Classroom

Sacred Heart High School has undergone&nbsp;many changes since its creation in 1923. In 1941 under Bishop John Swint a new building, gymnasium, and science labs were added to increase the school's size and curriculum. Student enrollment at Charleston Catholic High School peaked in the 1960s, along with Charleston's population. However, as time passed enrollment dropped. In 1986, Monsignor P. Edward Sadie, a local priest, hired Debra K. Sullivan as principal, and in 1994 the school added a third floor math and science wing to accommodate more students and adapt to technological changes in education. Today the school continues to grow, having recently purchased and renovated a local tennis club located off-site to house its athletic facilities, including a basketball court and tennis courts. In 2016,&nbsp;Charleston Catholic Middle and High schools&nbsp;have 422 students in&nbsp;grades 6-12.&nbsp; Typically, nearly&nbsp;100% of the graduating high school class goes on to attend a four-year college of higher education in the United States.&nbsp;Charleston Catholic also offers many groups and community service opportunities. &nbsp;One is known as&nbsp;HOPE, which stands for Housing Outreach Project Express and is meant to improve the quality of housing for low income families and seniors in Clay County, West Virginia; it also&nbsp;instills the habit of service in students, a commitment to living the works of mercy.&nbsp;The Clay County project is a sponsored project in which students buy and deliver food and gifts for families and kids that live in Clay County for Christmas.&nbsp; Pax Christi is another group that&nbsp;is dedicated to peace education. Students promote the gospel imperative of peacemaking as a priority in the Catholic Church. Pax Christi works for a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.&nbsp;

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As early as 1869 Sacred Heart Church in Charleston, WV operated a parochial school for primary grades that continued through the end of the 1800s. By 1903, the Sisters of Saint Francis of Penance and Christian Charity in Niagara, NY took over administration of the school and in 1923 added high school classes in what was known as the Chilton House. In 1940 the school's name was changed to Charleston Catholic High School and a new building was constructed under the auspices of Bishop John Swint of the Diocese of Wheeling. The school still offers classes to students in the Charleston area. 

Sacred Heart/Charleston Catholic High School

Instructor

This short drive-able tour will guide you through important areas of Kanawha Valley history. It highlights the history of the historic Craik-Patton House, starting with the museum itself, and ending at the approximate location the house originally stood on. It features memorials for the Civil War as well as the oldest historic homes in Charleston. Though some of the locations shown on the tour may have their availability effected by the current global situation, it is more than worth the time just to take a look at them. . 

The Craik family was a prominent family from the Tidewater, Virginia area. Dr. James Craik was George Washington’s personal physician for many years. His grandson, James Craik, was a wealthy lawyer who ordered the construction of the Craik-Patton House in the Greek Revival style in 1834. Craik was, at the time, studying to become a minister. James Craik abandoned his law practice to become a rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Charleston. Craik and his family left Charleston and moved to Kentucky to pursue his religious career. Craik sold the house to Isaac Reed who owned it until 1858 when George Patton purchased the property for his family. Patton would become a Confederate Colonel during the Civil War, and lead a legendary detachment known as the Kanawha Riflemen against approaching Federal forces as hostilities heated up in the Charleston area. He was wounded severely at Scary Creek, but carried on fighting until he was killed at Winchester in 1864. Patton's military legacy lived on, however. The legendary George S. Patton of World War II was the grandson of Confederate Colonel Patton. Following the death of Colonel George Patton, his widow Susan Patton sold the house to Andrew Hogue in 1865. The Hogue family owned the property for many years.  The house has been moved twice. It originally stood on a large downtown lot near the intersection of Dunbar and Virginia Streets before being moved to the 1300 block of Lee Street East in the early 1900s. By the early 1970s the house had fallen into disrepair and was in danger of being lost. Then, in 1974 it was saved and moved to its current location at the western edge of the former Daniel Boone Park just east of Charleston.  The Craik-Patton house is available for public tours and now features a museum. Guests can observe the quaint, outdoor area as the Craik-Patton House is prided for its landscaping. The house is enrolled in the National Register and has been since 1975.

The Craik-Patton House was built in 1834 and was constructed by attorney James Craik. The Greek Revival styled home resides on Virginia Street. The house was later purchased by George S. Patton who was a Civil War Confederate colonel and grandfather of the famous General, George S. Patton from World War II. The house was originally known as Elm Grove and was built in downtown Charleston. The National Society of Colonial Dames in America saved the Craik-Patton house after it had been moved twice by placing it on this location in 1973.

