Where do you want to go, we asked each other.  We couldn't decide what in the world to do with our long weekend.  We pondered and we talked about options.  Undecided, we knew we had to make a decision and we had to make it soon.  It wasn't until the simple comment was made, "There is so much I want to see in this world" that we knew.  Immediately, we knew what the plans were going to be.  We were going to visit two locations in western West Virginia.  Places that we had each longed to visit.  I was going to finally visit the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, WV and Jason was going to be able to see the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, WV.  We couldn't be happier with our plans.

We took our time and researched everything fully and settled on our plans.   We woke up early and drove to Weston, WV and arrived at the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum at 11:30.  The first tour was set to start at Noon.   I had already ascertained and decided on the tours that we would be doing,  so I quickly paid and we went out to wait for our tour to start.   Ohhh my word, this building and tour is everything I could have imagined.  This building is quite historic and is just teeming with stories and happenings. 

 This is located in a national park and unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic the visitor center was closed.  However all overlooks and trails were open.  We took every chance we could to see the bridge.

One of the highlights of this weekend was the visit to Thurmond, WV.  This is an abandoned town nestled in the bottom of the gorge.  Once a boom town, this town slowly faded to a collection of empty buildings as the coal mines shut down.  The buildings are intact and have been secured and maintained by the National Park Service.  The commerce area of the town is right on the edge of the railroad tracks while the residential area stood on the hill above the town.  Walking through this town was amazing.  It is hard to not think about the people that walked those roads many years before.  

  The trail system and scenery in this area are second to none.  There are trails that take you to overlooks, trails that take you to abandoned coal mines and trails that lead you to rivers edge.   It seemed as if we saw a waterfall at every turn, each one just as pretty as the one before.   We could have stayed for a week and still not seen and experienced everything that this area has to offer.   There are mountain bike trails, miles of hiking, ruins, kayaking and so much more.

On this trip, we even managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the Monster Museum in Sutton, WV!  The quirkiness of this little museum was a great stop along the drive home.

We have already decided that we will be returning to New River Gorge as soon as possible.  It's pretty and full of activities that will have you appreciating history and nature.  A weekend at New river Gorge National Park and visiting Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was a perfect getaway!  

Check out the in detail descriptions for the locations visited during this trip

Thurmond 
New River Gorge 
Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
Museum of American Glass

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.  

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!

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!

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.  

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

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.

​I first learned about the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum somewhere right around 2010.  I had been searching for abandoned and historical buildings online and the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum came into my radar.   I read all that I could about the building.  I was fascinated with the history and filled with thankfulness that this building had been purchased and open to the public for tours.  Immediately, this location skyrocketed to one of the top three places to visit on my bucket list.  I wanted to visit the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in a really bad way.   Unfortunately, life and circumstances kept me away.     I may have not been able to visit at that point, but I kept a close eye on the website.  I was pleased to see that the tours were supplying the funds for ongoing restoration.  As a result, through the years they began to offer a larger variety of tours and more access to the property.   My interest only grew, but more years passed.

FINALLY, the arrangements were made and I had plans to go visit the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.  I was beside myself with excitement.  I had researched the different tours and I knew that there were two of the available tours that I was planning on taking.  I wanted to do the Four Floor tour and the Criminally Insane Tour.  We planned to arrive in time to start with the first tour, which would give us the option to add on a third tour at the end of the day if time permitted.
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We pulled up to the building and I was practically giddy!  The pictures that I had seen (and that I took) do not do this building justice.  This building is quite immense and imposing.  (I am honestly struggling to not just fill up this post with pictures!)

The building was opened in 1864 and operated as a hospital until 1994.  It was opened under the name of Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum but later changed its name to Weston State Hospital in the year 1913.  The name was changed back to “Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum” when it was reopened to the public for tours.   This imposing structure is the largest hand cut stone building in the United States and is the second largest in the world, second only to the Kremlin in Moscow.   
The main floor opens up to a grand entrance that has been beautifully restored.  Here you will have the chance to buy your tickets, sign your waiver and visit the gift shop.   Your price of your admission (no any of the variety of tours) will give  you access to the museum which is housed on the main floor and right wing of the main floor.  There are artifacts from life in this mental hospital and the property that included fields for producing their own food and a coal mine.  As you walk through the right wing you will see various examples of common treatments for mental illness. You can read about them and then take in the re-creations that they have set up.

 ​The first tour in my day was the Four Floor Tour.  This guided tour is fantastic.   In 2020 it was $30 and will last for about 90 minutes.  The tour guide will lead you through the main building and talk about the various features of the architecture and history of the building.  The tour guide will point out various points of interest and will share stories of the patients and personnel who lived, worked and resided in this grand building.   During the tour there will be opportunities to learn about the history and uses of the other buildings that surround the main building on this medical campus.    The tour will lead you through beautifully restored areas.  You will see what the building looked like when it was at the height of it’s use. 
 

However you will also see similar areas that are showing signs of the years of disuse and decay.  The juxtaposition between the two is amazing to witness.
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​The tours will lead you through many areas of the building that are rough and raw and showing signs of the years decay.  You will see the peeling paint.  You will see decay as you learn about how the areas were used.   You will see the sheer beauty of this building.

 All too soon it was time for our next tour but we knew that we would have time to see the rest later in the day!  Up next was the Criminally Insane Tour.  Yes, this hospital housed the criminally insane and at one point they had a building that was built for this exact purchase.  This tour is again led by a tour guide who was quite knowledgeable  In fact, we were lucky enough to get the same tour guide for this tour but even luckier, we were the only two people on our tour.  A personal tour!   We headed back to the criminally insane building.  Our tour guide let us peak into the windows of the hospital library and look at the patient graffiti that still graced the walls outside the library before heading into the main portion of the building.

​This tour was just as good as the first tour.  We learned that they housed two types of patients in this building.  They housed the patients that were deemed criminally insane but the state also used the building to house prisoners while they were awaiting on the trial for their mental competency.  The doctors and staff of the hospital would work with the prisoners/patients to determine the level of their sanity.   Much of the building was in a dorm room style where these criminally insane patients were housed together.  The stories, history and architecture on this tour was just as impressive as the first tour that we went on.  It was a great decision to add this tour onto our day’s activities.  It was an additional $15, but worth every penny.

After our two tours we continued to explore the museum and visited the gift shop.  We were seriously debating adding on the Daytime Paranormal tour to our day .   This tour would lead us through the buildings.  It would be full of stories of paranormal experiences and show different areas that were noted to have higher than average paranormal events.  We eventually decided to not do the tour so that we would have plenty of time to enjoy the museum.  
 
Visiting the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was on my bucket list for years and after visiting, I question why I waited so long to actually visit.  The money from the tours goes back into the building and each year they work on restoring and stabilizing this grand building, so the money is well spent.  But these tours are preserving not only the buildings, they are preserving the stories and the life that was held within these buildings.   As we were driving away Jason looked at me and said “we will have to come back to Weston, West Virginia in a few years to do the paranormal tour and to see what they have restored!”   Yes, this building really is that awesome!

While in Weston, WV; check out the Museum of American Glass and the New River Gorge Bridge