The historic West Virginia Independence Hall (WVIH) Museum in Wheeling will ring in the holiday season on Saturday, Dec. 2, with activities for the entire family. The program is free and open to the public.
Activities begin at 10 a.m. with the monthly Free Family Fun Hour. Josh Nickerson of Wheeling will have his cartoon art and caricature drawings on display and will demonstrate how to transform words and names into cartoon animals.
The Youth Choir of St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheeling will perform at 2 p.m. in the WVIH courtroom, considered to be the birthplace of West Virginia. The choir, directed by Sandy Nickerson, will sing Civil War-era traditional songs and conclude its performance with more recent carols.
Rounding out the day’s activities, visitors are invited to a Victorian tea at 3 p.m., served by the costumed living history character Elizabeth Busby and some of her friends.
For more information about the holiday program, contact Melissa Brown, site manager at WVIH, at (304) 238-1300.
West Virginia Independence Hall, 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 Department of Arts, Culture and History, with the cooperation and assistance of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the exception of major holidays. This year the facility will be closed from Dec. 24-26, and Dec. 31, 2005 - Jan. 2, 2006 for the holidays. The museum is located on the corner of 16th and Market Streets in Wheeling.
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
Deputy Commissioner/Communications Manager
West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History
The Cultural Center
1900 Kanawha Blvd., East
Charleston, WV 25305
Phone (304) 558-0220, ext. 120
Fax (304) 558-2779
Email [email protected]