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James Madison Laidley, a newspaper editor, politician, and prominent salt maker, had this home built in 1852 by William Preston.1 The material used for construction were available on the property or nearby. Wood was cut from the abundant timber standing, bricks were fired from clay found on the property, and the sandstone was taken from a nearby quarry. Brick used in construction is recorded as being 18 inches thick, or the thickness of three bricks.The exterior of this Greek Revival home is accented with a carved dentil cornice across the front. Sandstone block is used for the foundation.The Laidley family lived in a smaller four-room brick structure during the construction of Glenwood, This structure became the slave quarters, most likely for domestic slaves. There were smaller, less substantial structures throughout Glenwood's 366 acres for field slaves. Upon completion of the 12-room, two story home, Laidley named the home "Glenwood" for the nearby rock-strewn glen cut by a stream. This was a popular location during the summer for people in the area to visit as it was always cooler in temperature than elsewhere. In 1857, Judge George Summers purchased Glenwood.2 Summers was an active politician. He served as a representative to the 1850-51 Constitutional Convention in Richmond, ran for governor as a Whig in 1851, and in 1852 became a circuit judge in Kanawha County, a post he held when he purchased Glenwwod. George Summers and his wife, Amacetta, lived at Glenwood until their deaths in 1868 and 1867, respectively.

Ellis, Chip. "The Glenwood Estate." http://wvpress.org/. 2013. http://wvpress.org/news/historic-charleston-estate-classroom-marshall-grad-class/.


Marshall University program that maintains the historic home.

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One of Charleston's oldest homes, this beautiful antebellum residence is located on the West Side directly across the street from Stonewall Jackson Middle School. It is possibly the only antebellum home with slave quarters still standing in the Kanawha Valley, a structure that is located directly behind the home and known as "The Quarters."


Glenwood 

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Charleston's seven surviving pre-Civil War houses. Take a close look at the varying architectural styles of these Antebellum beauties! The fortunes of these houses and their owners span the early development of Charleston from frontier fort to state capitol. Their windows and doorways have seen the rise and fall of industrial salt empires, the passage of armies, and the flowering of Charleston from riverbanks and farmland to commercial and legislative power.

The "Stone House" was built in 1845 by Harop L. Joy and J. Carson. Designed in simple Federal style, the sandstone for the spacious and well-proportioned home was quarried on the property. An important West Virginia woman lived much of her life in the house, and it is her story that echoes throughout the home today. Rebecca Wood was born in March 1824 to prosperous landowning parents in the Kanawha Valley. She quickly grew into a strong, intelligent, and spunky young woman, and was married to Adam Littlepage, who had recently (on February 8, 1845) moved to the Kanawha Valley to join the growing salt business. The recently married Littlepages moved to a rented home near Brook’s Furnace, located on the site of what is now Daniel Boone Park. There, Rebecca and Adam welcomed their first three children, daughters Mary Lavinia and Mary Elizabeth and son John William. Both of the girls died in infancy, a common occurrence in those times. In 1848, the young couple began to plan for a permanent home when the Stone House on Kanawha Two-Mile Creek went up for auction. Adam Littlepage outbid Dr. Spicer Patrick, who owned adjacent property, by $500, and Rebecca Littlepage moved into the Stone House, which was to be her home for the rest of her life, with her family. The Littlepage family quickly grew; Rebecca brought five more children into the world before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Unlike the rest of Western Virginia, Kanawha County had a sizable slave population. In 1850, there were more than 3,000 slaves compared to a free population of 12,000. Rebecca’s mother had given her a slave, a young woman of 18 named Celine, at the time of Rebecca’s marriage to Adam Littlepage. Adam, an industrious businessman, used slaves in one of his many businesses, a cooperage across the street from the Stone House. When the state of Virginia seceded from the Union, the Kanawha Valley was sharply divided. Like the Littlepages, many of the landed gentry were supporters of the Southern cause. The top command post for the Kanawha Valley was controversially given to Henry A. Wise, former governor of Virginia. Wise was soon sent to the Valley to protect it from an invasion that might come from Union troops in Ohio. Wise and his soldiers set up camp near one of Adam Littlepage’s landholdings, a farm that was the main source of the family's food. While the Confederate troops camper near their property, they helped themselves to grain, horses, bacon, molasses, and sugar. Wise and Adam Littlepage soon butted heads over the fact that Littlepage continued to operate his cooperage business and his general store instead of joining the Confederate troops. Wise called Adam a “Yankee sympathizer who must be taught a lesson,” and demanded that he join the army or his property would be confiscated. He announced that he intended to use the Stone House as his headquarters. General Wise soon presented himself confidently as the door of the Stone House. It was Rebecca Littlepage who came to the door. Upon hearing Wise’s demands that the home be his headquarters, Rebecca (showing no sign of trepidation) told him that the the house was as much hers and it was her husband’s, and that she would not allow him to enter. Wise left with a threat to “blow the house down over your head.” The general returned later with artillery. A crowd of spectators gathered to watch. As tent poles were put in the ground of the front lawn, Rebecca went around and kicked them down. And as the guns were being wheeling into position, she gathered her children around her on the front steps. Wise gave her two minutes to remove herself and her children, an order that she ignored. An enraged Wise gave the order to open fire, but the captain refused. An enraged Wise marched off, never to return to the Littlepage house. Despite his responsibilities at home, Adam Littlepage soon entered the military on the Confederate side as the quartermaster officer of the Twenty-Second Infantry under George S. Patton’s command. Rebecca and Adam’s seventh child, a girl, was born after Adam left home. Never to return home, Littlepage died in a duel over a saddle. His opponent was also mortally wounded. Rebecca was left a widow with seven children. As the tide of war shifted, her situation become desperate and she relied on her courage and ingenuity to protect herself and her family. During the years of the war, sentries of one army or another were constantly present on Rebecca Littlepage’s property. She fed the soldiers and recognized that it made sense to put away her partisan feelings. After the war, Rebecca was forced to sell some of Adam’s landholdings to pay the taxes on the Stone House. The Littlepage children were taught by a governess who lived in the house, which soon became known as the “Stone Mansion.” When Rebecca died, in 1896 of pneumonia, a giant acorn (carved of the same sandstone as the Stone House) was erected on her grave. The unique marker evokes the memory of a strong-willed, independent woman.