Craik-Patton House

Peter Ruffner, a Swiss immigrant, arrived in America in 1713. He and his
wife, Mary Steinman settled in Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia where they
started their family. It was their eldest son, Joseph, that settled in
Charleston, WV. Joseph Ruffner, a successful farmer and businessman, traveled
the region, buying and selling produce and livestock. Searching for iron ore in
the upper James River, he met Colonel Dickerson of Point Pleasant, and learned of
the buffalo salt licks on the Kanawha River. He bought Colonel Dickerson’s land
that spans 502 acres and has salt licks on the spot.&nbsp;In 1795, Joseph finally
saw the land he bought. So impressed, Joseph went on to buy all the land that
he could, over&nbsp;a thousand acres that included log structures of Fort Lee,
unsold lots of the young town and all the bottomland surrounding the Fort, much
of what is now the city of Charleston. He sold his property in the Shenandoah
Valley upon his return to Virginia, and moved his entire family to the Kanawha
Valley late in 1795.&nbsp;Ruffner built the log house to serve as a sawmill and office for his
business, but by the 1820’s the&nbsp;hand-powered sawmill was no longer&nbsp;needed.
His grandson, Joel Ruffner, moved into the log house upon his marriage and renovated the log house&nbsp;in the 1820s and '30s. More rooms
were added to the dwelling beyond the original log structure, and the logs were
covered with clapboard siding. A 25,000 gallon stone-lined cistern was dug
adjacent to the house! This would have been filled with fresh rainwater to provide&nbsp;a clean water source for the family instead
of relying on&nbsp;the dirty Kanawha River that was polluted from early industry.&nbsp;The
Ruffners called the newly refurbished home “Rosedale.” The family raised 12
children in the house. An interesting Ruffner family tradition recounts that
the Ruffners would plant a holly tree upon the birth of each child. Thus on
old Ruffner property in the valley, one will see many ancient holly trees still
surviving.&nbsp;In the
1860’s, during the Union
occupation of Charleston, Rosedale became the headquarters of then Colonel )later General) Joseph A.J. Lightburn, commander of the 4th (West) Virginia Infantry. Substantial earthworks
were apparently built around the building. On September 13, 1862 the Union Army, in the
face of advancing Confederate troops, evacuated Charleston. Rosedale suffered damage in the action&nbsp;and was reportedly struck with several cannon balls. The building survived the Civil War and passed
from generation to generation until the late 1960s when the last Ruffner
descendant died and Rosedale passed out of family hands.&nbsp;The historic log cabin was dismantled when Rosedale was demolished to make way for modern construction on Kanawha Blvd.&nbsp;and the logs were stored for several years. &nbsp;Then, volunteers rebuilt the cabin&nbsp;as part of the 1976 Bicentennial project of civic clubs in the
area. Although the original Ruffner home was torn down in 1969, some furniture is on
display inside the Craik-Patton House. In the early 21st century&nbsp;the city of Charleston turned over
the Ruffner Cabin and the property it stands on&nbsp;to Craik-Patton Inc.

Located in Daniel Boone Park in Charleston, West Virginia, the Joseph Ruffner Log Cabin or “Rosedale” originally stood at 1538 Kanawha Boulevard. Built in 1803 by Joseph Ruffner, the log cabin is said to be one of the oldest extant houses in Kanawha County.

Ruffner Log Cabin (Rosedale)

<div>Located at the eastern&nbsp;end of Kanawha Boulevard in Charleston, WV,&nbsp;Daniel Boone Park is a place to fish, picnic and launch boats into the river.&nbsp; The park is named for the famous&nbsp;pioneer who lived in Charleston in the 1790s, and purportedly&nbsp;lived in a cave close to where the park is located during his&nbsp;first years in the area.&nbsp; Boone married Rebecca Bryan and fathered ten children.&nbsp; He&nbsp;moved his&nbsp;wife and children to the Kanawha area&nbsp;around 1787 and they lived in a double log cabin in present Kanawha City across the river&nbsp;from the mouth of Campbell's Creek.&nbsp; Daniel Boone was a lieutenant colonel in the Kanawha Militia.&nbsp; In 1928 the Kanawha Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)&nbsp;had a monument erected to honor Mr. Boone.&nbsp; The monument had been located near Boone's Cave, and was&nbsp;moved at least twice before it found its current home at the entrance to the park.&nbsp;&nbsp;The DAR rededicated the monument in June 2014. The park&nbsp;sits next to&nbsp;Kanawha River&nbsp;and offers a beautiful setting for&nbsp;any activity.&nbsp;&nbsp;The nearby public&nbsp;dock is used for access to Kanawha River, and formerly was the&nbsp;point to board the P.A. Denny sternwheeler. </div>

