West Virginia, Ohio County, Wheeling
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Planned by General George Rogers Clarke and constructed in 1774 by Wheeling settlers, Fort Henry withstood a number of sieges. The first major battle was during the Revolutionary War in September 1777 when the British led 300 Wyandot, Mingo, and Shawnee Indians against the settlement. Originally called Fort Fincastle, the fort was later named Fort Henry in honor of the famous patriot Patrick Henry. The fort was located on the hill in what is now the 1000 block of Main Street.
The Wheeling National Heritage Area preserves and celebrates the city's dramatic setting, resources, and history, including its role as the birthplace of the state of West Virginia during the Civil War.
A National Heritage Area is a part of our county's landscape that has been recognized by the United States Congress for its unique contribution to the American Experience.
(Forts, Castles • Settlements & Settlers • War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Planned by General George Rogers Clarke and constructed in 1774 by Wheeling settlers, Fort Henry withstood a number of sieges. The first major battle was during the Revolutionary War in September 1777 when the British led 300 Wyandot, Mingo, and Shawnee Indians against the settlement. Originally called Fort Fincastle, the fort was later named Fort Henry in honor of the famous patriot Patrick Henry. The fort was located on the hill in what is now the 1000 block of Main Street.The Wheeling National Heritage Area preserves and celebrates the city's dramatic setting, resources, and history, including its role as the birthplace of the state of West Virginia during the Civil War.
A National Heritage Area is a part of our county's landscape that has been recognized by the United States Congress for its unique contribution to the American Experience.
(Forts, Castles • Settlements & Settlers • War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Pensioner's Cottage
Operating in Wheeling for over 161 years, Marsh Wheeling Stogies was the oldest continuous cigar manufacturing operation in the United States. Reflecting Wheeling's early pioneer heritage and spirit, these stogies and their boxes became a symbol of blue-collar pride. Rather than compete with high-end cigar manufacturers, the company's founder Mifflin Marsh took pride in making a "workingman's stogie."
The Wheeling Wharf played a crucial role in bringing people and products to and from our growing city. The port has seen the arrival of visitors such as Lafayette, Meriwether Lewis, Mark Twain, and thousands of steamboat passengers. The port was also the debarkation point for La Belle cut nails, Marsh stogies, Mail Pouch tobacco, and a host of other famous Wheeling products. The Wheeling Wharf was the point around which the city grew and prospered.
Detroit River Heritage
Shoreline Breakwall
Joseph R. Brown
In February, 1861, delegates from six of the seven seceding southern states met in Montgomery to establish the government of the CSA. Newly elected President Jefferson Davis named J.H. Reagan of Texas as Postmaster General. Reagan established the Post Office Department in this building on the corner of Washington Ave. and Perry St.
Built by James J. Gilmer. Purchased by Reuben C. Shorter, 1819, for his wife, Caroline A.V. Billingslea, who later married Tennent Lomax, captain and governor of Orizaba, Mexican War colonel, 3rd Ala. Infantry Regt., CSA, killed at Battle of Seven Pines, 1862.
On April 11, 1865, federal troops, known as "Wilson's Raiders," approached the city. Lacking means of defense, city officials agreed to surrender the city.
Designed by Stephen Decatur Button, Knox Hall built in the 1840's by William Knox, a native of Ireland who settled in Montgomery in 1830's. Knox founded Central Bank of Montgomery which made first loans to Confederate government.
Side 1:
On May 20, 1961, a group of black and white SNCC members led by John Lewis left Birmingham for Montgomery on a Greyhound bus. They were determined to continue the "Freedom Ride" from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans that had met with violence in Birmingham. Their purpose was to test a court case, "Boynton vs. Virginia," declaring segregation in bus terminals unconstitutional. Upon arriving in Montgomery, their police escort disappeared, and an angry mob of over 200 Klan supporters attacked and injured them at the Greyhound terminal. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was so enraged that he sent in 450 U.S. Marshals and thus became active in the movement.
(side 1)
This site, known as “Posey’s Parking Lot,” served the black community as one of two major transportation centers during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Mrs. Rosa Parks’s December 1, 1955 arrest following her refusal to surrender her seat at the order of the white bus driver sparked protests against segregation on the Montgomery City Bus Lines. After city authorities outlawed the use of black taxis as an alternative form of transportation for boycotters, the parking lot, operated by local black business owners, Eddie L. and Dorothy Posey, served as a transportation hub in the midst of the city’s black business district. Over 200 sedans and station wagons, dubbed “rolling churches” since many were owned and operated by African-American churches, shuttled some 2,000 black passengers daily over more than a year to work and to shop. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower federal court decision in Browder vs. Gayle, declaring segregation in city bus seating unconstitutional. Integrated bus service began on December 21, 1956. This parking lot continued to operate until 1967.
