Since 2006, this historic building has been home to the Mountaineer Military Museum. The museum offers exhibits drawn from the collection of museum founder Ron McVaney. The museum is supported by the Lewis County Board of Education that offered this space to McVaney for the purpose of maintaining a museum. The building was previously home to Weston Colored School, the first and only public school for African Americans in Weston from 1882 through May 1954. The school included eight grades and taught children ranging in age from six to sixteen. The building includes a marker and information about the school. Growing up in a little coal mining community in Harrison County, WV, three young men received their Draft Notices. Ron McVaney was assigned to Germany…and his two friends were sent to Vietnam. Ron was the ONLY one to come home. Asked to be a pall-bearer at his best friend’s funeral…he made a graveside “PROMISE”: “I won’t let anyone forget you.” It is “THE PROMISE” that is the underlying Theme of The MOUNTAINEER MILITARY MUSEUM! Since that time, Ron began to collect military items from yard sales, flea markets, surplus stores and an occasional Military Collectors Show. “I thought having those things around would help me remember my friend.” The collection grew, and SOON filled every nook and cranny available. Ron retired from his job, and his wife suggested that he “…share the collection with others, and tell the story of his friend…and others like him…who served in Vietnam.” Ron took the bulk of his retirement and rented a building in Buckhannon. The collection opened there in May 2003…but by October, the Museum had to close its doors due to lack of funding and support. By the end of October, the Museum had found a temporary home in one room of The Weston State Hospital. The Museum was well received, and was invited to return the following spring tourist season. During that time, the group of caretakers invited the McVaney’s to relocate the collection to a larger suite in the front of the building. The Museum reopened in May of 2005. But, by October 2006, the “Hospital” was locked down due to fire code violations. The McVaney’s collection had to be packed away. Soon…bins and boxes overtook the McVaney’s home. The search began to find a new site. It was suggested that Ron approach the Lewis County Board of Education, who owns the Historic Weston Colored School. The local Convention and Visitors Bureau was using the building, but was getting ready to vacate to another site. With a scrapbook of pictures in hand, the Board agreed to give the McVaney’s a perpetual lease to the School Building. The McVaney’s moved items to the site in February of 2006…and Ron began building. The School House gave the collection 700 square feet of display space…and it didn’t take long to fill every inch. In May 2006, a ribbon cutting was held with local dignitaries, families of Vietnam Veterans, and several members of the Community. The Mountaineer Military Museum was very well received. “THE PROMISE” had a new home. Soon, word spread, saying: “You should see the Mountaineer Military Museum in OUR TOWN!” Folks came…from all over! With support from the Lewis County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Museum was able to get travel cards sent to Welcoming Centers all over West Virginia, and added to the West Virginia Tourism Travel Guide. The collection continued to grow, as local families began to bring artifacts and remembrances of their Military Heroes to be placed in the Museum. THE HALL OF HEROES was conceived to be a place to bring pictures of your service member to have a permanent place of Honor and Remembrance. Display spaces that were initially used to house items from a particular era, were reconfigured to be windows to honor an Individual. Some very rare and unique items have found their home at the Museum. After a few years, the small 700 square-foot space had served “THE PROMISE” to its capacity. Early 2011, The Lewis County School Board secured funding to begin construction on an addition to the Museum. This addition space utilized the ‘back-yard’ of the Colored School. ANOTHER “Chapter” was beginning. By construction’s end, an additional 2,100 square-feet of space had been added. Ron and a local Vietnam Veteran, Gary Rogers, began building display spaces and dioramas. The addition was build and opened in two stages. The first part opened in 2012, the second in 2014. In the “Joseph Mace Annex”, named for (then) Lewis County Board of Education Superintendent and Vietnam Veteran, the space was used to arrange artifacts by “Eras”: CIVIL WAR, WWI, WW II, KOREA, VIETNAM, IRAQ/WOT. The McVaney’s are often asked, “What is the Admission cost?” Their answer: “THE VETERAN PAID THE PRICE FOR YOU!” The Museum does not charge admission, but operates solely on donations received from visitors, tour groups, and groups and organizations from the area throughout the year. Summer fundraising yard sales and raffles supplement the Museum’s Winter Utilities and Building Maintenance Funds when the Museum closes for the winter months. From December through April, the McVaney’s use that time to redo displays and provide Building maintenance. The Museum’s NUMBER ONE Fundraiser is “THE PROMISE” PATCH. This embroidered patch was conceived as a perpetual fundraiser for the Museum. It works like this: The Patch costs $25.00. With your ownership of “THE PROMISE” PATCH, you are then making YOUR “Promise” to support the Museum with a yearly financial donation! “THE PROMISE” Patch has owners as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand…and everywhere in between. Contact us, if you would like to make YOUR “Promise”. The Museum reopens each Spring on the first Saturday of April. The Museum has several events during the year to raise funds for building maintenance and display upgrades, sponsored by local Veterans, Civic, and Motorcycle Groups.
