When you explore Kanawha, you encounter history and culture in many different forms: in museums, at live music performances, at archaeological sites and at a market with local connections. This very range is what makes these discoveries appealing. Rather than focusing on just one era or art form, you can compare different subjects.
Museums spanning art, history and science
The West Virginia State Museum presents West Virginia’s history, culture and art, as well as paleontology, archaeology and geology. Its subjects range from human history to the natural foundations of the state. If you’re interested in different perspectives on West Virginia, you’ll find a broad range here under one museum name.
The Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of West Virginia takes a different approach: its 240,000-square-foot building houses performing arts, visual arts and sciences under one roof. The museum complex includes the Avampato Discovery Museum and the Juliet Art Museum; admission to the museum provides access to both. Artistic and scientific subjects sit side by side in the same building, without becoming a single exhibition space.
Music and art in Charleston
Mountain Stage has been a live music program on public radio since 1983. Most live shows take place at the Culture Center Theater on the State Capitol grounds in Charleston. This gives you a concrete link between the music program and its venue; check the schedule before your visit if you’d like to include a show in your plans.
FestivALL and the Vandalia Gathering also represent different cultural highlights in Charleston. For ten days, FestivALL brings performances, concerts and visual art to the city. The Vandalia Gathering features traditional Appalachian music. If you’d like to learn about the musical tradition, these offer a different way in than Mountain Stage’s live shows: one focuses on traditional Appalachian music, while the other is a public radio program.
One striking architectural feature of the West Virginia State Capitol Complex is its 293-foot dome topped with gold leaf. It adds an architectural landmark to the cultural attractions. Comparing it with the stages and music events shows how a stay can be explored through art, music and built history in different ways.
Archaeological traces and regional traditions
Criel Mound in South Charleston is the largest of about fifty conical Adena culture mounds in an area west of Charleston that extends to Institute. It is 35 feet high and 175 feet in diameter. Its diameter is therefore five times its height—a clear illustration of the mound’s shape. Archaeological exploration here considers both the structure’s specific form and its place within the wider area, which contains other Adena mounds.
J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works offers a look at another regional tradition, with guided experience tours available from the company. A seventh-generation family harvests natural salt by hand from an ancient ocean trapped beneath the Appalachians in West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley. The combination of handcraft, family history and this unusual origin gives salt production its own distinctive regional character.
Discover markets and nature
Capitol Market is a year-round indoor and outdoor market housed in a train station dating from around the turn of the century. Its offerings include seasonal goods, gifts made in West Virginia, artisan chocolate, cheese and wine. The market combines a variety of products with a historic railway station; the local connection is especially clear in the gifts from West Virginia.
If you’d like to include an educational trail alongside culture and history, Spotted Salamander Trail is wheelchair accessible. For travelers, West Virginia International Yeager Airport offers dining, shopping, lounges and free Wi-Fi for passengers. The airport is near the intersection of three major interstate highways. These details complement the cultural attractions with two practical points of reference, without limiting your stay to a single theme.
Discover more destinations: South Charleston, St Albans, Charleston, Elkview, Cross Lanes, Dunbar, East Bank, Gilmer County.
For the broader travel overview: West Virginia.
