Hinton's Campbell Flannagan Murrell House Museum Gets a FACE LIFT

Hinton’s oldest standing residential structure, The Campbell Flannagan Murrell House Museum, built circa 1875, has recently gone through more than the obvious face lift. This current day museum has also received lots of much needed preservation attention and preventative maintenance.

In June of 2017,  the former Preserve Alliance of West Virginia’s AmeriCorps Member, Sarah Rogers, submitted a (successful) National Coal Heritage Area grant in hopes to address the concerns of the safety of the CFM House and to preserve the structure and its contents. Combined with that, Candice Helms, the current PAWV AmeriCorps Member, submitted a mini grant through the Hinton Area Foundation to fund the painting of the exterior. The City also contributed their labor to doing a majority of the work. In September 2019, the project started and successfully ended in July 2020. Jumping in after Sarah left, was quite seamless. The entire Board of the Museum has been very supportive and excited as Candice was to see a much needed, finished product.

A staple in the repair process was the installation of a much needed retaining wall. Water damage issues were in abundance with this Historic structure, and redirecting the water away was just the beginning of the process. Tree removal, installation of supplemental guttering, and equipping a dehumidifier in the basement were also needed to complete that effort. Throughout the house there were windows that needed attention, walls in need of patching, flooring to be replaced, and much more. Lastly, the entire house was painted to what the Museum Board deemed as the most accurate, original color scheme.

Hinton is coming around the bend full force in Community Development and this project is just one of the many to consider successfully done! We are very proud of this new, shining beam in the West End and every passer-by gets greeted with a lovely sight, and all who put in any effort, receives a reminder that it takes a village to keep moving forward, FULL STEAM AHEAD!