March 23, 2017
WHEELING, W.Va. – West Virginia Independence Hall (WVIH) in Wheeling will host the third program of the Fort Henry Commemoration Speaker Series in the auditorium at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, March 30. The speaker series is observing the 240th anniversary of the first siege of Fort Henry and the 235th anniversary of the second siege.
Joe Roxby, Ohio County magistrate, historian and author, will present the lecture “The Second Siege of Fort Henry.” Roxby is a 1971 graduate of Wheeling Central Catholic High School and earned a degree in history in 1975 from West Liberty State College. Roxby is a staff writer for the magazine Precision Shooting and has written for Tactical Shooter, The Accurate Rifle, Outdoor Magazine and local newspapers. He is the co-author of the book The Heroic Age, Tales of Wheeling’s Frontier Era and a book of short stories titled Lost Legends of Fort Henry.
The program is co-hosted by the Wheeling Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution and the Fort Henry Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, and sponsored by the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation.
For more information about WVIH, contact Debbie Jones, site manager, at (304) 238-1300 or Deborah.J.Jones@wv.gov.
West Virginia Independence Hall has been on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) since 1970. It was originally built as a federal custom house in 1859, served as the home of the pro-Union state conventions of Virginia during the spring and summer of 1861 and as the capitol of loyal Virginia from June 1861 to June 1863. It also was the site of the first constitutional convention for West Virginia.
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1988, the museum is maintained and operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, with the cooperation and assistance of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, except for major holidays. The museum is located on the corner of 16th and Market Streets in Wheeling.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the Office of Secretary of Education and the Arts with Gayle Manchin, cabinet secretary. The division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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