Daniel Boone Park is a public park with a boat ramp and shelter areas for picnics.  It is named after the famous frontiersman Daniel Boone because it is said that he took residence in a cave close to the park's location.  Boone also lived on the south side of Kanawha River near the park.

Daniel Boone Park and Monument

Centuries before the first settlers of European, Asian, and African descent arrived in the Kanawha Valley, animals were drawn to salt springs near the present-day town of Malden. Native Americans also knew of this Great Buffalo Lick, as they followed animal trails to the springs and boiled their water to obtain salt. During the late 1700s, as white settlers pushed further westward, captives taken in Native American raids were occasionally brought to the Kanawha Valley salt springs. According to local histories, Mary Draper Ingles was forced to make salt from the brine of a Kanawha Valley salt lick after she was captured by Shawnee Indians in 1755. As settlement of the valley rapidly progressed in the following decades, it was not long before the area’s salt industry was born. Elisha Brooks erected the valley’s first salt furnace at the mouth of Campbell's Creek in 1797. Brooks collected brine and boiled it to evaporate the water, leaving behind salt crystals. He soon produced up to 150 bushels of salt each day, which he sold to settlers who used salt to cure butter and meats. After the Ruffner brothers successfully drilled for brine and set up the first commercial furnaces in 1808, salt production began attracting other entrepreneurs in earnest.The salt industry’s potential soon attracted the attention of brothers-in-law William Dickinson and Joel Shrewsbury. In 1804, the two had entered a business partnership in Bedford and Franklin Counties, Virginia, where they dealt primarily in tobacco commerce. The partners became involved in the salt business in 1813, when they purchased over 300 acres of land along the Kanawha River and made a deal to operate the salt furnace of two of Shrewsbury’s brothers. Along with the obvious appeal of the rapidly-growing salt industry, the partners were also drawn to the agricultural potential of the Kanawha Valley soils. Dickinson &amp; Shrewsbury Co. completed its first salt well in 1817, using a hollow tree trunk as the piping. In the years that followed, Dickinson &amp; Shrewsbury went on to drill hundreds of brine wells and acquire the land, coal, and timber necessary to fuel its facilities. By the 1830s, the Kanawha Salines had become the largest salt-making area in the United States, with Dickinson &amp; Shrewsbury among the “Salt Kings of Kanawha.” The area retained its primacy for decades and even achieved international recognition in 1851, when “The Great Kanawha Salt” was declared “The Best Salt in The World” at the World’s Fair in London. Technological change accompanied the rapid growth of the Kanawha salt industry, as saltmakers adapted coal as fuel, invented well-drilling tools, developed steam engines for pumping brine, and pioneered the Kanawha grainer evaporative system. Although the initial profitability of the salt industry waned as new competitors appeared along the Kanawha, Dickinson &amp; Shrewsbury responded by diversifying business and maintaining an involvement in agriculture and commerce. The partners were equally strategic within the salt business, as they shifted their focus to Tennessee and quickly came to dominate the Nashville salt market.Before the Civil War, salt production in the Kanawha Valley was a relatively simple but labor-intensive process that depended largely on slave labor. Most slaves were leased out from plantations in Kentucky and eastern Virginia, and worked on a temporary basis in the saltworks. Due to the shifting labor population and an absence of written records, the exact number of slaves at the Kanawha salt works remains unclear, though it is estimated that up to 1,500 slaves manned the works during its heyday. As the largest single salt manufacturer, Dickinson &amp; Shrewsbury was likely the largest user of slave labor in the area, employing slaves at the works and in the mines that supplied the coal for its furnaces. Dickinson &amp; Shrewsbury had 232 slaves under its control in 1850, though the number had fallen to 130 by 1856. During the 1850s, the Kanawha salt field reached its peak and began to decline, as the meat packing industry shifted west, the railroad system expanded, and salt reserves were discovered elsewhere in the country. In 1856, the Dickinson &amp; Shrewsbury partnership was dissolved, shortly before its two founding members passed away. The Dickinson family remained in the salt industry as J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works, though the Civil War soon interrupted its ability to conduct business as usual. In 1867, members of the family returned from the war and founded the Kanawha Valley Bank, which went on to become the state’s largest bank. The bank eventually became One Valley Bancorp and was acquired by the bank holding company BB&amp;T in 2000. The Dickinsons were wise to diversify their interests, as the Kanawha salt industry continued to decline over time. Eventually, Dickinson Salt Works was the only remaining salt manufacturer in the area, before it too closed in 1945. By that time, Kanawha Valley salt making had been replaced by the chemical industry, whose facilities harvested and processed the chemicals and natural gas which had once been discarded as waste by salt drillers. In 2013, J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works was revived by siblings Nancy Bruns and Lewis Payne, seventh-generation Dickinsons. With the help of a geologist, Bruns and Payne drilled a new pump on the old Dickinson family farm in order to recapture salt from the ancient Iapetus Sea three hundred feet below the ground. Whereas the family’s ancestors had used wood and coal to stoke fires and boil the brine to acquire salt, the siblings have taken a more environmentally friendly approach to produce small-batch finishing salt. They built solar-powered evaporation houses, called sun-houses, in which the salt crystals take about three weeks to separate from the brine. When enough salt has formed and the crystals are the right size, it is harvested with a wooden rake and hung to drain in cotton bags. Once dry, the salt is cleaned, sorted, and packaged. Today, the salt company has become a proud fixture of the area, just as it was two hundred years ago. While it no longer ships hundreds of pounds of salt up the river to meat processing facilities in Ohio, J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works is now served in restaurants throughout West Virginia and across the country, and it has expanded to sell products like seasoned salt mixes and salt soaps in collaboration with other local producers.