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.

Littlepage Mansion-Charleston Civil War Trail

James Madison Laidley, a newspaper editor, politician, and prominent salt maker, had this home built in 1852 by William Preston.1 The material used for construction were available on the property or nearby. Wood was cut from the abundant timber standing, bricks were fired from clay found on the property, and the sandstone was taken from a nearby quarry. Brick used in construction is recorded as being 18 inches thick, or the thickness of three bricks. The exterior of this Greek Revival home is accented with a carved dentil cornice across the front. Sandstone block is used for the foundation. The Laidley family lived in a smaller four-room brick structure during the construction of Glenwood, This structure became the slave quarters, most likely for domestic slaves. There were smaller, less substantial structures throughout Glenwood's 366 acres for field slaves. Upon completion of the 12-room, two story home, Laidley named the home "Glenwood" for the nearby rock-strewn glen cut by a stream. This was a popular location during the summer for people in the area to visit as it was always cooler in temperature than elsewhere.  In 1857, Judge George Summers purchased Glenwood.2 Summers was an active politician. He served as a representative to the 1850-51 Constitutional Convention in Richmond, ran for governor as a Whig in 1851, and in 1852 became a circuit judge in Kanawha County, a post he held when he purchased Glenwwod. George Summers and his wife, Amacetta, lived at Glenwood until their deaths in 1868 and 1867, respectively.

