June 13, 2018
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Division of Culture and History will celebrate West Virginia’s 155th birthday with festivities on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. The Culture Center at the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex in Moundsville and West Virginia Independence Hall in Wheeling will all offer free family activities and are open to the public at 9 a.m.
Festivities will begin at 9 a.m. at the Culture Center in the Great Hall with the sale of 35 special edition Blenko glass pieces for $69 each. A limited amount of 2016 and 2017 special edition vases also will be available for purchase. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., there will be youth activities in the Education Room. An interfaith prayer service will take place in the State Theater beginning at 11 a.m. At noon, the birthday cake will be cut and cupcakes will be available in the great hall for all guests. Visitors also are encouraged to sign the state’s birthday card to commemorate the day. At 1 p.m., the Archives and History Library will introduce its Senator Jennings Randolph Collection followed by a reception at 2 p.m. in the great hall for both the archives collection and the newly installed Thorney Lieberman photography exhibit titled The Family of Coal.
Grave Creek Mound will offer a program from 2 – 4 p.m. where guests can make a brand-new vintage-style postcard featuring your family or group and visitors can sign the giant birthday card!
West Virginia Independence Hall will have Abraham Lincoln on site! Beginning at noon, John W. King, a first-person portrayer of Abraham Lincoln, will read Proclamation 100 – Admitting West Virginia into the Union followed by photos with ‘Lincoln.’ In 2013, King won the “Lincoln Look-Alike Contest” at the Shriver House Museum in Gettysburg, Penn. For the past 25 years, he has been telling the story of the 16th president during great conflict.
For more information about West Virginia Day activities, contact Andrea Nelson at (304) 558-0220 or Andrea.E.Nelson@wv.gov.
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