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PARKERSBURG — Six Civil War sites in the Wood County area will be nominated for funding to provide signage through the state’s Civil War Trails Program.

During a meeting Monday with Steve Nicely, director of the Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Tom Crooks, with a special bureau committee working on this project, Wood County commissioners agreed to pay the $200 annual maintenance fee for signage if the Fort Boreman site is chosen as one of the three initial regional sites to receive funding from the state for signage. The state Division of Tourism recently adopted the Civil War Trail project.

“This is a regional effort to promote documented Civil War sites throughout five states. The good news is that the state of West Virginia has agreed to purchase the first 150 signs, three for each region that will go up throughout the state. The program has been developed over a period of years. In addition, there will be a brochure made available. This group is a non-profit corporation based in Virginia,” Nicely said.

“We’re hoping the signs for the sites that are approved will be up by this summer. These are sites that are all documented and all have some connection with the Civil War,” Nicely said, noting easements must be obtained from the property owners for the signs as well. “Once we submit the nominations, the state will then decide which three will get signs as part of the initial round for the signage,” Nicely said, noting if purchased the signs cost about $2,600 each.

“The CVB has committed if the property owner at the site is unable to pay the maintenance fee, the bureau will agree to pay it,” Nicely said. “This is a tourism marketing effort and we think it will greatly benefit these sites.

“We are looking at a number of other things we can do in this area to promote the Civil War heritage as well including we hope to start an annual symposium with speakers that would help increase the awareness of the sites and their history. This is a regional effort,” Nicely said.

Civil War Trails signage includes directional trailblazer signs, gateway markers and interpretive markers.

“Signs can be erected for the other sites, this process will just determine the three from this area that would have signs paid for by the state during this initial period,” Nicely explained.

According to information provided by the bureau, Fort Boreman, located just off U.S. 50, is the site of a military fortification built during the summer and fall of 1863 and named in honor of Arthur I. Boreman, West Virginia’s first governor and a leading Parkersburg citizen. Upon completion, there were 136 Union soldiers garrisoned there until the autumn of 1865 to protect the Northwest Virginia Railroad.

“I’m glad to see the office building at Fourth and Avery streets is on the list, it’s my understanding it was a former Civil War hospital, but it is sometimes overlooked,” Commissioner Rick Modesitt said.

The Fourth and Avery streets building was one of five U.S. Army hospitals in Parkersburg during the Civil War and the only one still standing. To provide adequate space for the army’s needs, two long wooden buildings were constructed adjacent to it to serve as patient wards and and office. Tents were also erected to accommodate the overflow.

General George McClellan’s first invasion into the Confederacy was in Parkersburg. On May 26, 1861, McClellan ordered Union troops to cross the Ohio River and occupy Parkersburg and western Virginia. McClellan arrived in Parkersburg on June 22 with his staff. He inspected several military facilities including the future site of Ft. Boreman before moving further east.

Johnson’s Crossing in Belleville is also on the list. Confederate troops led by Col. Adam “Stovepipe” Johnson reached a point across the Ohio River from Belleville in July 1863. Separated from the rest, the Confederate cavalry raiding party led by Gen. John Morgan, Col. Johnson ordered his men to cross the river that was at flood stage resulting in numerous deaths.

Burning Springs Oil Field in Burning Springs is named as the site of the world’s oldest producing oil well. The field and an estimated 150,000 barrels of oil were destroyed May 9, 1863, by Confederate guerrillas led by Gen. William “Grumble” Jones and Gen. John Imboden as part of the Jones-Imboden raids throughout western Virginia in 1863.

The Oil and Gas Museum at 119 Third St. houses an extensive collection of Civil War artifacts and documents, highlights the vital role oil and gas played in the Civil War and the founding of the new state of West Virginia.

The Civil War Trails Program is in place in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

 

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