Thursday, May 9, 2019
Stonewall Country Adventure

Retirees traveled by chartered bus to visit Stonewall Country.  They started at Appalachian Glass Products where they were treated to a glass-making demonstration.  As one of the last glass manufacturers left in West Virginia, Appalachian Glass is keeping the tradition of hand-made glass and other dying arts alive in the state. 

The second stop was The Museum of American Glass, Ltd. whose mission is to share the diverse and rich heritage of glass as a product and historical object.  They tell the story of the lives of glass workers, their families and communities, as well as the tools and machines of the trade. 

The next stop was the Mountaineer Military Museum where they saw hundreds of pieces of memorabilia collected by Ron McVaney.  Ron was part of a group of childhood friends who were drafted into the service and the only one to make it home.  It was his graveside promise to never let anyone forget the friends that created this museum. 

The last stop was the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Museum.  The original hospital, designed to house 250 patients, was opened in 1864 and reached its peak in the 1950's with 2,400 patients in overcrowded and generally poor conditions.  Changes in the treatment of mental illness and the physical deterioration of the facility forced its closure in 1994.