NSCDA WV Markers: 1900-1932
The first project of the Colonial Dames in West Virginia was to pay tribute to the patriots who blazed the trails, built the forts, and helped establish settlements in western Virginia.
The SUN DIAL MARKER on the Kanawha River in Charleston, West Virginia, commemorated Charles Clendenin whose family helped establish Charles Town in western Virginia. This marker was the first colonial monument erected by the Founders of NSCDA WV. George Clendenin, his son, is also considered the FOUNDER of Charleston.
A COMMEMORATIVE MARKER in the Old Stone Church of Lewisburg honored the DEFENDERS OF THE FRONTIER Andrew Donnally and John Stuart, colonels in the Virginia militia. These patriots built Fort Donnally (1771) and Fort Spring (1771) which led to the founding of Lewisburg in 1782.
A COMMEMORATIVE MARKER located in the churchyard of Grace Episcopal Church, Ravenswood, West Virginia, erected in 1932, honored GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON for his service in the French and Indian War. In 1772 Washington was awarded the military land grant of 2,443 acres by King George III of England. (The year 1932 was the bicentennial year of the birth of George Washington.) Washington surveyed much of the land in western Virginia and helped blaze the Midland Trail to encourage settlements.
The SAVAGE LAND GRANT MARKER east of Barboursville on the Midland Trail was awarded in 1772 by King George III of England to CAPTAIN JOHN SAVAGE and the COLONIAL SOLDIERS of his company who served under General George Washington at Great Meadows, Pennsylvania, in 1754 (the beginning of the French and Indian War). The grant was for 28,628 acres from near Burning Spring extending to the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers. The marker was dedicated in 1930.
A COMMEMORATIVE MARKER honoring DANIEL BOONE was dedicated on April 11, 1929 at Falls View on the Kanawha River at the site of Daniel Boone’s favorite camp in western Virginia. From 1788-1799, he lived in a cabin on the south side of the Kanawha River and hunted deer from a cave in a cliff high above the river. He made salt from a spring at the water’s edge to preserve the meat and he taught the settlers how to use the beaver trap. In 1789 during the Indian Wars, he became Lt. Col. Of the Kanawha Militia and also served as a delegate to the Virginia assembly.
*Boone’s rifle, walking stick, beaver trap, and surveying stone are part of the DANIEL BOONE: ONE OF AMERICA’S GREATEST FRONTIER LEGENDS exhibit at The West Virginia State Museum in the Capital Complex. The museum is open to the public free of charge. The Museum has been called a smaller version of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.