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State Farm Museum

The West Virginia State Farm Museum, located on State Route 62 four miles north of Point Pleasant, is a replica of an early rural community. Begun in 1976 by Walden Roush, a retired educator, with only one building and a few farm implements, today the 50-acre site showcases 31 reconstructed buildings, including four original log structures that were moved and rebuilt. Visitors see the furnished Mission Ridge one-room schoolhouse from the 1870s and a doctor’s office with period drugs and equipment. A log church recognized as the first Lutheran church west of the Allegheny Mountains is used for services. There are a blacksmith shop, country store, veterinary office, barbershop, a post office, carpenter shop, and a newspaper building with printing presses from 1895.

The State Farm Museum has large farm equipment, both horse-drawn and tractor-drawn, such as tractors, thrashers, and plows. There is a Corliss steam engine. There are numerous household items, including appliances and other furnishings. The Morgan Museum, a curiosities collection begun in Putnam County in 1905 by Sidney Morgan of Winfield and later moved to the State Farm Museum, includes a collection of stuffed birds and animals, including a two-headed calf, a golden eagle, and a Belgian draft horse. The farm includes a two-acre pond and acres of crops which are planted and harvested using 19th-century equipment and methods. A stage and picnic shelter accommodate public events.

Schools from West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky visit the museum for their study of Appalachian culture. Funded by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and a small annual grant from the Mason County Commission, the West Virginia State Farm Museum is a nonprofit organization.

Written by Olivia Miller