Due
to its safe elevation above&nbsp;the temperamental Kanawah&nbsp;River, the property upon which Henry Devol MacFarland's house would be built was deemed suitable in 1831.&nbsp;&nbsp;William Whitteker selected the site and his brother, Norris Whitteker, was responsible
for building the house. The Whittekers were noted builders in the antebellum Kanawha Valley,&nbsp;and constructed many other early homes in Charleston. "If a Whitteker
built it, then there was nothing more to be said--it was a good house,"5 and indeed Norris Whitteker may have even manufacturing the bricks for the house with his own hands.6Though little remains in the historical record of Henry D. MacFarland, his&nbsp;brother James was prominent businessman and&nbsp;banker, largely responsible for establishing a branch of
the Bank of Virginia in Charleston in 1832. The branch would later burn&nbsp;down during Union Colonel Lightburn's retreat from Charleston in September 1862, when Confederate forces took the city. The fire also consumed James Macfarland's diary, which he had kept scrupulously for 50 years.By 1851, the house was occupied by the family of John C. Ruby II, who had married Mary Frances Noyes. Noyes' father, the wealthy Bradford Noyes, had made his fortune in the salt-making business that was Charleston's first great industrial boom. The Ruby family, like many of the Charleston business elite, were Confederate sympathizers at the outbreak of the war, and John C. Ruby II soon joined Colonel George Patton's <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22808">Kanawha Riflemen</a> (later incorporated into the 22nd Virginia Infantry regiment). The son of the house's previous owner, Henry Devol MacFarland Jr., was also a member of the Kanawha Riflemen.When Union forces occupied Charleston in April 1862, the Ruby family fled south for the duration of the war. Confederate troops in turn raided Charleston in September, and a cannonball (likely from Confederate artillery firing from the southern bank of the Kanawha River at Federal troops in the city)&nbsp;crashed through the roof of the Macfarland House.The cannonball was passed down from owner to owner and into the hands of the final private owner of the house, Elizabeth Hubbard. It is on display in the lobby of the house.Ironically their housebuilder, Norris Whitteker, was an ardent Unionist and served as the town's postmaster general for the latter half of the war. Charleston was an important communications hub, and Whitteker is reputed to have posted as many as 40,000 letters in one particularly busy day at the post office.Members of the Ruby family returned to the house in 1865 when the war came to an end. To their surprise, they discovered their vacant home had been converted into a hospital for Union troops. A number of soldiers were still convalescing within, but promptly moved into tents on the front lawn until healed enough to return home.The Ruby family continued to gain prominence in Charleston after the war. John C. Ruby II, who returned to his family after his service in the Confederate army, would be twice elected mayor of Charleston. Sons Bradford and John C. Ruby III, forming a grocery and real-estate firm under the name Ruby Bros.,&nbsp;opened the first wholesale grocery store in the city in 1872.&nbsp;&nbsp;The house was passed through Ruby family members until it was purchased by John B.
Crowley in 1922. A businessman like all the house's previous owners, Crowley underwrote the
construction of the Hotel Kanawha, Holley Hotel, and the Capitol Theater. Though Crowley owned the house for&nbsp;a shorter period than any other family, he made significant remodels during his occupancy. A
sunroom and porte cochere were added during his tenure, and a front
balcony replaced an original gallery.&nbsp;J.W. Hubbard, a grocer like the Ruby brothers before him, purchased the MacFarland-Hubbard
House in 1945. It was passed down to his daughter, Elizabeth Hubbard, upon his
death. Elizabeth was to be the house's last residential occupant.&nbsp;The West Virginia Humanities Council purchased the
home from the First Presbyterian Church in 1999 and immediately began preservation
efforts, taking care that all construction
complied with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic
Preservation. The structure’s stabilization was the first priority, followed by the installation of modern heating and cooling. The historic restoration on the first
floor created space for exhibits, programs, and meetings. The second floor of
the MacFarland-Hubbard House currently hosts the offices for the West Virginia
Humanities Council.&nbsp;The restoration efforts were made possible with the support
of the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia and the Kanawha County Historical
and Preservation Society.&nbsp;Visitors to the house wishing to tour the interior&nbsp;should use the "Business Entrance" at the rear, where West Virginia Humanities staff members are happy to provide information.

The MacFarland-Hubbard House was built in 1836, and is one of seven remaining homes built in Charleston prior to the Civil War. The home has housed four prominent Charleston families since its construction, including the MacFarlands, the Rubys, the Crowleys, and the Hubbards. In 1861, the home was temporarily used as a Federal medical hospital, even though it was owned by a family with Confederate sympathies. Today the MacFarland-Hubbard House has been restored by the West Virginia Humanities Council, whose offices reside on the second floor. 

