Great Bend Museum Memo

Hello from the Great Bend Museum in Ravenswood!

We were founded in 1972 by the Jackson County Historical Society to share the history of our county and the Ohio River’s Great Bend region with objects, photographs, and archives. In 2020, the Historical Society gave the museum and collection to the City of Ravenswood to carry on its mission of preserving and promoting county history.

Join us for “Across the Boot: Jenkin’s Raid in Ohio” on November 16 at 1 p.m. at the Ravenswood Annex (600 Sycamore St). Historian Darryl Smith will be talking about Ohio’s first and largest Confederate invasion, which happened right across the river in Meigs County and in which Jackson County played a big part. Smith will have copies of his new tour guide for sale and signature. There will also be light refreshments. The event is free and open to the public, and the Annex is ADA-accessible.

Our Facebook serial continues to share the Civil War diary entries of Henrietta Fitzhugh Barr. If you want to follow her experiences throughout the war, follow us at facebook.com/greatbendmuseum.

We are very excited to announce that we have received a $20,000 grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council to build an exhibit on the photography and life of Clara Weisheit, who lived in Ravenswood from about 1893 to her death in 1965. This exhibit will open in the spring of 2025.

Thank you to everyone who donated items to the museum last month!

Sue Hinkle gave a 1960 WV Geological Survey map of the Great Bend region, a newspaper photo of Cub Scouts raking leaves at an 1887 school with Charlie Fast, and a black silk evening bag of Louisa Fleming’s (1842-1934). Judy Walker gave a Fisher’s Supermarket paper fan, an L&A Furniture Mart paper fan, a Ravenswood Centennial straw fan, a 1970 Pathway magazine with an article about the luminaria, a copy of “History and Government of WV,” signed by Virgil Lewis to PB Harris (President of Ohio Valley College to his Dean), a Baptist Hymnal signed by Anna Wells Brown, and a Methodist Hymnal signed by her husband, Robert Shelley Brown. Chris Fleming Landis gave a 1930 first-grade class photo from the Ravenswood 1887 school, Lyle Hughes gave some scans of McCoy family photos, and Katrena Ramsey gave a book from Judge Robert Shelley Brown’s law library.

If you have anything you’d like to donate, reach out! We collect all kinds of things — objects, photos, and archives — from all over Jackson County.

Our Object of the Month is the desk from which Judge Reese Blizzard sentenced John Morgan to death. Morgan had axe-murdered Ripley widow Chloe Greene and her children on November 3, 1897. It was so shocking and the community was so outraged that he was hanged just six weeks after the murders. At the time, public executions were customary. Because his crime had been so horrific and so highly publicized, roughly 5,000 spectators from near and far turned up to watch him hang on December 16 (the population was about 19,000 at the time). There was alcohol, theater, a Punch and Judy show, souvenir sellers, and more. What should have been a somber atmosphere was so carnivalesque and out of control that, afterward, horrified lawmakers abolished public executions in the state of West Virginia. They were one of the first states to do so.

The desk is on loan to the City of Ripley and can be viewed in the lobby at the municipal building.

September Preservation Tip: We are fast approaching cozy quilt season! If you have heirloom quilts, here are some suggestions to help prolong their life: 1. Don’t store them in cedar chests! Turns out, the strong smells that ward off bugs come from acid in the wood that can discolor and decay sensitive old fabric. 2. Try to fold them differently each time you use them. Folding along the same creases each time can wear down the fibers, resulting in damage along the fold lines. 3. Hand wash them in mild water with gentle detergent. Our materials and sewing methods are much stronger nowadays than they were back then, so washing machines are too hard on handmade quilts and can wear them down over time. 4. Make a large pillowcase-like sack out of undyed muslin to store folded quilts. This protects them from light, dust, dirt, and possible contaminants from other quilts and makes them easier to move.

We hope this column has inspired you to explore, learn, and appreciate the beauty of our museum’s offerings. We are a museum for all of Jackson County. Share your experiences with us, bring your friends, and help us spread the magic of our history.