Building on a seven-generation tradition and the region's history of salt production, J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works opened in 2013 and offers a variety of salts and related products in addition to interpretive tours and other food and heritage-themed events. Throughout most of the nineteenth century, this part of the Kanawha Valley was home to a booming salt industry. Dickinson & Shrewsbury was one of the valley’s most prominent salt manufacturers and based on a partnership formed between William Dickinson and Joel Shrewsbury in 1804. In 1813, the partners arrived in the Kanawha Valley to take advantage of the rapidly growing salt industry. After completing its first salt well in 1817, Dickinson & Shrewsbury went on to drill hundreds more and soon joined the ranks of the “Salt Kings of the Kanawha.” Like most other salt manufacturers along the Kanawha, Dickinson & Shrewsbury used slave labor in its saltworks and mines in the decades before the Civil War. Although the Dickinson & Shrewsbury partnership was dissolved in 1856, the Dickinson family remained in the salt business for decades to come, eventually becoming the only salt manufacturer in the area before it too closed in 1945. Nearly seventy years later, seventh-generation Dickinsons Nancy Bruns and Lewis Payne revived the family business to produce small-batch finishing salt and related products.

J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works 

West Virginia is one of three states that came to be as a result of the American Civil War, yet it is the only one to have been carved out of another state. Starting in the 1820s, friction between eastern and western Virginia led to a series of conflicts, and residents in western counties generally grew to resent the power of planters in the Tidewater region. From the geographical factors that separated the two frontiers, to unfair representation and taxation, and even ethnic differences, it seemed that the western part of the state was itching to secede given the opportunity. On April 17, 1861, the representatives would be led to an opportunity to accomplish this when Virginia voted to leave the Union with a vote of 88-55. Representatives who voted against the secession later held two conferences in Wheeling on May 13 and June 11 of 1861 to decide whether they would separate from their mother state.For some time, Virginia had two governments. Francis H. Pierpont was selected as governor of the western part of the state, while Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlile were elected U.S. senators. The “Restored Govenement called their territory Kanawha. Many citizens of the western part of Virginia did not wish to separate from the state to form a new one, but when the time came on May 13, 1862, after the third Wheeling convention, “West Virginia” would be named a potential new state under loyalty of the Union. However, the president himself, Abraham Lincoln, had a few concerns of whether this could be deemed legal. He would write to Pierpont himself, who he called “Peirpoint” in his letters, “Yours of the 14th received. Make haste slowly. Things are improving by time. Draw up your proclamation carefully, and, if you please, let me see it before issuing," the president would urge him.Lincoln was under considerable political stress regarding West Virginia statehood. Lincoln was supportive of the formation of West Virginia but had two concerns that he brought forward to his cabinet: given the state of the Constitution could West Virginia form into a new state even though it hadn’t gained permission of the mother state, and would this new state be anti-slavery? Luckily for the newly formed state, since Virginia pulled away from the Union, West Virginia did not need their permission to become West Virginia, thus making the Constitution condition void. As far as slavery goes, West Virginia was not entirely keen on becoming a free state but issued in the state constitution that there would be gradual emancipation. This meant slaves could be free if they were newly born or elderly, while those in-between would work off their servitude till their 25th birthday. On December 31, 1862, Abraham Lincoln acknowledged West Virginia as a Union state once terms of slavery were met with their state constitution, and sixty days later West Virginia would officially become the 35th sate of the Union.Fairmont, West Virginia sculptor Fred Torrey designed Lincoln Walks at Midnight based on Vachel Lindsay’s 1914 poem of the same name. Lindsay's poem was published in Louis Untermeyer's Modern American Poetry book in 1919. Additionally, Composers Roy Harris and Florence Price have created scores based upon the poem. The poem depicts Lincoln's restless spirit walking through Springfield, Illinois in the midst of the Civil War. The statue represents the former president on one such night as he considers how to respond to West Virginia's application for statehood in the midst of the Civil War. The 42-inch plaster model of the statue was displayed at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. After Torrey’s death in 1967, the sale of the statue’s model was delayed. Though discussion of the model’s purchase was begun in 1966 the sale was not completed until 1969. In 1974, Charleston artist Bernard Wiepper created a nine-and-a-half-foot bronze cast of the original model. The statue was placed in front of the West Virginia State Capitol to represent Lincoln contemplating the creation of West Virginia as the 35th state in the Union. Lincoln approved the West Virginia statehood bill on December 31, 1862, and West Virginia entered the Union as a state independent from Virginia on June 20, 1863. The statue is located in front of the south portico of the West Virginia State Capitol overlooking the Kanawha River and located in front of the capitol's main rotunda.

West Virginia sculptor Fred Torrey designed Lincoln Walks at Midnight in the 1930s based on Vachel Lindsay’s 1914 poem of the same name. The statue represents Lincoln's decision to grant West Virginia statehood during the Civil War. “Whereas, by the Act of Congress approved the 31st. day of December, last, the State of West Virginia was declared to be one of the United States of America, and was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, upon the condition that certain changes should be duly made in the proposed Constitution for that State; And, whereas, proof of a compliance with that condition as required by the Second Section of the Act aforesaid, has been submitted to me; Now, therefore, be it known, that I Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do, hereby, in pursuance of the Act of Congress aforesaid, declare and proclaim that the said act shall take effect and be in force, from and after sixty days from the date hereof. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.” -Abraham Lincoln (April 20, 1862)

