New roof, windows on way; addition to be demolished
GREEN BOTTOM - Built by slave labor in 1835, the Jenkins Mansion once served as the headquarters for a plantation that took in a seven-mile stretch of bottomland along what was then the Virginia bank of the Ohio River.
GREEN BOTTOM - Built by slave labor in 1835, the Jenkins Mansion once served as the headquarters for a plantation that took in a seven-mile stretch of bottomland along what was then the Virginia bank of the Ohio River.
Thanks in part to walls with four layers of brick manufactured on the site, the mansion has withstood devastating floods and survived the ravages of time, the elements and the Civil War. But without major repairs, the two-story Tidewater-style plantation house's days would be numbered.
On Monday, state and federal officials announced that a 12- to 18-month effort, expected to cost between $1 million and $2 million, will begin next month to preserve the historic building, which houses the state-operated Jenkins Plantation Museum. The museum will remain closed during the repair period.
Rep. Nick Rahall (right) discusses the mansion’s Civil War history with Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, and a Civil War re-enactor portraying Gen. Albert Gallatin Jenkins, who once operated the Ohio River plantation. The Cabell senator and the Civil War general are not related, Evan Jenkins said.
The work will be funded through a water resources grant channeled to the Army Corps of Engineers by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va. The corps acquired the building and surrounding land as part of a mitigation agreement for wetlands lost during construction of the nearby Robert C. Byrd lock and dam complex.
Under agreements with the corps, the state Division of Culture and History operates the mansion and museum and the Division of Natural Resources manages the adjacent land as the Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area.
Built under the direction of planter William Jenkins, the mansion is best known as the home of Jenkins' son, Albert Gallatin Jenkins, who inherited a share of the 4,000-acre plantation in 1859. Albert Jenkins, a graduate of Harvard Law School, was an attorney in Charleston before moving back to Green Bottom to oversee the operation of the plantation, which made use of more than 50 slaves.
Jenkins represented western Virginia in Congress from 1857 to early 1861, when he resigned his seat in the House of Representatives to join the Confederacy. From Green Bottom, he raised a company of mounted rangers who became a part of the 8th Virginia Cavalry. Appointed a brigadier general in 1862, Jenkins led the first Confederate raid into Ohio, was injured during the Battle of Gettysburg, and died in 1864 of wounds received in Virginia during the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain.
Preserving historic sites like the Jenkins Mansion to tell its stories about plantation life, slavery and the Civil War "is all about who we are as West Virginians," said Rahall, who spoke during a ceremony at the mansion on Monday. "He who denies his heritage has no heritage," he said. "... A society that loses touch with its history is akin to a rudderless ship on the ocean."
GREEN BOTTOM - Built by slave labor in 1835, the Jenkins Mansion once served as the headquarters for a plantation that took in a seven-mile stretch of bottomland along what was then the Virginia bank of the Ohio River.
Thanks in part to walls with four layers of brick manufactured on the site, the mansion has withstood devastating floods and survived the ravages of time, the elements and the Civil War. But without major repairs, the two-story Tidewater-style plantation house's days would be numbered.
On Monday, state and federal officials announced that a 12- to 18-month effort, expected to cost between $1 million and $2 million, will begin next month to preserve the historic building, which houses the state-operated Jenkins Plantation Museum. The museum will remain closed during the repair period.
The work will be funded through a water resources grant channeled to the Army Corps of Engineers by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va. The corps acquired the building and surrounding land as part of a mitigation agreement for wetlands lost during construction of the nearby Robert C. Byrd lock and dam complex.
Under agreements with the corps, the state Division of Culture and History operates the mansion and museum and the Division of Natural Resources manages the adjacent land as the Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area.
Built under the direction of planter William Jenkins, the mansion is best known as the home of Jenkins' son, Albert Gallatin Jenkins, who inherited a share of the 4,000-acre plantation in 1859. Albert Jenkins, a graduate of Harvard Law School, was an attorney in Charleston before moving back to Green Bottom to oversee the operation of the plantation, which made use of more than 50 slaves.
Jenkins represented western Virginia in Congress from 1857 to early 1861, when he resigned his seat in the House of Representatives to join the Confederacy. From Green Bottom, he raised a company of mounted rangers who became a part of the 8th Virginia Cavalry. Appointed a brigadier general in 1862, Jenkins led the first Confederate raid into Ohio, was injured during the Battle of Gettysburg, and died in 1864 of wounds received in Virginia during the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain.
Preserving historic sites like the Jenkins Mansion to tell its stories about plantation life, slavery and the Civil War "is all about who we are as West Virginians," said Rahall, who spoke during a ceremony at the mansion on Monday. "He who denies his heritage has no heritage," he said. "... A society that loses touch with its history is akin to a rudderless ship on the ocean."
"We worried that the home would be left to deteriorate," said Victor Jenkins of Huntington, a descendant of the plantation family. "... But now, after 20 years of effort, we are able to praise God for his many blessings in bringing this forth. When the work is complete, this will be a tremendous resource for tourism."
Jenkins said his great-grandfather, Maj. Thomas Jefferson Jenkins, operated the farm after the Civil War. The last member of the family to live in the mansion was Margaret Virginia Jenkins, who left in the 1930s when the property went into foreclosure proceedings.
James and Clara Knight owned the farm and lived in the Jenkins home until the 1980s, when the Corps of Engineers bought the property.
The Greenbottom Society, a nonprofit group formed 20 years ago to promote the preservation and interpretation of the site, would eventually like to see a freestanding reception center built off W.Va. 2 near the restored mansion.
"We have four really important themes to promote here," said Ned Jones, president of the society. "There's the plantation, the slavery component, the Fort Ancient Indian village that's on the grounds, and the wildlife that can be found in the fields and wetlands here. Our next steps will be restoration and interpretation."
Coy Miller of the Corps of Engineers' Huntington District said work to be performed during the construction phase that begins next month will include tearing down a 20th century addition to the mansion, repainting and re-pointing masonry, replacing windows and the roof, and installing moisture infiltration controls.
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Posted By: me too(10:39am 08-12-2008)
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Maybe Robert Byrd would donate if that's the case.
After all, he was a member of a white supremacist group.
Posted By: wondering(9:59am 08-12-2008)
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I am surprised that a white supremist group doesn't want to make a donation to preserve it... it WAS built by black slaves, right?
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After all, he was a member of a white supremacist group.