so. boys will be boys. but this is too much. for. a guy. one last bullseye bullseye. and so it is on a harvest evening amid the blessings of land and life at an american state fair.

welcome to the west virginia state museum, the state cultural center in charleston. the western state museum was founded 1894 and has been continuous ever since. today, we'll be going the immersive west virginia state museum. we'll be talking about the early frontier and settlement period, the development of the state becoming a state, the industrial nation state. and we'll go into the later century, the 21st century and see where west virginia is today. we're in western state museum, selma and frontier, period. these are some of the early, early settlers, the land. we're staying beside george washington's case, where it has artifacts such as his sword, his powder horn that he carved during the american revolutionary war and the

telescope that he used to survey land here in the canal valley, as well as in the eastern panhandle. george washington would have been here in the mid 1700s during this time period of frontier and eartlement. this was western virginia. it was part of the sta o virginia at the time. and it was an area that wasn't greatly developed. a lot of the ideas of separation became a separate was the infrastructure and things of that nature not being put into this mountainous area and mountainous terrain. these are artifacts that belonged to daniel boone when he settled in the area, he was in the canal valley about ten years from 1789 to 1799. this is the rifle that daniel boone carried in the 1790s. this is his walking stick, a beaver trap that he used to trap beavers, the canal river. and it was also a surveyor during that time. this is a sand deed that he land

in the area and this is the way that he marked a stone. of course he the property and that area. daniel boone was very important in the time period as one of the first representatives from, the newly formed canal county in the 17 in the 1790s. and he was very involved both the politics and development the area. we're in the vance family that was built in 1870s. this cabin in the state museum is a showcase of what type of a structure that people lived in during that time. in fact, this cabin itself was used as somebody's residence. it was a schoolhouse. it's been a little bit of everything, and we've used it as kind of a showcase of of artifact exhibit, because you wouldn't necessarily have everything that's in this in a cabin of this time period. but most of the artifacts that you see, whether it's a wall cabinet, a table to eat on a core, a camera to store your

relics aside board. and of course, the fireplace, all of those things would have been in the cabin from that time period. so what we're looking here is a sideboard was made by a member of the washington family up in the eastern panhandle. it's hand on it is very beautifully decorated. it just an incredible collection piece. we next go over here and is actually that we call it the table from fort lee dr. john p hale is president of historical clearances society, which predated the state. there was a tornado that went through charleston during the. 1890s and in order to preserve serve these pieces of fort lee he made it into table. and so a it's a beautiful piece and it's a treasure with wonderful provenance. this is a core coverlet was made by sarah rumsey to her for her wedding, to adam fraley. it was made in 1793. it was one of the very first coverlet in, the collection. and sarah rumsey is actually if you're a west virginia and you

know that james rumsey is the inventor of the steamboat. and so this was his daughter. we are in the john brown section of the west virginia state museum currently where we talk about ferry and the raid harpers ferry armory. john brown, october 16th, 1859, curea raid on that facility. he wanted to get additional weapons. heuredhat slaves from the area would join and that would be the beginning a huge movement. unfortunately him there was a african american killed the first person killed on the raid and the and another people that were from the town and that got the people who were in that area to combat john and try to stop what he was trying to do. john brown is said to have started the very first beginnings of, the civil war. john brown was captured and

actually there is a mural is in this exhibit. it's a mural here. it's on the wall. and it shows john with a comrade lying beside of him. these are individuals. the charges against john brown, he was tried for treason and he was later hung. we're currently in the statehood of the museum. this is the area that talks about and discusses reasons for west virginia becoming a state in 1863. western virginia is actually we're looking to become a state much earlier than that and looking at improvements that were not happening in the area the inroads in transportation were not what they expected. and when the civil waram along d became time and virginia decided to join the confederacy, that's when western virginians and at a time for separation and into statehood western virginians were very divided over the issue of slavery. there were as well as a region.

what side that they were involved in. there were brothers. one would fight on the confederacy and the other would fight for the union. so this area, even though they wanted statehood. they wanted to become a separate state. the state, west virginia. they were very divided on the issue of slavery. we're now in the transportation section of the museum just after statehood and west virginia now they are a state is becoming the developing railroad. they're developing transportation rails to get goods and services. one of the key things about this time period is the development in the coal and oil and gas industry. those are natural resources that west virginia plenty of with the development transportation they were able to get those goods and to market and west virginia became leader in the production both of coal and oil and gas river transportation was very

important in the time period. one of the great things about west as we develop the lock and dam system and that was enable to utilize our rivers to better get products out of the various areas and to market the pilot. will that you see behind me is 12 and a half feet in diameter or is from the left share that was on the canal ohio rivers. it was a paddle crawler that was on the rivers in this area. earlier when we were talking sarah ramses coverlet we referred to james rumsey, inventor of the steamboat. he actually developed the process and showed it to george washington. on the potomac we have a model of that steamboat in the state museum collection. some people have referred to him as the engineer in the country west. virginia has been a lot of firsts in production manufacturing throughout the history of united states. one of the leaders is homer lock and china company that produced

more china at one time than any other company in the world today. you would know it for fiesta where and fiesta were is a huge collector's item, but they also are very big in dinnerware. west virginia not only stops with china, but they go with glass. as one of the top producers of glassware of anywhere in the world. michael owens developed the first automated bottling plant here that was in a production glass bottles. they also right across the highway, was led by owens ford in charleston which was the largest producer sheet glass of anybody in the world one time. when you talk about virginia leading the way and in manufacturing, coal is one of the resources that has shaped the history of virginia. it goes back it actually ties a lot of the things that we've talked about together. it ties in the solid industry because coal was vital in the salt industry that goes back to the early 1800s coal's big

started even as far back as 1840s 1850s just before statehood. this also ties together the railroad the railroad especially the development, the chesapeake and ohio railroad helped to open up the coal mines and open up the lines of coal to become what we are today. it's one of the producers not only of the country, but of the nation and of world today. coal in west virginia is a very significant part of the economy of the state because of developments in how you mined coal and equipment is there are not as many coal as there were at one point. and you know, the market depends upon lot of things, but coal was still still very important in the state of west virginia. we're currently in the art and craft room of the state museum. this room shows glass, pottery, woodworking and quilting, textile making, marble, making it just a little bit of

everything. this shows these are things that we've throughout the history of the state of west and today all of these are as important now as it were. then we have our annual western juried exhibition, which some most beautiful quilts will ever see. we have our west virginia juried exhibition that happens every two years. a lot of this room showcase of the talent of those from past years. as museum director, i'm often interacting with visitors. and one of the things that they want to tell me after they've toured the west virginia museum is that they understand what the state, west virginia, is about, and that is what we want them to get. they understand that the hard working people, development of manufacturing and all the other components and the fabric of our people are represented. this museum. west virginia is a proud people and we hope that once you go through the state museum, you understand the fabric, the

history of the state. the very

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