Lincoln Walks at Midnight Statue 

Some of the first battles of the Civil War occurred in West Virginia, though it remained part of Virginia prior to 1863. On June 3, 1861, Union General George B. McClellan pushed back Confederate Colonel George A. Porterfield’s forces from Phillipi, a major railroad connection to the entire northwest region of the state. This battle was possibly the first land battle of the Civil War and established space for the Wheeling convention to convene and debate the issue of West Virginia’s statehood. On August 18, 1861, there was an attempt to capture a U.S. armory in Harpers Ferry by Confederate forces. In 1862, Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson captured the town of Romney, a chokehold on the B&amp;O Railway that ran through the Shenandoah Valley region. Romney would be contested for throughout the war, and captured by both sides over 56 times.When Virginia voted to secede from the Union on April 17, 1861 delegates of the western region of the state mostly voted against secession, but as the war began most of them returned to Richmond and signed the ordinance of secession.(1) About a dozen Unionist delegates would later organize the Restored Government of Virginia and choose Francis H. Pierpont as their leader. On October 24, 1861, there was an election held in western Virginia to create a new state if the voters approved. The returns were low with 18,408 votes in favor. Historian Otis Rice wrote- "Although the Wheeling Intelligencer professed to see an 'astonishing unanimity' in the sentiment of the vote, in reality the returns reflected the deep division of feeling in western Virginia and intimidation on the part of supporters of the new state."(2) Mineral, Grant, Lincoln, Summers, and Mingo were not a part of the original formation of West Virginia and were created by the state legislature after the Civil War.The United States Constitution states that in order for a new state to form, the approval of the mother state must be met. But since the Reformed Government of Virginia was legitimized by President Abraham Lincoln himself, the new state was able to appoint itself statehood. West Virginia, though known as a Union state, remained divided amongst itself. West Virginians in Union and Confederate service found themselves fighting each other in battles in both eastern and western Virginia. Although West Virginia was credited with 32,000 Union soldiers, the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University conducted an individual soldier count and determined that West Virginia had given about equal numbers of men to both Union and Confederate service, around 20,000 men to each side.(3) The overestimation of Union soldiers was due to the inclusion of large numbers of Ohio and Pennsylvania volunteers as well as re-enlistments counted as new soldiers.In 1927, the WV Legislature created a Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Commission. This commission planned the memorial building on the Capitol grounds as a monument in recognition of the estimated, at that time, 20,000 to 36,000 men of the state who fought for the Union in the Civil War. The memorial was dedicated in 1930 to the memory of the Union soldiers and sailors from the State of West Virginia in the Civil War.The state set aside funds in the amount of $15,000 for the project. Two other Civil War monuments on the Capitol grounds, the Stonewall Jackson and Mountaineer statues, were both paid for by private funds. A New Martinsville, WV monument firm was awarded the contract. Little is known about the artist of the statue, Roy H. Stewart.The Union Soldiers and Sailors monument (USSM) depicts a Home Guard soldier carrying a musket and marching east toward the Stonewall Jackson statue in the southeast corner of the capitol grounds. The USSM has four plaques affixed to its base. One commemorates the dedication of the memorial and contains the names of the members of the Union Soldiers and Sailors Commission who erected the memorial. The second plaque contains a transcript of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The third plaque commemorates the admission of the State of West Virginia to the Union on June 20, 1863, as follows: "The Act of Congress admitting West Virginia as a separate state was approved by President Abraham Lincoln. June 20, 1863." The final plaque is inscribed: "In Memory of the thirty-two thousand soldiers, sailors and marines, contributed West Virginia to the service of the Union during the Civil War. 1861 - 1865."

