Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park - Big Stone Gap, Virginia - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Southwest Virginia Museum was orginally the home of Rufus Adolphus Ayers (May 20, 1849 – May 14, 1926) a Virginia lawyer, businessman, politician, and former Soldier of the Confederate States of America who served as Attorney General of Virginia in 1885.

"Construction of the house began in 1888 and was completed in 1895; the Architect-Builder was Charles A. Johnson. The exterior of the building is made of sandstone and limestone quarried locally and hand-chiseled. Native red oak is used throughout the interior of the building with hand-carved motifs adorning the windows and doors.

In 1885 Rufus Ayers served as Virginia's Attorney General. He and other gentlemen such as John Imboden, Charles Sears, George Carter, and John Taggart felt that Big Stone Gap could become the "Pittsburgh of the South" because of its iron ore and coal deposits. Rufus was instrumental in helping develop the coal and iron ore industry in Southwest Virginia and bringing the railroads to this area. Big Stone Gap, however, did not become the next Pittsburgh due to the economic depression.

The house was purchased by C. Bascom Slemp in 1929. Slemp, a native of Lee County, served many years in Congress and later became the private secretary to President Calvin Coolidge. C. Bascom and his sister, Janie Slemp Newman, had a love for Southwest Virginia, its people, history and rich culture. They collected artifacts depicting life of the area, which were originally displayed in the Janie Slemp Newman Museum. Before C. Bascom's death in 1943, he established The Slemp Foundation. It was his wish that the state acquire the Ayers' home for a museum and that the Janie Slemp Newman collection be given to the state for their museum."

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"A National Historic Landmark, the Southwest Virginia Museum is in an 1890s Victorian stone mansion with original oak interior. The museum's collection includes more than 25,000 pieces and state of the art exhibits telling the story of the exploration and development of Southwest Virginia from the pioneer era of the 1700s to the mining "boom and bust" era of the late 1800s."

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Street address: 10 West First St. Big Stone Gap, Virginia Wise 24219 County / Borough / Parish: Wise Year listed: 2002 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture, Politics/Government, Industry Periods of significance: 1950-1974, 1925-1949, 1900-1924, 1875-1899 Historic function: Domestic, Recreation And Culture Current function: Domestic, Recreation And Culture Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   12/30/2019 Manville Possum visited it