MacFarland-Hubbard House; West Virginia Humanities Council 

When Joseph Ruffner bought his first land holdings along the Kanawha River in 1795, the Kanawha Valley was mostly undeveloped frontier land that was sparsely populated by Native tribes and settlers of European descent. Conflicts between settlers and Native inhabitants were common before the American Revolution, but by the early 1800s, the region attracted settlers.&nbsp;Joseph Ruffner’s family were part of the initial wave of settlers, and he and his descendants played a pivotal role in the industrialization of the Kanawha River. Once minor port&nbsp;named “Charles Town,” the town of&nbsp;Charleston received its charter from Virginia in 1818. Following the Civil War and creation of the state of West Virginia, Charleston became the capital&nbsp;of the new state in the 1870s. Like many settlers in western Virginia in the late 18th and early 19th century, Joseph Ruffner purchased his property in the Kanawha Valley before entering the region. Ruffner was attracted to the area by the region's salt deposits, and after moving his family to their new home from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, he purchased additional land. Ruffner acquired a&nbsp;thousand acres by the early 1800s. Most of Ruffner's efforts were dedicated to&nbsp;farming rather than mining salt,&nbsp;but he stipulated in his will that his sons would develop the property’s salt assets, or be forced to sell their inherited lands. In 1807, several of Joseph Ruffner’s sons began an industrial-scale salt mining operation in the area near present-day Belle. They were so successful that by 1810, the Kanawha Valley was the United States’ leading region in salt manufacturing, a state of prosperity further cemented by the War of 1812, which cut off salt supplies from England. The “Kanawha Salines” would grow to produce 3.2 million bushels of salt annually--a staggering 160 million pounds. By 1845 they employed, directly or indirectly, roughly 3000 people,3 though a great many of these were slaves leased from local landowners.10 At Queen Victoria’s inaugural 1851 World’s Fair in London, salt from the Kanawha Valley reportedly won the “World’s Best Salt” award.12 Now wealthy from these economic exertions, the fifth Ruffner son, Daniel, built <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22812">Holly Grove</a> in 1815, which remains Charleston’s oldest surviving house. Daniel’s son Augustus did not follow him into the salt business, however, instead hewing closer to the footsteps of his agriculturally inclined grandfather. Given a plot of land near the intersection of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers (and extending eastward to present-day Ruffner Avenue), Augustus Ruffner chose lumber and farming as his professions and established a lumber mill on the Elk River where the waters’ current was more conducive than the more forceful waters of the Kanawha. Augustus later petitioned the Virginia House of Delegates to be allowed to conduct a ferry business across the Elk River. His petition was denied in 1842. Shortly after marrying in 1834, Augustus built “Cedar Grove” a short distance from his father’s house at Holly Grove. Despite having made his name in lumber, he had this “neat residence”4 constructed of brick. The front of the house features a decorative masonry style called “Flemish Bond,” and the facade contains a number of other visual flourishes that scarcely could have been afforded by any but the socio-economic elite of the Kanawha Valley at the time, of which the prosperous Ruffners comprised a significant number. Though a “steady and good business man, and possessed [of] a bright mind well cultivated,” Augustus Ruffner spent the last 18-20 years of his life in varying states of ill health, finally passing in March 18554 (or November 1857, depending on the source!).5 The house was left to his son, Henry Daniel Ruffner, who had not possessed it long before the Civil War broke out in 1861. Like many families in what was then western Virginia, loyalties were sharply divided between North and South. Henry D. Ruffner, his brother Joel, and his cousin David Ruffner all served in the Confederate Army, as did two of Joel’s sons--whereas their cousin Lewis Ruffner was a staunch Unionist who became a Major General of Union militia and served as a delegate to the Wheeling Convention that later achieved the separation and statehood of West Virginia in 1863. Beginning his Confederate service with Colonel George Patton’s Kanawha Riflemen, Henry D. Ruffner later transferred to the 19th Virginia Cavalry and rose to the rank of Major commanding first Company G, then the 46th Cavalry Battalion, and serving for the duration of the war. He was singled out for “honorable mention” at the<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=15961"> Battle of Droop Mountain</a> late in 1863.11 The unit served with distinction in the 1864 Shenandoah Campaign. By the time the Confederate armies disbanded in 1865, records show Henry D. Ruffner discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He returned to a <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=45961">much-demolished Charleston </a>after the war, but was able to retain the house and some of his original properties. An abortive attempt at silver mining took him briefly to Colorado, but by the 1880s he had returned to Charleston and was contracted to work on the new State Capitol building. The magnificent “Cedar Grove” house of Augustus Ruffner remained in the Ruffner family until 1940, and is now a commercial property. Augustus Ruffner is buried nearby the Ruffner family cemetery, which was later donated to the City of Charleston and modified to make <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22808">Kanawha Riflemen Memorial Park</a>. Henry D. Ruffner &nbsp;and several of his descendants are buried in <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=14980">Spring Hill Cemetery</a> overlooking Charleston.

One of the last remaining homes built prior to the Civil War in Charleston, the Augustus Ruffner House was constructed in 1834 by lumberman and farmer Augustus Ruffner. The Ruffner family maintained ownership of the home for several generations. The family named the estate "Cedar Grove” in reference to the beautiful stand of trees that surrounded the property. Today, the home is known as one of Charleston's "Seven Sisters," the name residents assign to the seven remaining pre-Civil War homes. Henry D. Ruffner inherited the house upon Augustus’s death in the mid-1850s, though he was forced to leave it while serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The house remained in the Ruffner Family until the 1940s.