The Union Soldiers and Sailors monument is a memorial to the West Virginians who fought for the Union in the American Civil War. As West Virginia became a state in response to Virginia's secession from the Union, the new state was predominantly sympathetic to the Union. The memorial was funded by the State of West Virginia and placed on the capitol grounds in 1930. It faces Kanawha Blvd. east of the Governor’s Mansion. The statue depicts a soldier carrying a musket and symbolically marching towards the statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, which is also placed on capitol grounds. 


West Virginia Union Soldiers and Sailors Memorial 

The museum is located on the lower level of the Culture Center which was dedicated in 1976 and adjacent to the state capitol, where the museum had been located from the time of the capitol's construction until the completion of this dedicated facility. The museum is open without charge to all visitors and guests can choose a guided tour or walk at their own pace through the museum’s twenty-six rooms of exhibits. The museum rotates some of their exhibits, displaying different items from its collection of 60,000 items. Some popular artifacts in the museum include John Brown's noose, a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, and veteran uniforms ranging from World War I to present day. The museum's collections date back to 1890 with the formation of the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society. The state museum first opened in 1894 and was located in the old state capitol building in downtown Charleston. The museum's collection was later moved to a separate annex-a decision that may have saved the archives from destruction in the 1921 capitol fire. When the current state capitol was completed in 1932, the museum and archives were located in the basement. During the 1970s, the state funded the construction of a separate building for its Division of Culture and History. Completed in 1976 largely due to the support of then-governor Arch Moore, the Cultural Center and other buildings on the capitol complex replaced a city block that had been home to several restaurants and retail outlets. The project was controversial at the time, as many residents opposed the cost of the construction project while others questioned the efficacy of the state using eminent domain. Still, others questioned the wisdom of expanding the size of the capitol complex and questioned the benefit of an expanded museum and cultural center.  Starting in 2001 and completed in 2008, the museum underwent major renovations that modernized, improved, and expanded the exhibits. In addition to exhibits, the museum offers a gift shop on the entry floor that features art, jewelry, food, and assorted baubles produced by West Virginia natives.  The Culture Center complex also holds the West Virginia State Archives and History Library which is also available to residents and visitors at no cost. The Bureau of Archives and History was created in 1905. It then became a department in 1925 and remained a department until 1977. Since West Virginia was part of Virginia until June 20, 1863, the Archives and History Library contains some materials on Virginia among the West Virginia material. Resources available include an online database of material held at the Library. The Archives and Library hold primary state records including births and deaths in West Virginia since 1853, marriages, wills, deeds, and estate records. Additionally, the public can access census records, military records, and other records via microfilm, maps, manuscripts, and photographs.

