| What makes it historical? |
This mansion grew up around the log cabin of the Ruffner family! Joseph Ruffner arrived here in 1794, having bought the land without seeing it. Luckily enough, there were a bunch of salt licks able to be drilled and refined! His sons, David and Joseph Jr., were in charge of developing the new enterprise, and they became the first salt makers to use coal for evaporating!
It took ten years, but by 1805, the Ruffners were doing very well, well enough to make Charleston one of the top salt producers in the world! With some of his profits, Joseph’s fifth son, Daniel, had this Classic Revival mansion built for his family, though it often served as a stopping point for folks traveling down the Kanawha Turnpike.
Mr. Ruffner then went on to serve several terms in the Virginia General Assembly. Though he himself used slave labor to build his empire, his descendants would support the anti-slavery and pro-Union movements. A young Booker T. Washington worked as a gardener for Lewis and Viola Ruffner and got enough lessons there to encourage him to pursue his education even further!
The mansion got a makeover in 1902 under new owner, John Nash, and again in 1979 when it was redesignated for the West Virginia Commission on Aging. |
