The historic Jenkins Plantation Museum, located in the Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area of Cabell County, will host a Civil War Day on Saturday, May 19, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The living history program is free and open to the public.
Spectators at the outdoor event will see reenactors in period costume, including the Levisa Artillery, a Confederate cannon group from Kentucky. A chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy will host an afternoon tea. James R. Mitchell, West Virginia State Museum curator, will have Civil War-era weapons and artifacts on display including muskets, bayonets, cannon balls and sabers. Mitchell’s wife, Johanna, will have a set of Civil War-era medical instruments on display and will explain various techniques from that time period.
Special hands-on activities will help children explore Civil War life. Grace Nida, a costumed tour guide for the Capitol Complex, will lead kids in parlor games such as “Last Man Standing,” now called “Musical Chairs,” and “Button, Button, Who’s got the Button.” Children also can play with a thread button wizzer, make corn husk dolls and enjoy textile crafts like knitting or weaving.
The historic Jenkins family home will be open for tours, and visitors can enjoy hot dogs, chips and soft drinks.
The Jenkins Plantation Museum is located on West Virginia Route 2 between Huntington and Point Pleasant. A facility of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, the museum is the former home of Confederate Brigadier General Albert Gallatin Jenkins and also interprets the large slave plantation operated by the Jenkins family. The 1835 home, built in the tradition of Tidewater, Va., is noteworthy for its architecture and was built by slaves between 1830 and 1835 for Jenkins’ father William. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and on the Civil War Discovery Trail. The museum’s regular hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information about the Civil War Day at the Jenkins Plantation Museum, call Matt Boggess, site manager of the facility, at (304) 762-1059.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, 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 Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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