Wyoming County Historical Museum

The museums research center is named in honor of Paul Ray Blankenship who passed away on September 30, 2010. Paul was an educator, Wyoming County historian, genealogist, author of several books on the county, and the first president of the Wyoming County Historical Museum.

His many contributions include helping organize the Oceana High School Alumni Association where he served as president, he was president of the OHS Hall of Fame, and a charter member of the Captain Ralph Stewart Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. In 1976 he received the Distinguished West Virginian Award from Governor Arch Moore for his work on the state bi-centennial celebration. In 2000 he received the West Virginia History Hero Award for his work in preserving Wyoming County history.

Many of the books, family histories, notes and photos in our research collection belonged to Paul Ray and were donated to the museum by his family upon his passing. Paul’s many contributions to preserving Wyoming County history will be missed.

The Research Center is open during the Wyoming County Historical Museum’s regular hours which are Tuesday (10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) and Saturday (12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.) or any time by appointment. For an appointment call Jim Cook (304) 682-5096 or Epp Cline (304) 682-6596 and they will be happy to help you.

Happy to announce the Paul Ray Reference Center is almost operational...due in large part to the hard work and dedication of Jennifer Bryant. The reference center will contain history books, family genealogies, census records, church records, photo collection, and other items of interest to those researching history and genealogy in Wyoming County! Will post index's and more information once the collection is cataloged.

The 1st Annual Wyoming County Civil War Days is now in the record books and we start planning next years event.

This years event went very well and Education Day was an outstanding success with 269 students attending the morning session and 292 attending the afternoon session. Add in the 12 student/guides from Westside High School and you have a total of 573 students from around the county!

Visit our Civil War Days group on facebook to view the almost 400 photos from this years event.

The museum is sponsoring a Civil War living history camp and skirmish the first weekend in May. Come see how the soldiers lived and then watch an authentic Civil War battle - with cannons! The event will be held at the Oceana Middle School football field and admission is FREE!

Schedule of Events

FRIDAY (May 4)

Education Day – Only for students (Grade 4-8) and their parents.

SATURDAY (May 5)

9:00 a.m. Camp Open to Public

10:00 a.m. Meet the Federal Soldier

11:00 a.m. Confederate Weapons Demo

12:00 p.m. Discussion on Civil War in Wyoming County

1:00 p.m. Meet the Confederate Soldier

2:00 p.m. Federal Weapons Demo

3:00 p.m. Discussion on why they fought

4:00-5:00 p.m. Skirmish with artillery

5:00 p.m. Discussion on Civil War in Wyoming County

7:00 p.m. Night Surgery

7:30 p.m. Tales and Ghost Stories with Bugs Stover.

8:30 p.m. Camp Closed to Public

SUNDAY (May 6)

10:00 a.m. Church Service in Camp

11:00 a.m. Infantry and Artillery Weapons and Tactics

12:30 p.m. Cooking with Confederates (Sample Civil War era food cooked on site)

1:00 p.m. Witness a Federal Court Martial

2:00 p.m. Camp Closed to Public

Local school's paid a visit to the museum. Berlin McKinney Pre-School and Kindergarten classes toured the museum in November and the Glen Fork Head Start class toured the museum the first week of Decemeber.

The museum really enjoys giving group tours...it is as much fun for us as it is the children!

The second West Virginia Civil Wars Trails marker in Wyoming County was installed this past Monday, May 16, 2011, at Turkey Ridge Independent Baptist Church, located in Turkey Dip just outside of Oceana.

This marker highlights the Civil War romance between Confederate soldier Thompson Walker and Martilia Walker, daughter of Unionist William Walker.

(More photos in our photo section)

Great News!!  The Wal-Mart in Summersville is currently renovating their store and they have graciously donated their used cases to the museum!! A HUGE thank you goes out to Kate Mora, Lorna Williams, Ronny Hayes, and Chris Rockingstein of Wal-Mart who helped make this happen. Through their efforts the museum will have cases for the newly renovated upstairs which will enhance the museum experience for all future visitors.

We are happy to announce the Museum will soon DOUBLE in size!  Thanks to an agreement with the Oceana Fire Department the museum has obtained a portion of the upstairs. This means we will not only double in size but will also have an entrance on Main Street. 

The contractor, Brooks Remodeling, started renovations this past Tuesday and they are coming along great!  They will be removing three walls, adding two walls, laying new floor tile, installling new ceiling tile and more. 

Our only set back at the moment is display cases for the new upstairs. When we received our display cases last year from Wal-Mart they stated we could have more this spring when they remodeled one of their stores...but this may not happen now. And since we thought we had display cases coming we didn't make any plans to obtain other cases so as of now we have a new exhibit room with no cases for exhibits. Hopefully we can work something out...fingers crossed!

But if all goes well we should have our Grand Re-Opening in May (more information to follow).