April 17, 2023 • 42 mins
Send us a textThis episode takes us to Heritage Farm. Founded in 1973 by Mike and Heriella Perry this former farm has become one of the most intriguing places to visit in our great state. From touring any of the seven museums to having an adventure with one of their many outdoor activities, this place has it all. This is definitely a great place for the entire family since it has something for everyone and will keep you occupied all day. If you would like more information on this fantastic location go to Heritage Farm website.Support the show
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
All right, everyone, it's another edition of West Virginia Talk
with James and Jerry. I'm James, I'm Jerry, and it's
another beautiful day in the Mountain State, West Virginia, and
we're gonna talk about a special place in the Huntington
metropolitan area. It is Heritage Farm Museum and Village. Now
this isn't like Hillshire Farm or Not's Berry Farm. It's
(00:34):
its own little thing and here to talk to us
about it is owner and operator Addie Perry. Welcome in
to the friendly confines of West Virginia Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Audie, Thank you, gentlemen. I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
All right.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So this is in technically Wayne County, correct, yes, sir,
but it's just outside of Funny Gate.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, the western gate to the Mountain State.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
All right, So you're very very close to Ohio and Kentucky.
So you have a tri state area following for this,
but we're going to try to get some people outside
that region to come in and visit.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Your place here.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So, Heritage Farm Museum and Village, this was the brainchild
of your parents, correct, that is correct.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
They they came here in nineteen seventy three. So we're
celebrating our fiftieth year on the farm, and they had
been raised in the city, and they wanted to.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Have a place for my older sisters to have horses.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
And this was a eighteen hundreds dairy farm, and there
was still an eighteen hundreds dairy barn on it, and
so they moved out for the barn, and then they
were just going to knock down the burned out shack
that was on it. But then when they went to
remove the wall board and the filth, they discovered two
hundred year old hand hun log cabin. And they said, whoa, whoa, whoa,
(01:54):
who did this? And how come we never learned about
them in school? And that began their passion for the
people of Appalachia. And then, like most passions have got
way out of hand, and now there's thirty some buildings
and a thousand acres and all kinds of good fun.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I really like that you pronounced Appalachian correctly.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There's only one way to pronounce it.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Didn't that That's what I thought. You don't hear that
in media.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
It's at the Apple, the Appalation Trail, or Appalachian Trail.
So it's there's a lot of variations on how it's pronounced,
but it's appleach.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Never I've never yeah, I've never found any of those places.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
But you know, well, it's like trying to find Western Virginia. Yeah,
it doesn't exist.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
You can always tell the new newscaster when they call
it Cable County or.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Cable County is the pronunciation. Okay, So this farm. When
people hear farm, they're thinking rolling pasture or a cattle pin,
but that's not what this is.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Exactly what is this?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
So it was so it was for you know, since
the eighteen hundreds it was dairy farming land, and then
all my growing up it was your typical farm, you know,
we raised cattle and pickens, pigs and chickens and all
that kind of thing. And then when I was away
(03:24):
at law school, they had always been collecting since the seventies,
collecting Appalachia, but while I was away at law school,
they began putting the museum together. Originally in that old
dairy barn was a three story tribute to Appalachia, and
then once my wife and I moved back, we began
(03:50):
with them to expand it down into the village. So
its roots are the farm and we celebrate obviously the
farm life for men. But in addition to that, we
each museum explores a different aspect of Appalachia, how it
is adapted to change. And it's a little different than
(04:11):
most museums, which typically only celebrate a period of time
or a famous person. The museums all deal with progression
of change over time and how the Appalachian people have
dealt with that change and persevered and overcome challenges. So
(04:32):
they're segmented into progress, industry, transportation, those kind of aspects
of life.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Right, and you mentioned museums plural. If I'm thinking right,
you have seven, correct.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
And then in addition to those focused museums, there's other
buildings like one room school house and eighteen hundreds of
in a log chapel that came from Lincoln County, a
neighboring county, and then places for artisans like the blacksmith
(05:09):
shop or the pottery cabin, hand blown glass, any of
those kind of places along the farm as well.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Let's let's talk about the museums first. Let's start with
the Progress Museum.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
So the interesting there's lots of interesting things in there,
but my favorite part is to visually show people what
a house that the drastic changes that happened beginning, say
eighteen fifty.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So it begins with what a home look like.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Here in Appalachia, especially western Virginia at that time. You know,
it's a log cabin and everything in it that man
and woman had to make themselves. They either figured out
how to make it themselves or they did without.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And so with the.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
The items they make and that we're in that kitchen,
I mean, they're basically living the same way as Moses had.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I mean you're going outside to get water, You're.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
You're cooking your food over an open flame, and you're
using a candle to see after dark. I mean humans
have lived that way for thousands and thousands of years,
virtually unchanged. The power sources that we used were unchanged.
