scattered along the railroad tracks in her hometown of Huntington where she hopped a passing train to pursue her dreams. Mary is one of only a handful of West Virginians who became blues legends. Her career was long, but it wasn’t until she was in her 80s and 90s that she received widespread recognition. In those years, she performed at Carnegie Hall, the White House, and the Apollo Theatre.

10. Stella Fuller Settlement, 1942-2009

Social reformer Stella Fuller (December 4, 1883-March 2, 1981) was a familiar face in Huntington for more than 70 years. She ministered to the needy of Huntington as a member of the Salvation Army. Recognizing unmet needs throughout the city, she established the Stella Fuller Settlement in 1942. The institution provided shelter and support for thousands of West Virginians between 1942 and 2009.

11. The Blennerhassett Mansion

The mansion was originally built by Harman Blennerhassett and his wife Margaret, who were wealthy Irish immigrants, in 1800. The original mansion burnt down in a fire in 1911 after it was abandoned by the Blennerhassetts. Visitors to the island can tour a reconstruction of the mansion near its original location by visiting Blennerhassett Island State Park, which is managed and ran by the state of West Virginia.

12. American Cyanamid Willow Island Plant

Pleasants County’s Willow Island has been the home to various industries located in the flat valley along the Ohio River. In 1978, a “fetus protection policy” instituted at a paint plant in Willow Island led to a long legal battle that was a pioneer among anti-discrimination arguments later accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

13. The Mother Jones House

The Mother Jones House, a partnership between Wheeling Jesuit University and Laughlin Memorial Chapel, was an intentional Christian service community of Wheeling Jesuit students. It is named after well-known labor leader Mary Harris Jones.

14. The Shack Neighborhood House

Located in the Scott’s Run area, the Shack Neighborhood House has offered community programs and assistance since the 1920s. Scott’s Run experienced rapid industrialization in the early twentieth century was followed by a brutal decline during the Great Depression. Confronting a community wracked by poverty, a young missionary named Mary Behner turned abandoned buildings into community centers and created a legacy approaching a century old. This entry marks the location of the original building for The Shack. The current location of the family resource center is less than a quarter mile away on Blue Horizon Drive.

15. Katherine Johnson Conference Room

Room G64, located in the Engineering Sciences Building (ESB) on West Virginia University's Evansdale Campus, was renamed the Katherine Johnson Conference Room in early 2017, shortly after the film Hidden Figures was released. The film tells the story of a team of African American women mathematicians, including Johnson, who served a vital role at NASA during the early years of the US space program. Born in White Sulfur Springs, Katherine Johnson was one of three students to desegregate WVU's graduate school in 1939.

16. Elizabeth Moore Hall

West Virginia University’s Elizabeth Moore Hall has served as a women’s physical education facility, women’s graduate student dormitory, office of the dean of women, and home of numerous campus organizations. The three-story, red brick, Georgian Revival structure was built between 1926 and 1928 to house the university’s physical education program. In 1938, the dean of women’s office was relocated to the building. A 1962 addition added extra gymnasium and classroom space. The building was listed on the National Register in 1985.

17. Women's Christian Temperance Union Community Building

This building was constructed in 1919 in the Neoclassical Revival style, which was popular for public buildings in the early 1900s. The idea behind the community center was to create a place that could provide a recreation alternative to saloons and could offer educational programs to alleviate the conditions that drove people to drink. Several notable West Virginians were involved in the temperance and women's suffrage movements, including suffragist Lenna Lowe Yost. An extraordinarily intelligent organizer, Yost dedicated her adult life to pursuing a variety of causes including a successful campaign that led West Virginia to be among the states that ratified the 19th Amendment. In addition to promoting equal political rights for women, she labored on behalf of temperance. Her activist work extended past the borders of the state of West Virginia; she worked in the nation's capital and even served as a delegate in international temperance conventions.

