Preston County History Day

Preston County History Day celebrates various aspects of life in earlier centuries, proudly restored and preserved by volunteers. History isn’t just in books. On August 17, Preston County History Day will illustrate that at:

• Arthurdale Heritage, open 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Aurora Area Historical Society Museum, open 1-4 p.m.
• The McGrew House in Kingwood, open 1-3 p.m.
• The Head, Heart, Hands & Health Museum in Reedsville, open 2-4 p.m.
• The Szilagyi Center museums in Rowlesburg, open 1-4 p.m.
• The History House Museum in Terra Alta, open 1:30-4:30 p.m.
• The Tunnelton Train Depot, open 1-3 p.m. 

Find out more about Arthurdale’s purpose and its past at the six-building museum commemorating the nation’s first New Deal subsistence homestead community championed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Why were those 165 homesteads built by the federal government? What did they accomplish?

Connect with the good old days when Aurora’s clear mountaintop air made it a summer resort town for wealthy city residents, servants included, who came by train to get away from the cities that were thought to be much less healthy. The mountains were thought to be restorative.

Did you know that Kingwood businessman, James McGrew, participated in the momentous events that resulted in West Virginia becoming the 35th state in 1863? Confederate soldiers hunted for him when in the area. His home shows the lifestyle of the era, along with other historic exhibits from county residents.

4-H Clubs have operated all over the county for over 100 years, and the museum in Reedsville captures those times and purposes. Youth development efforts were supported by the federal government, and many young people participated in educational projects that took them into adulthood.   

Thanks to the efforts of many volunteers, the Szilagyi Center in Rowlesburg provides insightful connections to World War II and its many heroes, our county’s own high school star athletes and their teams’ history, and the important engineering of railroad bridges. 

What do a top hat and a stereopticon have in common? Both are on display in the History House along with various ways to learn about family and everyday life from earlier times. Search the genealogical records too.

The 112-year-old Tunnelton Train Depot, now a museum, gives you a chance to sit in the spacious B & O waiting room and learn more about railroad life and commerce during the 20th Century. A shopping trip to Grafton on the train cost 10 cents. There are two historic rail tunnels nearby.

Stop at the 1854 Virginia Iron Furnace along Rt. 26 and marvel at how iron ore was mined and smelted in a stone blast furnace so that America would have more steel. Also, three outdoor Civil War Trail sites near Aurora and Rowlesburg commemorate the Jones-Imboden Raid and its effect on those areas of the county. The Confederates lost the confrontation in Rowlesburg and had to withdraw from the area.

Many of these county sites will be open the third Sunday of each month through October 19.