PARKERSBURG - Wood County commissioners agreed to provide up to $15,000 for an architectural engineering design plan for renovations and development of historic Henderson Hall Plantation.
The plans would be used in fundraising efforts, including grant applications.
Tom Crooks, a member of the new Henderson Hall committee, submitted the funding request, noting the committee wants to assure preservation of all the artifacts as well as the building and grounds for posterity.
"It's a beautiful historic mansion with tremendous tourist potential. We are developing priorities for short- and long-term plans, and how to generate funds needed. But we need to develop an architectural engineering plan. We need to put the plan to paper, remodeling to historic details, possibly developing a library to house historic research materials, places for artisans. I believe Henderson Hall can become a premiere tourist attraction. There just aren't any other historic homes with such rich details of family life, the furnishings, there is nothing else like it anywhere in the state," Crooks said. "We need plans on paper to be able to show potential donors, including grant opportunities, a visual image of what we want to create."
Crooks said he has met with West Virginia University officials who provided estimates of between $10,000 to $15,000 for development of such a plan.
"I know funds are tight right now, and you have a lot of requests. But I firmly believe this will have a tremendous return in value, and will provide us with something we can share with potential donors," Crooks said.
"I think we all agree there is great potential there, but also at great cost. It will require long periods of time to get there and how do we maintain it," Commissioner Wayne Dunn asked.
"The grant funding is not possible without this plan," noted county administrator Marty Seufer, also a Henderson Hall Committee member.
Commission President Blair Couch noted the need for better access, restroom facilities and more parking.
"The committee has a picture of what we want it to be, but we can't truly move forward until we have a visual image of the dream," Crooks said.
Dunn noted the need for a balance between emphasizing tourism and the need for historic preservation.
"I think the two go hand and hand, history and heritage," Crooks said.
Crooks said there is also potential for development of additional attractions on the 68 acres, including Civil War battle re-enactment sites.
"The property is magnificent. We have a vision, not just to restore the mansion, but to turn it into a destination in its own right. If you're passionate about it, dreams can come true," Crooks told the county commission.
The decision to provide up to $15,000 for the development of the plans was unanimous.
The commission earlier agreed to also pay grant consultant fees and act as sponsor for a federal records preservation grant through the National Historic Publication and Records Commission, part of the National Archives and Records Commission. Available grant funding from that source ranges from $20,000 to $250,000 with the funds to be used for protection and preservation of historic records and paperwork.
Henderson Hall, which was bequeathed to the local Oil and Gas Museum, has records, newspaper clippings, magazines, diaries, letters and books, some dating back to the late 1600s, and many other documents handed down through seven generations of the Henderson family who occupied the Boaz/Williamstown area homestead.
Among the volumes of publications, documents and papers which are the property of the hall, are local ballots from the Lincoln-Douglas presidential election, diaries, a letter written by Robert E. Lee to Elizabeth Henderson, family records describing a duel between one of the family members and another local pioneer, making it the only duel ever recorded north of the Ohio River, and a letter dated 1861 from Burning Springs where a Henderson ancestor operated a riverboat store. The letter relates details of the battle at Burning Springs. There are letters with references to Lafayette passing through the area, photographs and diaries.