And then the next vignette, the next kitchen, so to speak,
(06:30):
is at nineteen hundred. So in just fifty years, incredible change.
You know, you now have a kerosene lantern and you're
still burning wood, but it's in a cast iron stove,
and you're still bringing water from outside, but it's now
piped into your house. And because of the Sears catalog,
Yesteryear's Amazon dot Com, you could have anything anybody had anywhere,
(06:50):
you no longer had to make it yourself. And so
even for someone in rural West Virginia at that point,
you you lived very differently than just a generation before.
It's probably the most dramatic change in a generation.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That the world's ever seen.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I mean, we clearly go through fast paced change today,
but nothing has ever been as dramatic as what happened
between that post industrial revolution time.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And then we show the next step of the progression.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
So nineteen twenty five and that same kitchen now is electrified, right,
and so all those same items.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Now have a new power source.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
And so the ability to produce more leisure in your
schedule because you no longer every day wasn't simply about
preserving food. Because of electricity and refrigeration and freezers, food
lasted longer, and so it dramatically changed what we did
(08:04):
with our time on a daily basis, even here in Appalachia.
And then we we segue into the progress. Museum tour
can be given many many different ways, depending on the
audience and their goal. We get a lot of strategic
planning group retreats, and so there's a lot of cool
(08:25):
discussions of you know, are you are you a rodepex
or a mateg and what's your great idea.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And is it leveraged to its maximum? Is it's still relevant?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
So there's a lot of visual implications of the various
inventions along the way, and then there's a lot throughout
most of all the museums there's large model railroad displays
that have to do.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
In this one, it's talking.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
About how the railroad really changed Appalachia because we've always
had abundant natural resources, but until the railroad came to
the mountains, there was very little way to get those
natural resources out. And so not only did it change
Appalachic economically, it also introduced mass immigrations into those rural
(09:17):
communities to build the bridges and factories and mines and
and the railroads to to to change change the story
the narrative there. And then every museum has a hands
on component. In the Progress Museum, it's the printing shop.
(09:37):
So you know, thinking of progress, I mean, other than
the wheel, the printing press probably changed everything the.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Most, because you.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Every everything posts that that's been invented. You kind of
have to credit the ability to have education for people
to learn to rewrite and do math and and that
really leveraged the creat activity of humankind, and so the
ability to mass produce printed text really really change the course.
(10:09):
And so we celebrate that and explain that and allow
people to figure out how to typeset and put letters
upside down and backwards, and you realize how critical it
was to get it right the first time, right, no,
no white out, no delete key. So pretty pretty, pretty
amazing people along the way, And that's the main point.
I mean, stuff's nice, but people always make the difference.
(10:32):
So's it's it's the people who when we celebrate.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Well, the other museums that you have, I mean you
have Transportation Museum and it goes through several moods of
transportation over the times. You have the Dollhouse and Carriage exhibit,
life sized dollhouse that people can walk through, the Industry Museum,
and then you have a children's hand on activity center,
which we'll get to that in a little bit. But
the other two museums are probably the ones that I
(10:57):
would really pique my interest more than anything, and that's
the Country Store Museum and the Heritage Museum. The Country
Store Museum there's a lot of Coca Cola stuff there.
My wife would go nuts for that. So talk a
little bit about the Country Store and heritage museums.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
So the Country Store is really fascinating. It's a great
way to help, especially children, realize that if you don't
know where you've been, you will never know where you're going.
