Booker T. Washington State Park (West Virginia)
Booker T. Washington State Park | |
---|---|
Location | Institute, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States |
Coordinates | 38°22′55″N 81°44′53″W / 38.38194°N 81.74806°W [1] |
Area | 7.43 acres (3.01 ha)[2] |
Elevation | 732 ft (223 m)[1] |
Established | 1949[3][4] |
Named for | Booker T. Washington |
Booker T. Washington State Park is a former state park near the community of Institute in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The park was operated by the West Virginia Conservation Commission, Division of State Parks, from 1949 until the late 1950s.
The park was a day-use
The land and the vicinity of this park were once part of a dense concentration of
Geography and setting
Booker T. Washington State Park was just outside the unincorporated community of Institute, Kanawha County, West Virginia, approximately 0.86 miles (1.4 km) east of the West Virginia State College (now University) campus.[5][6][7] The Shawnee Reservation Mound, a Late Adena Native American mound within present-day Shawnee Regional Park in Institute, is located 0.70 miles (1 km) southwest of the former park site.[6][7][8]
The park was situated on 7.43 acres (3 ha) at an elevation of 732 feet (223 m)[1] on the northern edge of the Kanawha River valley. It was bound by forested hills to its west and east, the confluence of Finney Branch and an unnamed stream in a hollow to its north, and the northern end of Pinewood Drive to its south.[5][6][7] Finney Branch is a tributary stream of the Kanawha River, which flows 1.22 miles (2 km) southwest of the park's location.[6][9] Dutch Hollow, formed by a Finney Branch tributary, is approximately 0.59 miles (1 km) east of the park's location and is the site of the Dutch Hollow Wine Cellars, presently located within Dunbar's Wine Cellar Park.[5][10][11] The former park land is covered in secondary forest consisting of tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), several species of oak (Quercus), American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), several species of pine (Pinus), and other deciduous species.[4]
Background
Area history
The 10-mile (16 km) section of the Kanawha River valley between present-day Charleston and St. Albans was once the site of a dense concentration of Late Adena Native American mounds and earthworks, including Institute's Shawnee Reservation Mound.[8][12] The Shawnee Reservation Mound is one of only three mounds that remain from this original complex of mounds and earthworks.[8]
This region of the Kanawha River valley was granted to George Washington, recently returned from fighting in the French and Indian War, following Virginia Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie's Proclamation of 1754.[13][14] The Proclamation of 1754 encouraged enlistment for the Monongahela expedition in exchange for a reward of land from a 200,000-acre (80,937 ha) reservation in western Virginia.[14] Between 1772 and 1774, Washington claimed four large land tracts in the Kanawha River valley totaling 23,216 acres (9,395 ha).[14] Washington leased the four tracts to James Welch in 1797, and following Welch's death the tracts reverted to Washington's estate.[14] These tracts were divided and sold into the 19th century by Washington's heirs.[13][14]
In Dutch Hollow, to the east of the Cabell property and the state park land, a vineyard and the Dutch Hollow Wine Cellars were established by Tom Friend around 1860 and operated for about three years.[15] The area's wine industry shuttered following the American Civil War possibly due to high labor costs, unreliable grape crops, and competition from out-of-state wineries.[15]
In 1853 Samuel I. Cabell purchased 967 acres (391 ha) encompassing the Kanawha River valley bottomlands between Sattes and the western area of present-day Dunbar.[13] Cabell, his wife Mary Barnes Cabell (a freedwoman), their family, and their slaves relocated to this property where Cabell operated a plantation.[13][16] In 1870 the Kanawha County Commissioners divided the former Cabell plantation land tract among his widow and his children, providing each with a strip of land extending between the hills to the north (where the park would later be located) and the Kanawha River bank to the south.[13] The present-day community of Institute is situated on land that was once part of Cabell's plantation.[13] Cabell's descendants and his former slaves remained in the vicinity of his plantation and settled a community known variously as Cabell Farm and Piney Grove.[13][16] A post office opened at Piney Grove in 1876, and Cabell's daughter Marina Cabell Hurt served as its postmaster.[13][17] Hurt is thought to have been the first African American female postmaster in the United States.[13] Piney Grove was renamed Cabell, then renamed Institute after the West Virginia Colored Institute.[13]
