The first patients were admitted to what would become Weston State Hospital on October 22, 1864. Built on 269 acres in Lewis County, the facility was authorized by the Virginia legislature in the early 1850s as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
The hospital’s huge main building was designed by Baltimore architect Richard Andrews, whose work also included the south wing of the U.S. Treasury Building in Washington and the Maryland governor’s mansion. The Virginia General Assembly appropriated $50,000, and construction was under way by the end of 1858. It was one of the few major public improvements in present West Virginia started by the state of Virginia before the two states split.
The Civil War interrupted construction. Virginia’s Confederate government demanded unused funds be returned to Richmond, but Western Virginia leaders balked at the request and sent the money to Wheeling. Western Virginia leaders then resumed the work and, in 1863, changed the name to the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane. The institution’s name officially became Weston State Hospital in 1913.
The hospital was closed in 1994. The building is now operated as a tourist attraction.
Not that long ago, you could get locked up for being gay.
A West Virginia man tells “Us & Them” host Trey Kay about being sent to a mental institution for violating sodomy laws. Standing in front of the historic Stonewall Inn in NYC’s Greenwich Village, gay activist Brendan Fay tells Trey how things have changed over the past five decades for LGBTQ people in America and around the world.
On this week’s episode of the “Us & Them” podcast: the pride, progress and ongoing struggle of gay rights.
From West Virginia Public Broadcasting and PRX, this is “Us & Them” the podcast where we tell the stories about America’s cultural divides.
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West Virginia tourism officials are creating a trail that will highlight the state’s haunted history.
The state Division of Tourism is taking suggestions for places to include on its list of paranormal attractions, events and destinations.
The inventory could highlight legends like Mothman or the Greenbrier Ghost, and include places like the Lake Shawnee Amusement Park or the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
To be considered for the trail, locations must be open or accessible to the public. It also must be promoted as being haunted by the property owners or, if on public land, by local officials.
Nestled near the West Fork River in Weston, the imposing stone structure of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum will be the scene this weekend for the world premiere of a play focused on the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe. The playwright sees the unique location, Poe’s tragic life story, and the enduring characters he created as a perfect match.
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary…over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore…while I nodded nearly napping…suddenly there came a tapping as of someone gently rapping…rapping at my chamber door…..”
“The Raven” is perhaps one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most well-known works…and it will absolutely play a role in the new one-man show – “Poe: A Haunted Life.” Joey Madia, artistic director and resident playwright for Seven Stories Theatre Company based in north central West Virginia, has written and will perform the show. He sees Poe’s work as ground-breaking in a number of ways.
“He really certainly refined, if not invented then refined the short story and exactly what it should be,” says Madia. “He invented the detective novel, and I love Sherlock Holmes… and his character C. Auguste Dupin was the model of Holmes, from the pipe to the intellect to the quirkiness to the housemate writing the stories…I mean there would have been no Sherlock Holmes without Poe. And I think modern horror stories…so Stephen King, Clive Barker, the list goes on and on. He was really the genesis of all of it.”
Madia is a longtime fan of Poe’s work, but says he gained new insights during his research for the play. Poe was quite the researcher himself, says Madia, often taking some of the ideas for his stories right out of the newspaper. He says despite some bouts of drunkenness, Poe did not use alcohol to the degree often thought…and did not use drugs, as commonly assumed.
“And I think far from being a madman…having been a writer now, a professional writer for going on two decades …you cannot be insane out of your mind and create stories with the precision and the structure and the character development of his stories,” says Madia. “So those were the big things that I learned.”
Madia has been working closely with Director Robby Justiss. The two have been rehearsing and tweaking the script for several months. Justiss says he has gained a new appreciation for all things “Poe.”
Credit Sarah Lowther Hensley
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Robby Justiss and Joey Madia review the script for “Poe: A Haunted Life.”
“I had read a lot in high school, like everyone, I read a lot in middle school of all the classic Poe,” says Justiss. But I had never really studied it and really looked into the different characters and the different themes within the stories and how just complex and rich they really were.”
The show, which runs just under an hour, includes a number of those complex themes and characters…so why do it as a one-man show? Madia says it makes perfect sense.
“All of these characters came out of the mind of one man,” says Madia. “And somewhere along in the writing process I went from Poe hosting the show and exploring his own characters, to the show being hosted by C. Auguste Dupin, the detective.”
Currently, Saturday night’s performance is the only one scheduled, although Madia plans to offer it in other venues down the road. He also plans to create versions of it that could be done in school classrooms, offering opportunities for students to interact with Poe and his work.
“Poe: A Haunted Life” will be presented Saturday, September 20th at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston. Tickets include a reception and a tour of the facility prior to the performance. Check-in is at 4:30 p.m., the tour is at 5:00 and the show starts at 6:00.
