April, 6, 2016
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History is launching a lecture series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act. Dr. W. Stephen McBride will present the first talk, “An Archaeological Survey of Glenwood, Charleston, West Virginia,” at 6 p.m., Thursday, April 14, at the Culture Center in the Museum Education Media Room. The lecture series is free and open to the public.
The survey was conducted to provide a better understanding of the archaeological resources that are on the historic Glenwood property beside Stonewall Jackson Middle School on Charleston’s West Side. The project took several years to complete and led to the discovery of numerous artifacts dating from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, including ceramics, bottle and window glass, animal bone and architectural hardware. A great deal of stratisgraphic information, the study of rock layers and layering, was gleaned, which helps in understanding variations in yard use. The survey also found a possible back-filled cellar and some brick walkways and edgings.
McBride, who grew up in Greenbrier County, is the co-manager of McBride Preservation Services, LLC and the director of interpretation and archaeology at Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park in Jessamine County, Kentucky. He specializes in the historical archaeology of the United Sates. He has written or cowritten numerous articles for journals and edited volumes and technical reports. He co-authored the booklets Frontier Forts of West Virginia: Historical and Archaeological Explorations (2003), Seizing Freedom: Archaeology of Escaped Slaves at Camp Nelson, Kentucky (2010) and Frontier Defense: Colonizing Contested Areas in the Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia (2014).
The Glenwood survey was partially funded by a survey and planning grant from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History to the Historic Glenwood Foundation and was assisted by students in Marshall University’s Graduate Humanities Program and West Virginia State University’s Department of History.
The National Historic Preservation Act has allowed historic resources to be recognized through the National Register of Historic Places and preserved through the survey and planning and development grant programs as well as historic rehabilitation tax credits.
Upcoming lectures include Dr. Billy Joe Peyton presenting “Preservation and Archaeology at Fort Scammon” on June 23; Danielle LaPresta Parker and Michael Gioulis presenting “Beginnings of the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office and Preservation Alliance of West Virginia” on July 21; and Matthew Webster presenting “Preservation and Restoration with Large and Small Budgets” on October 6.
For more information about the lecture series, contact John Adamik, education and planning coordinator for the SHPO, at (304) 558-0240.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, 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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