Under the provisions of the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1890, the West Virginia Legislature established the West Virginia Colored Institute for the education of African Americans in 1891.[16][18] The state purchased a 30-acre (12 ha) tract of land from Elijah and Marina Cabell Hurt, and commenced construction of the institute's campus.[13][16][19] The state gradually acquired adjacent lots until the campus consisted of approximately 80 acres (32 ha).[13]
The co-educational West Virginia Colored Institute opened in 1892 and added a military education program in 1899.[16] African American educator Booker T. Washington, a former Kanawha River valley resident from nearby Malden, frequently visited the institute's campus as a guest lecturer.[16] The institute's first president, Byrd Prillerman, was a friend of Washington, who had recommended Prillerman for the position in 1909.[16] The West Virginia Colored Institute gradually became the center of African American intellectual and academic life in West Virginia, and in 1915 it became known as the West Virginia Collegiate Institute to reflect its authority to grant college degrees as a post-secondary educational institution.[16] In 1929 the institution's name was changed to West Virginia State College.[16]
Development of state recreational facilities for African Americans
In response to the tremendous damage to West Virginia's natural environment from mineral and lumber exploitation, the state began the development of its state park system in the 1920s.[20][21] The state recognized the need to designate and protect lands worthy of conservation, and in 1925 the Legislature established the West Virginia State Forest, Park and Conservation Commission to assess the state's opportunities and needs for forests, parks, game preserves, and recreational areas.[20][21][22] The Legislature established the West Virginia Conservation Commission, Division of State Parks, in 1933 to manage the state's growing park system, and to leverage the resources and expertise of the New Deal-era programs for park development.[23] The park system continued to expand and consisted of approximately 30,000 acres (12,141 ha) by the mid-1930s.[21]
Despite West Virginia's growth in state parks, in both acreage and in number of locations, its state park system was not accessible by African Americans.
Park establishment and operation
The West Virginia Conservation Commission, Division of State Parks, had expanded to 13 state parks by 1945;[29] however, West Virginia still restricted the access of African Americans to its state parks.[21] In 1940 the NAACP contacted the Division of State Parks and inquired about the accessibility of African Americans to West Virginia state parks.[21] The Division of State Parks responded by stating: "Negro citizens would feel ill at ease" at visiting state parks alongside white residents, and that the division was deliberating the construction of a state park for African Americans.[21]
By 1949 private citizens had donated 7.43 acres (3 ha) of deciduous forest land outside the largely African American community of Institute to the Division of State Parks for the construction of an African American recreational area.
Booker T. Washington State Park opened in 1949 as the only state park accessible to African Americans.[21][30][31] Following the park's completion, its limited facilities included the water well, ten picnic tables, fireplaces, toilets, and the parking area.[21] According to National Park Service (NPS) surveys of state parks in 1950 and 1955, Booker T. Washington State Park lacked swimming facilities, cabins, campsites, and refreshment stands.[32][33] Unlike other West Virginia state parks, Booker T. Washington also lacked scenic views and hiking trails.[21] Also unlike other state parks, the Division of State Parks did not keep statistics on its visitors.[21] By 1954, West Virginia's state park system consisted of 40,355 acres (16,331 ha), with only the 7.43-acre (3 ha) Booker T. Washington State Park explicitly open to African Americans.[21][34]
Following the
Significance and legacy
Booker T. Washington State Park was the only state park ever to operate in Kanawha County. When the West Virginia State Park History Committee and former Division of State Parks chief Kermit McKeever published their book Where People and Nature Meet: A History of the West Virginia State Parks in 1988, there was no mention of Booker T. Washington State Park.[41]
See also
- List of things named after Booker T. Washington
- List of African-American historic places in West Virginia
- List of West Virginia state parks
References
- ^ a b c Geographic Names Information System; United States Geological Survey. "Geographic Names Information System: Feature Detail Report for Booker T Washington State Park (historical) (Feature ID: 1536226)". Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ West Virginia Legislature 1954, p. 745.
- ^ O'Brien 2016, pp. 105–106.