And why understanding our past is important because when you
walk into the Country Store, it doesn't take you long
(11:35):
to realize, oh, this is yesteryear's Walmart, right, and it's
everything in one spot.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
It was your hardware store, it was your clothing store,
it was your pharmacy, it was your grocery store.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It was all at one spot.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
And you know, we tend to forget, we think Walmart's
something new, And it helps you understand the concept that
basically every generation simply rebels against whatever their parents did,
and when they do, all they end up doing is
(12:10):
reinventing what their grandparents did.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, it's just a little subtle change.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Yeah yeah, yeah. So if you think so eighteen fifty,
each of us are our own commerce points. So you know,
I'm the tailor, you run the gristmill, and and you know,
and Jeremy as the farmer, and so each of each
of the townspeople come to us individually for their point
(12:37):
of commerce.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Well, then the next generation came and said, man, I
want to go to all.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Those different people, won't we hire Joe to run a
country store. And then we as the vendors, sell all
of our stuff to Joe. And then the people only
had to come to one place. It was all in
one place. So the country store was born.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And then the next generations along and says, man.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I could have a better selection of filling the blank, hardware, grocery,
whatever than that country store. And all you're doing is
reinventing what we had in eighteen fifty of different points
of commerce, but we put it downtown, and so downtown's
were born, but they were each individual buildings of commerce.
And then the next generation comes along and says, man.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I hate going to all those different stores.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Well, we put it all in one place, and so
the big box or you know, which is simply the
reinvention of the country store.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And if you look at it now, we're that following generation.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Nobody builds a mall anymore, nobody wants a big box anymore.
They now were going back. Of course, the Internet is
changing that as well. You can go on some site
and get all things that are purple in one spot.
But you know, in recognizing that will help someone understand, well,
what's likely to be next and how do I fit
(13:54):
into that changing errator?
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Now y'all have.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
A large or two Esion Guild membership, is that correct?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Right? Yeah? Amazing people.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
So I any given day we're open, the mix changes
obviously at festivals. We try to have all of them,
from the glass blower to the bread oven, the pottery
and woodworking, ten smiths, broommakers, printmakers, fiber artisans, blacksmiths.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
The sawmill. It's amazing. Those people are incredible.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Now do you get to do like hands on things
or is it just basically where you walk in and
they kind of teach as they go along.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, So it depends on the day that you arrive.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
So if it's a big festival, you know you're because
of the number of people you're watching what the artisans
are doing. You can from that extreme all the way
to on days that we're not open to the public,
you can go online and book a class.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So you can you can learn directly if you want.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So if you want to take a blacksmith class, we
have those open you know at right.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Now okay, and can you tell me a little bit
about the Conway Homestead.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
So that is one of the original homestead cabins that came.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Right from top of the hill where we live. So
when I mentioned earlier.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
That this area, so this whole area where we are
was settled by seven German dairy farming families and in fact,
the hill above us is called German Ridge really and
so yeah, so this, the Conway Home, was one of
the original structures up on German Ridge. And and the
(15:52):
kind folks were allowed allowed us to bring it down
so people could.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
See what it was really like.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
I mean, we have we have lots of log cabins,
but that is the one we've kept as is ie
no running water, no electric you know, so you can
and we and we cook in its open hearth and
so you can see how dark and smoky and uh,
I mean it it's really eye.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Opening because you typically.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
And this was a quote wealthy house because it had windows,
so you can imagine it's still dark.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So it's but it's it's really.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Humbling and awe inspiring at the same moment to realize
these people were amazing, And so that's one of the things.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We tell the kids, somebody in your family was amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
They built their own home, they grew their own food,
they made their own clothing, and they were able to
protect their family against everything that came against them, or
else you and I wouldn't be.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Here today, right.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
And it's not to shame us like we're less than
it's to inspire us to say, man, that is the same.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Blood that is within you. We just need to accept
the challenge and take it on absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
So I would love to do the strolling through and
seeing the log church and the old schoolhouse and the
black the blacksmith shop and.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
What have you.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
But some people have more of an adventurous spirit, so
you have an adventure park also.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
So when the pandemic hit and we couldn't go anywhere,
we decided to just start building up into the mountains
and and and it was a nice it was a
nice segue actually, because you know, we've been celebrating that
amazing person and how they overcame challenges in the mountains.