The Culture Center is home to the West Virginia State Museum which offers a variety of programs and exhibits that preserve and share the culture and history of the Mountain State and its people. The complex is also home to the state's archives and library, the state historic preservation office, and offices of the West Virginia Library Commission. The complex also holds the Norman L. Fagan West Virginia State Theater which hosts Mountain Stage and other cultural and educational events throughout the year.

Culture Center: West Virginia State Museum and Archives and History Library

Joseph Ruffner Sr. and his family arrived in the Kanawha Valley in 1796 after purchasing 502 acres of land encompassing the famous salt spring at the mouth of Campbells Creek after relocating from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Ruffner would go on to own land from Elk River up to the Kanawha, including all of present-day Charleston. Ruffner’s sons, David and Joseph Jr., strongly influenced the progress of the Kanawha Valley. Together the brothers created a salt industry that could produce up to 3.2 million bushels of salt per year.1 David Ruffner was the first to use coal in the manufacture of salt. He went on to become a justice of the peace in the Virginia legislature for 47 years. David Ruffner’s, son, Henry was the author of the “Ruffner Pamphlet” which opposed slavery on the grounds that it threatened the growth of the industry. Daniel Ruffner was the third son of Joseph Sr. and was also involved in the salt industry. He built Holly Grove Mansion in 1815 and named it after the holly trees present on the land. Holly Grove was built to replace the log cabin the Ruffner family had occupied until 1795. The house was originally a part of a plantation encompassing all of the present East End of Charleston and a good portion of downtown. The Ruffner Mansion is a symbol of the family’s success and was built to last—the walls are 18 inches thick! During its early years, the Holly Grove Mansion served as an inn for travelers along the James River and Kanawha Turnpike. Famous guests of the inn are reported to include Henry Clay, Samuel Houston, John J. Audubon, and President Andrew Jackson.  A fire in 1832 ruined much of the original interior of the house. James H. Nash purchased Holly Grove in 1902 and made many changes to the structure, which gave the mansion the appearance still seen today. The Ruffner Mansion was later purchased by the state of West Virginia in 1975; it neighbors the Governor’s Mansion as a part of the Capitol Complex. The house was used for state offices for the Bureau of Senior Services until 2004. A $3 million renovation project was approved in 2014 to make the home safe for tours, make the first floor accessible as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and to create a public conference space inside the home 3, but the renovation was canceled, with the exception of stabilization work, due to budgetary concerns3.

Holly Grove Mansion, also known as the Ruffner Mansion, was built in 1815 by Daniel Ruffner, the brother of David, Joseph Jr., and Tobias Ruffner. All were the sons of Joseph Ruffner Sr. and were instrumental in developing a thriving salt industry to the Kanawha Valley in the early 1800s. The Ruffner Mansion served as the home for the family who helped develop the Kanawha Valley while also being a center of industry and commerce during the early 19th Century. Holly Grove Mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and now sits on the West Virginia State Capitol Complex. 

