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St. Albans Area Historical Markers
ST. ALBANS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
Discovered in 1963 by Sam Kessell. Recognized as one of the oldest and
deepest stratified sites of the Early Archaic period (8,000 – 10,000 BC).
Artifacts recovered document early inhabitants who camped here along the
Kanawha River were small hunter-gather groups with ancestral links to
modern native Americans. Site listed on National Register in 1971.
St. Albans along US Rt. 60 (MacCorkle Avenue), 1 mile East of the St. Albans Bridge. |
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MORGAN KITCHEN MUSEUM
Constructed in 1846. This cabin served as kitchen house for the 600-acre
estate of John Morgan. The day before the Battle of Scary, on July 16,1861,
Union troops commanded by Gen. Jacob D. Cox camped on the Morgan
estate and were fed from this kitchen. Donated to the city of St. Albans
by Albert Sidney Johnson Morgan, 1883-1973, this historic cabin was restored
and is now known as Morgan Plantation Kitchen Museum.
US 60 West (MacCorkle Avenue), 1.8 miles east of St. Albans Bridge, St. Albans. |
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BANGOR CEMETERY
This land, which was owned by George Washington, and then (eventually)
purchased by (early settler) Morris Hudson, who in 1819 built a small church
on the knoll that adjoined this property. As was the custom of the times,
2 acres were set-aside as a cemetery for members of the Bangor Parish.
The church burned in 1845 and was replaced and named St. Mark’s Episcopal,
now located on 405 B Street. (Samuel Washington, George's nephew, is
buried here. He inherited this property upon his uncle's death).
St. Albans along Kanawha Terrace (old US RT 60) at Walnut Street. |
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ST. ALBANS COVERED BRIDGE
Located at the site of the crossing of the James River and Kanawha Turnpike
and Coal River. Covered Toll Bridge, built in 1931 by Phillip Thompson and James
Teays, replaced a ferry which operated in the same location. The bridge,
one of the longest in western Virginia, had a 180 ft. span. General Wise’s
retreating Confederate forces burned the bridge July 21, 1861, after the
Battle of Scary Creek.
St. Albans at the Loop and the Coal River Bridge (old US RT 60). |
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WASHINGTON’S LAND
George Washington’s “Cole” River Tract of 2,000 acres was surveyed
by John Floyd in 1774 and patented April 12, 1774. Bounded by the
Coal and Kanawha Rivers, “5 miles and 88 poles”, it embraced the
site of St. Albans.
US 60 West (MacCorkle Avenue) in St. Albans Roadside Park, 0.4 miles east of St. Albans Bridge, St. Albans |
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FORT TACKETT
Nearby stood Fort Tackett, destroyed by Indians, 1790. Near the fort
the day before the attack, Mrs. John Young gave birth to a son, the
first white child born in this valley. The Youngs and a few others
escaped to Fort Lee.
Rt. 817 and Rt. 33, at the 84 Lumber Company. |
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BATTLE OF SCARY
First Confederate victory in Kanawha Valley fought here July 17, 1861.
Charge of the Rangers under Captain (later General) Jenkins won the
day. Whitelaw Reid described the event as a war correspondent with
Gen. Cox’s Union forces.
Rt. 817 at the Scary Creek Bridge, 2 mi. West of St. Albans..
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ROSIE THE RIVETER PARK
Located at the St. Albans Roadside Park to commemorate the Rosies
from this area that worked at the wartime factories during WWII. |
Above: While not a Highway Marker, the grave marker of Samuel
Washington, George's nephew, was recently uncovered at Bangor
Cemetery in St. Albans. He owned several thousand acres of land
in the Dunbar area and lived here for awhile. |

George Washington Monument
Errected in 1932 by the State of WV at the old
St. Albans Jr. High (then the High School) |

War Memorials
Erected in 2007 in Ordinance Park housing area. Originally build homes for workers
at the Naval Ordinance Plant in South Charleston. One marker is for all of the military
from St. Albans killed the wars from WWI to the Vietnam War. The other honors
Medal of Honor recipriant Robert Cox for his actions in 1904 aboard the USS Missouri
to extinguish a fire that killed 33 persons and averting the loss of the ship and
futher deaths. |
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GENERAL BIRKETT D. FRY
Civil War General Birkett Fry was born at Rosedale, oldest house in
Coalsmouth until it burned in 2013.Sign errected 2017. |
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