Museum of American Glass: Weston, WV

Nestled in the heart of downtown Weston, WV sits a little gem of a museum, The Museum of American Glass.  This museum is dedicated to the artform that is American Glass.  We were in town to visit the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum but I didn't want to leave town until I knew that I had seen all that there was to see.  I turned the online resources to see if there were any other must see attractions.  The Museum of American Glass kept appearing on my screen.  

Museum of American Glass

Do I really want to go see Glass?

Glass?  I kept asking myself.  Do I really want to go into a building full of glassware?  I debated.  I went back and forth in my decision.   At one moment I would be thinking that I should really go to the museum because when would I be back in the town of Weston, WV and the museum was free to tour!  After a few minutes though, I would be back to the thought that it sounded, well....boring!  When we left the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum after a full day of tours, we actually drove by the museum.  The mural on the side of the building was neat and I was temporarily swayed to go visit.  But not that night, we were tired and it was time to go get some dinner and go back to our hotel.  

I went back and forth with the decision all evening long.  To go or not to go, that was the true question of the evening.  The next morning I woke up quite early. I knew that we had to make a decision about the Museum of American Glass soon because we were leaving town in just a few short hours! I picked up my phone and pulled up their website once again.  This time, something caught my eye!  I saw that they had a nice collection of Oil Lamps!

Oil Lamp at the Museum of American Glass

I knew at that exact moment that we would be going to this museum.   Jason has a keen interest in antique oil lamps and has his own collection.  This was now something that would have interest to us!   I got ready to close out of the website and my eyes caught sight of something else.  The website announced a new display.  It announced the arrival of a Lady Jane Stained Glass Dollhouse.   I build, collect and love miniature houses.  I was hooked now!

Lady Jane Stained Glass Dollhouse

There was no question about going to visit this museum now.  The website indicated that on the day we were going to visit that they opened at 9:30.  We arrived at 10AM.  The museum is housed in a storefront in the downtown of Weston, WV.  We stopped to look at the interesting displays that they had in the front windows before walking inside.  

We walked in and we were greeted with a room full of display cases.  There was multi colored glass filling each case.   While we knew what we really wanted to see, we knew that we were going to enjoy and explore the complete museum.  I saw glassware from companies that I was familiar with, such as Fenton.  But there were various glass pieces from glass makers that I had never heard about.  

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While the array of colors and types of glassware was amazing, we were happy strolling through the museum and taking in the vibrant colors.  The curators of this museum have each glass maker separate so we were able to see the glass art displayed before us.  While each maker was identified, there was not much background information displayed.  We stopped and read the names of the glass makers, but I would have loved to learn more about each one.

Eventually we came to the oil lamps and we slowed down and really perused the displays.  They have some amazing and unique oil lamps on display.

We say displays about glassworks and glassblowing and then I saw the Stained Glass dollhouse.  It was huge!  I was in my glory.  

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Lady Jane Stained Glass Dollhouse

The museum of American Glass was a neat little visit.  We only spent about a half hour to hour in the museum, but it was an interesting collection and the price was right.   While I would have liked to have seen a bit more information on the collections so that I could learn more about each glassmaker,  I would definitely recommend a visit to this museum.    This museum is a great way to round out a trip to Weston, WV.