- ^ NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ OCLC 35967285. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ OCLC 36364802. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 3, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ a b c Map centered on the location of Booker T. Washington State Park (Map). Google Maps. 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ^ a b c Woodward & McDonald 1986, p. 102.
- OCLC 34325933. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ Powers 1970, p. 5 of the PDF file.
- ^ "Wine Cellar Park". City of Dunbar website. City of Dunbar, West Virginia. Archived from the original on December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ Olsen 2008, p. 355.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Haught 1971, pp. 101–107.
- ^ a b c d e DiSarno, Nicole. "The Kanawha Tracts". George Washington Digital Encyclopedia. Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Archived from the original on December 17, 2017.
- ^ a b Powers 1970, pp. 2–3 of the PDF file.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i West Virginia State University 2014, p. 8 of the PDF file.
- ^ "Virginia and West Virginia Postal Affairs". Daily Dispatch. Richmond, Virginia. May 10, 1876. p. 3. Archived from the original on December 17, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017 – via Library of Virginia.
- ^ West Virginia State Department of Education 1907, pp. 100–101.
- ^ West Virginia State Department of Education 1907, p. 101.
- ^ a b Sweeten 2010, p. 4 of the PDF file.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n O'Brien 2016, p. 105.
- ^ West Virginia State Park History Committee 1988, p. 8.
- ^ Sweeten 2010, p. 6 of the PDF file.
- ^ Collins & Turley 1980, p. 5 of the PDF file.
- ^ Collins & Turley 1980, p. 2 and 5 of the PDF file.
- ^ a b Collins & Turley 1980, p. 2 of the PDF file.
- ^ Collins & Turley 1980, p. 3 of the PDF file.
- ^ Collins & Turley 1980, p. 6 of the PDF file.
- ^ West Virginia State Park History Committee 1988, p. 6.
- ^ ISSN 0021-5996. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2017 – via Google Books.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ National Park Service Division of Recreation Planning 1950, p. 42.
- ^ National Park Service Division of Cooperative Activities 1955, p. 47.
- ^ National Park Service Division of Cooperative Activities 1955, p. 7.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ West Virginia Legislature 1957, p. 786.
- ^ West Virginia Legislature 1957, p. 41.
- ^ West Virginia Legislature 1959, p. 808.
- ^ National Park Service 1960, p. 53.
- ^ West Virginia Legislature 1958
- ^ O'Brien 2016, p. 106.
Bibliography
- Collins, Rodney S.; Turley, C. E. (April 29, 1980). National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: Camp Washington-Carver Complex (PDF). United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- Haught, James A. (January 1971). "Institute: It Springs from Epic Love Story". West Virginia History. 32 (2). West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
- OCLC 5217001 – via Internet Archive.
- OCLC 12371526 – via Internet Archive.
- OCLC 966910016 – via Internet Archive.
- O'Brien, William E. (2016). Landscapes of Exclusion: State Parks and Jim Crow in the American South. OCLC 973123431 – via Internet Archive.
- Olsen, Brad (2008). Sacred Places, North America: 108 Destinations. San Francisco: Consortium of Collective Consciousness. OCLC 228099372 – via Internet Archive.
- Powers, Michael J. (July 17, 1970). National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: Dutch Hollow Wine Cellars (PDF). United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- Sweeten, Lena L. (May 11, 2010). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form: New Deal Resources in West Virginia State Parks and State Forests (PDF). United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- OCLC 1251675.
- OCLC 1251675.
- OCLC 1251675.
- OCLC 1251675.
- West Virginia State Department of Education, ed. (1907). The History of Education in West Virginia Revised Edition. OCLC 578625783 – via Internet Archive.
- West Virginia State Park History Committee (1988). Where People and Nature Meet: A History of the West Virginia State Parks. Charleston, West Virginia: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company. OCLC 22116273.
- West Virginia State University (2014). Vision 2020: State's Roadmap To The Future (PDF). Institute, West Virginia: West Virginia State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
- Woodward, Susan L.; McDonald, Jerry N. (1986). Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley: A Guide to Adena and Ohio Hopewell Sites. OCLC 15010555 – via Internet Archive.
External links
- Media related to Booker T. Washington State Park (West Virginia) at Wikimedia Commons