5/23/03
(photos available for download below)
Officials of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History and West Virginia Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new museum at Chief Logan State Park at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 31. The ceremony will be followed by a community celebration until 5 p.m. , including tours of the art and history exhibits, live music, demonstrations and refreshments. All activities are free and open to the public.
The facility, which is located in the former park restaurant, will be called “Museum in the Park —A Place for Art, History, and Ideas.” According to Division Commissioner Nancy P. Herholdt, changing exhibits and displays at the new museum will feature artwork and historical items from the collection of the West Virginia State Museum.
“This museum is an exciting opportunity to showcase all the best of West Virginia history and the arts right here in Logan County,” said Herholdt. “We will have regular programs to complement the displays, so there will be new experiences every time people visit.”
She added that at least one area of the museum will be dedicated to local and regional history.
“This facility will be one of the finest of its type in the state,” said Tomblin. “More than just a museum, it will be a regional cultural center where people come from across the state and nation to learn about West Virginia history, art and music. These are carefully designed, first-rate exhibits, and I know the citizens of Logan County and all southern West Virginia will be proud to bring visitors to their ‘Museum in the Park.’”
Exhibits scheduled at the museum from May 31 through October include a display of coalfield photography from Fayette and Raleigh counties, as well as artifacts related to the early coal mining and railroad industries in southern West Virginia. An exhibit about the lives of women in West Virginia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries will feature an 1830s spinning wheel from Mason County; a yarn winder from Gilmer County; a vintage sewing machine and other sewing implements from Greenbrier County; and historic photographs from Lewis and Berkeley counties. An exhibit of items from Logan County collections, including photographs and Native American artifacts, also will be featured.
Chief Logan State Park, located four miles north of Logan on State Route 10, is one of the most visited parks in the state’s system. The 3,300-acre park features a new $8.5 million conference and convention center, as well as a campground, outdoor amphitheater and wildlife center. The Division will manage the museum under an agreement with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, which operates the park.
For more information about the Museum in the Park or the May 31 opening celebration, call Stan Bumgardner, the Division’s assistant director of programming, at (304) 558-0220, ext. 121.
The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Visit the Division’s website at www.wvculture.org for more information about programs of the Division. The Department of Arts, Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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Ginny Painter
Director of Public Information
West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History
The Cultural Center
1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East
Charleston, WV 25305-0300
Phone (304) 558-0220
Fax (304) 558-2779
ginny.painter@wvculture.org
Right click the image below to download print-quality jpgs. All photographs by Michael Keller, WV Department of Arts, Culture and History.
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