SUMMERS COUNTY W.Va. (Hinton News) – This week’s piece is not directly related to Summers County but is indirectly related because of its historical significance. Also that it is now in the private collection of someone who currently lives in Summers County. This has to be one of, if not the largest, piece in our collection, as well as having historical ties to the state of West Virginia.
This large antique oak ball and claw table was used as a map table during the Battle of Scary Creek. It was fought on July 17, 1861, in Putnam County, in what is today known as Nitro. For many years, it was housed in Morgan’s Plantation Museum in Winfield, WV.
My maternal Grandmother, Bea Thompson, became friends with Sid Morgan in the late 1960s. Sid was the curator of Morgan’s Plantation Museum. I recall my mother telling stories of when she grew up about Grandpa Morgan, who is Sid.
In the black and white photo you see of the plantation, there is an early two-story house on the far left. Mom has always told me that she would go with Grandma when she was cleaning for Mr. Morgan and had free run of the main house and outbuildings, even allowed into the attic.
One memory especially sticks out in my mind: Mom found a stuffed two-headed snake in the attic once. Sid gave it to her and told her to take it home. Grandma refused to let it in her house because, in her words, it was “gross.” This comes as no surprise because, as a child, we were all in Town Center Mall once. Mom wanted to hold a white python snake. Grandma told her, “Cheryl, if you hold that thing you are not getting in my car and can walk home. Come on, William!” Ha
Grandma had grown fond of this table because of the history behind it, and traded cleaning services for it. Grandma was one of my “partners in crime” growing up in terms of antiques and history. She is one of the reasons why I am so enthralled by both to this day.
When grandma passed away in 1999, she left this table to mom in her codicil because she knew she would cherish it as she always had. Morgan’s Plantation is no more except for a small log kitchen built in 1846.
It was relocated to St Albans in 1972 after the rest of the Plantation Museum was torn down for the John Amos Electric Power Plant. It is now a museum for the St Albans Historical Society. With all of the antique pieces of furniture that have passed through our collection, this one is and has always been my favorite.
