On Preston County History Day, learn how others lived. Appreciate how we got to “here.”

Walk back in time on August 18 at Arthurdale Heritage, open 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; the Aurora Area Historical Society Museum, 1-4 p.m.; the McGrew House in Kingwood, 1-3 p.m.; the Head, Heart, Hands & Health Museum in Reedsville, 2-4 p.m.; 1-3 p.m.; the Szilagyi Center museums in Rowlesburg from 1-4 p.m.; the History House Museum in Terra Alta, 1-4 p.m.; and the Tunnelton Train Depot from 1-3 p.m.  

Find out more about Arthurdale’s unique purpose and its past at the five-building museum commemorating the nation’s first New Deal subsistence homestead community championed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. A new exhibit with interactive features shows two Co-op farm tractors connected to Arthurdale and the subsistence farming carried out on the 165 homesteads on this pioneering federal project.

Lots of exhibits about the good old days, including a general store, are in the Aurora museum. The clear mountaintop air once made it a summer resort town for wealthy city residents, servants included, who came by train to get away from the cities which were thought to be much less healthy. Summer life there was a great getaway for all!

Did you know that Kingwood businessman, James McGrew, participated in the momentous events that resulted in West Virginia becoming the 35th state on June 20, 1863? His two-story brick home shows the lifestyle of the era, information about his wife’s business pursuits, and 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 projects that took them into adulthood.  

Thanks to the efforts of many volunteers, the Szilagyi Center’s museums in Rowlesburg provide insightful connections to World War II and our many county heroes, high school star athletes and their teams’ history from the 1930s through the ‘80s, and the important engineering of railroad bridges.

If researching family history and connections is your interest, the History House’s Preston County genealogical archives in Terra Alta are open for tracing family lines. While there, you can see a great variety of photographs and daily life objects from long ago, even many that will ring a bell.

The 111-year-old Tunnelton Train Depot, now a museum, gives you a chance to sit in the spacious B & O Railroad waiting room and learn more about railroad life and commerce during the 20^th Century. A shopping trip to Grafton on the train cost 10 cents. A new kid-friendly working railroad exhibit is on display also. There are two historic railroad tunnels nearby.

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. Visit the 1854 Virginia Iron Furnace located along Rt. 26 near Albright to see how iron was smelted in a blast furnace powered by a water wheel. All of these county sites will be open the third Sunday of each month through October 20.