Holly Grove Mansion - Ruffner Mansion

Ruffner Memorial Park (also known as Kanawha Riflemen Memorial Park) began its life as the Ruffner family cemetery in the 19th century. When the city of Charleston was looking for the site of a new city park in 1920, they decided upon the old Ruffner Cemetery, which had been purchased from the Ruffners for a city burial ground in 1831. Some of the graves were moved to Spring Hill Cemetery, but for others "the tombstones were each carefully laid on top of the graves of the owners they describe and then covered with earth and sod."[1] Indeed, the park contains the tombstone of Thomas Bullitt, a Colonel of Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War. Though he died early in the war, in 1778, he served at the <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=688" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Battle of Great Bridge</a> and the <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=9753" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">burning of Norfolk</a>. He attained his high rank quickly due to previous service in the French and Indian War, despite George Washington's low opinion of him: "Bullet (sic) is no favourite of mine, &amp; therefore I shall say nothing more of him, than that his own opinion of himself always kept pace with what others pleas’d to think of him—if any thing, rather run a head of it."[4] Land originally belonging to Thomas Bullitt would be sold by his brother after his death. This land would soon become the nearby site of <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=14196" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fort Lee</a> and the city of Charleston. Soon after the new city park's inception, a memorial to the Kanawha Riflemen--a locally raised militia company which fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War--was dedicated on the site. <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=26286" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">George Smith Patton</a>, a Richmond native and 1852 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, organized the Kanawha Riflemen after moving to Charleston in 1856. (George Patton was the grandfather of WWII General George S. Patton). By 1861, the Riflemen numbered between 75 to 100 members. The Riflemen counted some the city's most prominent figures among their ranks, including lawyers and salt barons. They were sympathetic to the South as conflict loomed on the horizon, and the company's members reportedly owned over 200 slaves. In April of 1861, the Civil War erupted as Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina and President Abraham Lincoln requested 75,000 soldiers to put down the rebellion. In response, the Riflemen passed a resolution: "we, the Kanawha Riflemen, hereby declare it to be our fixed purpose never to use our arms against the State of Virginia, or any other Southern State, in any attempt by said administration to coerce or subjugate them; and we hold ourselves ready to respond to every call that may be made on us to defend our State and section from hostile invasion."[5] In 1861, United States troops moved up the Kanawha River in 1861 to secure Charleston. Led by Patton, the Riflemen and other Confederate forces engaged Union troops at Scary Creek, on July 17, 1861. During the brief but bloody skirmish, Colonel Patton was wounded in the shoulder, though he continued to serve until his death at the Third Battle of Winchester in September 1864. The Kanawha Riflemen were eventually mustered into the Confederate army as Company H of the 22nd Virginia Infantry, which hailed from several western Virginia counties (the united was sometimes referred to as the 1st Kanawha Regiment). They held a distinguished fighting record that included several West Virginia engagments, including Carnifex Ferry and Droop Mountain (where the regiment suffered 21% casualties). Not long after the creation of Ruffner Park, the United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned a monument to the Kanawha Riflemen. It was dedicated on the site in 1922 and later donated to the city. Former Confederate General John McCausland, the second-to-last surviving Confederate general, was guest of honor at the dedication. The monument, shaped like a long bench, held a bronze plaque in its center containing the names of the Riflemen's members. Notable in the inscription of names on the monument was "William Armistead, colored cook, faithful during the war." This is in keeping with many Confederate monuments commissioned in the first half of the 20th Century, which sought to recast the image of Black slaves and servants in a manner that reflected positively on their subservient position under the Confederacy. At memorials more well-trafficked, this often caused outcry and controversy, as in the case of the <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=20497" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Heyward Shepherd Memorial</a> in Harper's Ferry. On June 29, 2020, amidst nationwide debates over Confederate monuments, the City of Charleston removed the bronze plaque from the Kanawha Riflemen monument. The city took the statue down with little announcement or fanfare. As Mayor Amy Goodwin noted of the plaque's reference to William Armistead, “It perpetuates the falsehoods that slaves enjoyed being slaves and preferred not to be free. It’s offensive. It needed to be removed. And we removed it.” The Sons of Confederate Veterans protested the removal, calling it "secretive."[7] The city determined to replace the plaque with a new one explaining the history of the park.

Ruffner Memorial Park (sometimes referred to as Kanawha Riflemen Memorial Park) was established in 1920 on the old Ruffner family cemetery. Although many graves were removed, several remain, including the grave of Revolutionary War Colonel Thomas Bullitt. The most notable feature of the park is a monument to the Kanawha Riflemen, a local antebellum militia company that joined the Confederate 22nd Virginia Infantry and fought in the Civil War. Erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1922, the monument lists the company's members. It also lists "William Armistead, colored cook, faithful during the war," an example of the "happy slave" cliche common among Lost Cause monuments. In 2020, the City of Charleston quietly removed the monument's plaque with the intention to replace it with a new marker detailing the park's history.

Craik-Patton History Tour

Sacred Heart/Charleston Catholic High School

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information