Samuel Shrewsbury House, Belle

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Known as the Old Stone House and built in 1810, the Samuel Shrewsbury House offers a reminder of West Virginia's early history of salt production. Shrewsbury was one of three brothers who, along with a handful of other entrepreneurs, pioneered the salt mining business in this part of Virginia by utilizing a mixture of slave and free labor. In contrast to other parts of what would become West Virginia, slavery was well-established in this area as well as the valleys along the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. Samuel's brother Joel Shrewsbury and his business partner were the largest user of slave labor in the country and Malden was home to many salt mines that all employed a mix of free and slave labor.


Images

  • Samuel Shrewsbury house in Belle, WV
    Samuel Shrewsbury house in Belle, WV
  • The front view of Samuel Shrewsbury house in Belle West Virginia.
    The front view of Samuel Shrewsbury house in Belle West Virginia.
  • The brass plaques on front porch inscribed with the names and dates of the house dedication ceremony.
    The brass plaques on front porch inscribed with the names and dates of the house dedication ceremony.
  • The original well site on the grounds of the house. It was reconstructed when the house was restored in 1980- 1985.
    The original well site on the grounds of the house. It was reconstructed when the house was restored in 1980- 1985.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

One of the oldest homes in the western half of West Virginia, Shrewsbury built this home from stone to replace a previous home that was constructed from rough-hewn logs similar to most other homes in the area. The appearance of this sandstone home in 1810 is a reflection of the family's wealth that expanded with the creation of saltworks throughout the region. The home is made of single-pile sandstone and the roof of the house is a medium pitched gable with rubble walls that are up to 18 inches thick together with the corners which are well strengthened by sandstone quoins.

Sources

Callahan, James Morton. Semi-centennial History of West Virginia: With Special Articles on Development and Resources. Semi-Centennial Commission of West Virginia, 1913.

Dayton, Ruth Woods. Greenbrier Pioneers and Their Homes. Genealogical Publishing Com, 2009.

Virginia, Historic West. "The National Register of Historic Places." West Virginia Division of Culture and (2000).

Clevenger, Anthony P., and Nigel Waltho. "Factors influencing the effectiveness of wildlife underpasses in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada." Conservation Biology 14.1 (2000): 47-56.

Dye, Andrew S., and Shih-Lung Shaw. "A GIS-based spatial decision support system for tourists of Great Smoky Mountains National Park." Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 14.4 (2007): 269-278.

Francaviglia, Richard. "History after Disney: The significance of" imagineered" historical places." The Public Historian 17.4 (1995): 69-74.

 

Additional Information