Charleston, West Virginia--Chalk up Another State Capitol

We made the drive into the city of Charleston, West Virginia, mainly so we could add another state capitol to our growing list this year. But we also found a pleasant city situated on the Kanawha River. We walked over the bridge this morning, on our way to a unique hiking experience.

Right in the center of town is the one-mile Carriage Trail that spirals to the top of the bluffs overlooking the river. We found the Sunrise Mansion and other elegant old homes at the top of the hike. We liked the entry signs of the public Carriage Trail, as we were welcomed to the "neighborwood."

While the neighborwood side of the river is predominately residential, we could see the business side of the river as we crossed back over the bridge.

In the center of the picture above, we could see the Haddad River Park. We walked to the park on this beautiful day, and you can barely see Denisa standing in front of the stage. If we were staying here through the weekend, we would definitely be back for one of their summer concerts. Every Saturday they host free "Music on the Levee" here at the river park.

Our next stop was Capitol Market. This farmer's market is open every day of the week, and features some beautifully-colored fresh vegetables.

We have been blessed with gifts of fresh tomatoes this summer, so we didn't need to buy any here. But it seems to us that this part of the country is known for growing great tomatoes. We were told about some thick-sliced bacon sold in the fresh meat counter of a local grocery store. Now Denisa's favorite breakfast is that smoky bacon with fresh tomatoes every morning.

Our next stop was the West Virginia Capitol building. That golden dome can be seen for miles, as we caught our first glimpse of it from the interstate when we drove in. It is even more beautiful up close.

This is one of the grandest of all the state capitols we have visited, with its tall ceilings and white marble hallways. This hall leads into one of the state legislative chambers, and you can barely see Mark standing in its doorway to give scale to its grandeur.

We liked the fixtures that were lighting up those long hallways. The bottom stands were made of black marble. But the tops were beautifully carved out of white alabaster. It's hard to photograph the detail of those stone globes that are lit up from the inside.


We thought it was interesting that they have two legislative groups--the usual Senate, and the House of Delegates. Unlike a lot of state capitols that have moved their legislators to another building, there is plenty of room here for them all to be under one roof.

Denisa is standing on the first floor, looking up at the dome. She can see Mark, peeking over the marble rail on the second floor. She can also see the top of the dome where the 4,000-pound chandelier is hanging. It's hard to picture its size and beauty so far away, but the chandelier is made entirely of beveled crystal.

We found an old friend hanging out at the capitol building. This is Robert C. Byrd, a long-time federal senator from the state of West Virginia. We consider him a friend because both our sons received the Robert C. Byrd scholarship to help pay for their college educations. No longer available, it was the only federally-funded academic scholarship in the country.

We also stopped in at the West Virginia Governor's office. Mark looks very governly as he stands at the podium where press conferences are filmed at the capitol.

Like most state capitols, the grounds around it are covered with statues of people that are the most important to the state. Front and center is Abraham Lincoln, who signed the state of West Virginia into existence in 1863 to join the Union. This happened when this section of the original state of Virginia decided to become part of the Union cause.

We thought it was interesting to see a statue on one corner of the capitol, memorializing the thousands of West Virginians that became Union soldiers during the Civil War. On the opposite corner of the capitol grounds is a statue of Thomas L. Jackson. More commonly known as Stonewall Jackson, the famous Confederate General, he was born in Clarksburg, Virginia--now part of the state of West Virginia.

Also on the capitol grounds is the West Virginia Museum and Cultural Center. We found that the museum was closed on the day we were touring, but the foyer was still open to the public. The three-story foyer was lined with beautiful hand-made quilts from all over the state.

The picture below is of the quilt that had the most ribbons and awards--2016 West Virginia Juried Quilt Best of Show, Mixed/Other First Place, and Quilt Purchase Award. Denisa assumed that these beautiful art pieces would be hand-quilted. But she was surprised to see that these top intricate quilts were machine quilted.

Since Denisa has pieced (and hand-quilted) a scrap quilt, she was particularly interested in this one. We include a picture of just a small corner to show the intricate detail. These pieces are less than an inch in size, and it took over 12,000 pieces to make this quilt entitled, "Pineapple Crazy." It received a first place ribbon in the "Pieced Quilt Division."

Also in the foyer was an interesting display of the ball gowns worn by West Virginia's First Ladies. There was a doll-size figurine of each of the governor's wives, adorned with the dress she wore when her husband was inaugurated. According to the actual portraits, the doll-maker that made these figurines did a fine job or capturing the likeness of these early governor's wives.

But the most recent First Ladies were very life-like, and their dresses were very close replicas of the actual dresses that are hanging in the display.

Sorry for the distractions of the reflections in the glass windows. But the current First Lady was pictured with her figurine, and the likeness and detail was striking!

Denisa was so interested in the quilts and the dolls, that we lost all track of time. When we noticed what time it was, we realized we only had two minutes to get back to our car before our parking meter would be out of time. After our jog back to the car, we were tired and ready to go home. But it had been another great day--exploring free things to do in yet another interesting capitol city.