Built in c. 1910, this large, two-story hipped-roofed beige brick Colonial Revival-style house has gable dormers on the front and sides. The dormer on the front has a Palladian window and partial return cornice. The home features a two-story Corinthian entrance portico, while the front door has a transom, sidelights, and an arched surround with pilasters. Above this is a second-story door with transom and sidelights with a brick quoin surround. The side of the home has a one-story porch with square columns on brick piers.
This large, two-story hipped-roofed Colonial Revival-style house with hipped dormers was constructed in c. 1910. The entrance door has a transom and sidelights. The home has a red brick façade, an asphalt shingle roof, and two interior corbeled brick chimneys. The right of the house features a projecting two-story hipped bay. The 1/1 windows have stone lintels and sills. A one-story hipped-roof covers the front porch with battered and fluted columns on stone piers and a spindled balustrade.
This two-story, front facing L-shaped Queen Anne-style house features vergeboard and brackets in the gable ends, an asphalt shingle roof, and an interior, corbeled brick chimney. The home, built in c. 1910, also has a second floor projecting bay on the side, supported by knee braces. There are 1/1 windows with shutters, and the windows on the first floor have stone lintels and sills. A hipped-roof supported with Doric columns on stone piers covers the front porch. The entrance door has a leaded glass transom and sidelights, and a cast iron fence surrounds the front of the house.
Built in 1911, this house is a two-story hipped-roofed Colonial Revival-style home with gabled bays. The house features a red brick façade, an asphalt shingle roof, partial return cornice, and an interior corbeled brick chimney. It also has 1/1 windows with stone lintels and sills, and an undivided transom over the entrance door. The wrap-around porch is covered by a one-story hipped-roof with square brick columns on stone piers and masonry balustrade with urn-shaped balusters.
This 1925 two-story hipped-roofed American Foursquare has hipped dormers, four partially engaged chimney, and a red clay tile roof. There is a small porch on the second floor with square brick columns on an enclosed brick balustrade with a concrete cap. A one-story hipped-roof covers the front porch and has square brick columns on an enclosed brick balustrade with concrete cap; the right side of the porch is enclosed with three windows. A cornerstone with date sits on the left front corner; another line on the cornerstone has been rubbed off.
Originally built in 1839, (later additions/alterations made in 1898) this two-story front facing L-shaped Queen Anne style house has a gable wing on the rear. The home has a painted brick façade, an asphalt shingle roof, and an interior, corbeled brick chimney. There is vergeboard and brackets on front gable, and 1/1 windows with shallow arches. The single-story wrap-around porch has a gable entrance pediment, spindled ornament and turned posts with brackets.
This two-story hipped-roofed Queen Anne-style house was built in 1898 and has gable bays and a two-story, three-sided, projecting bay on the right with pointed roof. There is also a small gable dormer on front, an asphalt shingle roof, and the home has vertical and horizontal German siding. The entrance door has a leaded glass fanlight and sidelights. A one-story hipped-roof covers the wrap-around porch, which has a gable pediment and slightly battered square posts and spindled balustrade. The porch also has a pointed metal roof where it wraps around the side; a denticulated cornice with brackets, and a cartouche in the pediment.
A c. 1920 home, this two-story hipped-roofed American Foursquare house sits on a brick foundation and has a blonde brick façade, two exposed end brick chimneys, and an asphalt shingle roof. The front porch features square brick columns on an enclosed brick balustrade with a concrete cap and is covered with a one-story shed-roof.
Built in c. 1910, this home is a two-story, Queen Anne style hipped-roof house with projecting bays on the second floor with pointed roofs. It has hipped dormers, three exposed brick chimneys, and an asphalt shingle roof. The front porch is covered with a single-story hipped-roof with Doric columns and pilasters. There is a stone lintel over the entrance door.
An 1882 construction, this two-story, front-facing L-shaped house is an Italianate style home. It has a two-story gable wing on the rear and a c. 1971 gabled addition on the rear. The home has a stucco facade, an asphalt shingle roof, interior chimneys, and partial return cornice. A single-story, three-sided, projecting bay sits in the front gable bay. A one-story, hipped-roof, front porch has paired Ionic posts and a spindled balustrade.
This house, built in c. 1920, was later converted into a funeral home, and now a coffee shop. It is a two-story hipped-roofed American foursquare with an asphalt shingle roof and features gable dormers with fluted pilasters. The building sits on a brick foundation and has quoins at the corners. The wrap-around porch is fully enclosed and is covered by a single story hipped-roof.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
Get a QR Code for this tour
Starting at the Mountaineer Military Museum head down Center Avenue before turning left on 6 Street, toward Main Avenue. From there walk down Main Avenue until you reach the coffee shop.