Augustus Ruffner House

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

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

Originally known as the Kanawha Salines, Malden emerged as one of the nation’s richest industrial centers in the early nineteenth century due to the abundant salt springs along the river. After the Ruffner family drilled America’s first deep well for salt brine in 1808, a commercial salt industry rapidly developed in the valley, with salt furnaces lining both sides of the Kanawha and boats transporting barrels of salt up the river to the meat-packing center in Cincinnati. By the 1840s, the salt industry had reached the height of its commercial activity and Malden had become home to hotels, saloons and a bank, along with the grand mansions of the saltmakers and smaller residences for white and Black laborers, including slaves. Colonel Henry Hewitt Wood was born in Ovid, Seneca County, New York on June 1, 1809. He arrived in the Kanawha Valley in the 1820s, likely to take advantage of the area’s booming salt industry. In 1832, Wood was married to Ann Ruffner Reynolds, the daughter of local saltmakers. Colonel and Mrs. Wood had several children together, including daughters who went on to marry distinguished men in Charleston’s emerging high society, such as a member of Congress and a prominent farmer and salt-maker. While relatively little information is available about Wood’s own salt-making business, he was evidently quite successful and emerged as a leading figure in the Kanawha salt industry. Like most other antebellum salt-makers, Wood relied on slave labor to operate his business: according to the 1840 census, he owned thirteen slaves, although the number may have been higher because many slaves in the salt industry were on lease from their owners in eastern Virginia. During the Civil War, Colonel Wood reportedly lost money as a Southern sympathizer, and his business likely declined along with the rest of the Kanawha salt industry in the decades following the war. Colonel Wood passed away on November 23, 1883 at the age of 74.The Colonel Henry Hewitt Wood house was built in 1829-31. Although the builder and architect of the home is unknown, it is thought that a Pennsylvania firm is responsible for its design and construction. Given the growth of Malden in the early nineteenth century, and the heavy traffic along the James River and Kanawha Turnpike, it is likely that plans were occasionally available in the area, and that services of master builders could have been secured from distant sources. Though similar in style to other houses in the area, features such as floor length windows on the first floor, colored glass panes above the entrance, and ornate plasterwork set the Wood house apart. The orientation of the two-story, brick-and-stone house is also unique, as its main entrance faces the river rather than the street. This may be explained by the fact that the Kanawha River was the main artery of transportation in the valley at the time of the house’s construction. Since Colonel Wood’s death in 1883, the house has been owned or occupied by a series of notable individuals including Mrs. Sallie Lewis Dickinson, whose husband was a salt producer and Mayor of Charleston; Lawrence Christy; Charles Cunningham; Judge John N. Charnock; and Heber Pittman. As the house passed to different owners, a succession of changes to its appearance was also made. Victorian alterations, such as the placement of wood brackets in the eaves and in the construction of a small room with a window bay, were undertaken late in the nineteenth century or at the turn of the century. Porches at the front and rear of the house were removed, and extensive landscaping, including the addition of a patio and swimming pool, had been done when the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The house’s surroundings also changed over time, as the salt business was replaced by a chemical industry and commercial activity shifted up the river from Malden to Charleston. Once part of a large farm, the neighborhood became a predominantly residential area. Despite such changes, the house’s various owners have preserved much of its traditional character. Today, the house is the oldest surviving on the south bank of the Kanawha River in the Malden area and the second oldest extant residence on its original foundation in Charleston. It is considered one of the “Seven Sisters,” Charleston's seven surviving pre-Civil War houses, along with Holly Grove Mansion (1815), Craik-Patton House (1834), Augustus Ruffner House (1834), MacFarland-Hubbard House (1836), Littlepage Stone Mansion (1845) and Glenwood Estate (1852).

Located across the Kanawha River from Malden, the seat of salt making in the antebellum years, this home is a reminder of the region’s prosperity during that period. Colonel Henry Hewitt Wood, a leading salt merchant of his day, completed construction on the house in 1831. Colonel Wood had come from New York to the Kanawha Valley in the 1820s, where he entered the lucrative salt manufacturing business. Wood’s two-story brick and stone house, though similar in style to its contemporaries in the area, is set apart by a number of unique features, including floor-length windows and colored glass panels above its main entrance, which itself is notable for facing the Kanawha River rather than the road. After Colonel Wood passed away in 1883, the house passed through a series of owners and underwent a number of changes and additions. Despite these alterations, the house has retained much of its original appearance, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The second oldest extant residence on its original foundation in Charleston, the Colonel Henry Hewitt Wood House now stands among the seven antebellum homes colloquially known as the “Seven Sisters of Charleston.”

The Seven Sisters

Glenwood

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