18. West Virginia Folklife Center

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center is located on the Fairmont State University campus. The Center is dedicated to the study, preservation, and interpretation of the region's cultural heritage and offers a variety of events throughout the year. These educational programs include lectures, festivals, and a variety of exhibits and musical performances. The center also publishes books, educational guides for teachers, and a journal.

19. International Mother's Day Shrine

In 1908, the tradition of honoring mothers for a day began at Andrew's Methodist Church. In that year, Anna Jarvis asked the superintendent of her late mother's church if a ceremony could be held to honor mothers. Ann Jarvis had served as a Sunday School teacher for the congregation for twenty years, and fellow members of the church supported her daughters' idea. Recognizing Anna Jarvis' role and the support of church members in starting the tradition, the church is now known as the International Mother's Day Shrine. Congress officially recognized Jarvis as the founder of Mother's Day, and President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution to officially recognize the holiday on the second Sunday in May. Anna Jarvis dedicated her life to keeping the holiday's focus on actions rather than the purchase of gifts. Jarvis even called for the abolition of the holiday when she felt that the day's observance had become to commercialized.

20. Carrie Williams vs. Tucker County (1892) Historical Marker

This historical marker shares the history of a landmark 19th-century civil rights case in the state of West Virginia. In response to a school board policy that created a much shorter school term for African American children in Tucker County, Black educator Carrie Williams challenged the board's racially discriminatory policy and won her case. As a result, Black children were able to spend the same number of weeks in school as white children, in the decades before the schools of Tucker County were integrated. This was also an important decision for Black educators who had previously earned much less than their white counterparts. In 2013, this historical marker was erected in honor of the landmark court case. The marker is located next to the courthouse where the trial occurred. This case was the first of its kind and helped to pave the way for other court decisions that challenged the existence of policies that limited educational opportunities on the basis of race.

21. The Jonathan and Laura Jackson Arnold House

The Jonathan Arnold House was the home of Laura Jackson Arnold, sister of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. A strong Unionist, Laura opened her home to Union troops during the Civil War. Laura helped heal the wounded while also providing shelter and food. Prominent figures, like Union General George McClellan, passed through the home during the Civil War. Laura and her brother Thomas had once been very close, but due to their differing views on the question of secession, their relationship became antagonistic and the two never resolved their differences before Thomas's death in 1863. Because of her assistance to federal forces, Laura was praised by Union troops during the war and remembered with great respect and admiration by Union veterans after the war.

22. Belle Boyd House and the Berkeley County Museum

This house once belonged to the infamous Belle Boyd and now houses the Berkeley County Museum. The museum provides visitors with a place to attend meetings, seminars, and view historical artifacts of Martinsburg and Berkeley County. Belle Boyd was born in West Virginia in May 1844. Boyd became a Confederate spy before her 18th birthday and conveyed information and supplies to Southern military leaders.

23. Coralie Franklin Cook House

Coralie Franklin Cook was an 1880 graduate of Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. She taught Elocution and English at Storer College from 1882 through 1893. According to Historic Harpers Ferry, Coralie Franklin Cook purchased this home in Harper's Ferry in 1884. Coralie Franklin Cook, having been born into slavery, is notable as the first descendant of a Monticello slave to graduate college. Additionally, she became a distinguished professor at Howard University, writer, and suffragist.

This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.

West Virginia Women's History Trail

Created by Eliza Kolander on March 8th 2017, 5:18:38 am.

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Description

This heritage trail includes two dozen historical sites related to women's history throughout West Virginia. The trail was created for "IN.EXclusive: An Exhibit and Event Series Dedicated to West Virginia Women" that was on display at Arts Monongahela in 2017. This is a living heritage trail and has changed in the past year as local historians suggest different markers, monuments, and historical sites for inclusion. The trail was built as an educational resource and its creators selected these two dozen sites from many nominations and hope to create additional trails that reflect the history of the state.

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Women's History

Entries on This Tour

West Virginia Women's History Trail

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