But we all the buildings are down in the valley,
down in the in the in the village, so we said, well,
(17:47):
we want to get the people up into the mountains
and let them overcome challenges of their own with a
modern twist. And so we added the challenge courses and
the zip lines and the mountain bike park and all
that kind of fun. So it's in a great way
to get people up into the mountains that we're celebrating.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Now, anybody that comes to do the Adventure Park, they're
going to pay a little bit extra fee, right.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Yes, yes, Now, we do have some fun adventure things
for all ages that are included in general admission, like
the Treehouse track, which has rope bridges and different challenges
that you can skid her like a squirrel and climb
like a bear, and tunnel like a groundhog, and it
takes you up into a giant treehouse about sixty feet
(18:32):
above the valley floor and celebrate the birds. There's a
fifty bird song wall and eagles nests and all kinds
of cool things up in there. But then for adventures
that require harnesses and extra equipment, then yet then you
can reserve those separately. But when you do reserve those,
(18:55):
all the farm activities are included in that about the
same price that you would pay for those adventures elsewhere.
You also get to enjoy the animals and the museums
and the artisans and all that in the village as
part of it.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So the activities that you mentioned with harnesses and that
kind of thing, what activities are you talking about?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
So we have two different challenge courses. We have Wilder
Zip and Climb, which is the family adventure course.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
It's two stories tall, has about.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Twenty different challenges, aerial challenges, and one hundred foot zip line,
so it's a super great introduction to the harness, ballet,
zipline adventures for young.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
And old alike. And then we have a four story challenge.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Course that's called Talitha Kom and it is a beast
it's amazing, forty different challenges, includes a forty foot free
fall called the Mountaintop Drop. And then we have the
Redtail Racers, which are the zipline course that you go
to at a time and you go about forty miles
(20:04):
an hour, which is how fast a redtail flies so
hemp hence the Redtail Racers. And then we have about
ten miles of mountain bike courses. We take you up
on what's called a holler Holler, which is a six
seedter UTV and we haul you up the holler and
if you scream then it's a holler, holler, holler.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And you can enjoy the trails up on top of
the mountain or the pump track.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
But then there's a bunch of different ways to have
gravity trails take you back down the mountain and there
are a lot of fun and it's a great way
to see the Appalachian Forest from all different angles because
you can zip over top of them, you can climb
through them or ride through them and explore them that
(20:53):
way as well.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
Now, one of the awesome things I think about your
bike trails is that you'll offer bikes. Is there that
people don't have to bring their own? And you offer
e bikes on top of that. So somebody that's a
little bit older, maybe the knees are kind of giving out,
can't really do the hard stuff those e boks.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Why are you looking at me when you say that?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Well, you know, hey, hey, there is no shame, man.
Those things are amazing and they really allowed to even
the plate filters.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
We like, we like for the whole family to be
able to come out and everybody to participate, and and
and honestly, you know, I can't keep up with my
youngest daughter.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
But but with a knee bike, I can.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Right, whatever it takes, that's right, that's right, Just keep
me on the hill.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
So if all these things weren't enough, I mean, the
heritage form is a draw for people filming. So we're
talking barnwood builders, we're talking American pickers, and I know
the History Channel they were out there filming a documentary
on the Hatfield McCoy feud.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's really fun to host,
to host film crews. We just hosted one couple of
weeks ago for Lifetime and looking forward to doing another
one here in a week or so for a commercial
when when someone wants that authentic background of of yesteryear, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
A it's a fun place to take a.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Shoot, right, right, So you have all these things going on,
and I know, just being outside of Huntington, you know,
there's several dozen places to stay for tourists that come there.
But they don't have to stay in Huntington. They can
stay with you, right, Yes.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
We have several different cabins. Actually, one of the places
you can stay we call the Hollyberry Inn.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It is one of the original.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Uh farmhouses for the the Black Dairy Farm, and obviously
it's been upgraded with electricity and running water and all
of that, but it still has the original floor and
it's beautiful. And then we have the Strawberry d which
(23:17):
is the Hollyberry End is a four bedroom home.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
The farmhouse there.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Then the Strawberry Inn and BlackBerry In are cabins log cabins,
each with two bedrooms.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So yeah, there are a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
And then that original barn has now been turned into
a retreat center where you can eat, sleep, and meet
forty people bunk.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Bed style inside a seven room barn. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
But you also have something that people can rent out
for the night that wasn't meant to be a cabin, right.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
The Kaboos.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. You can definitely tell where the
modern day r V concept came from.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
It was it was the caboose. We are actually in
the process, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
If you want to change it or not, but we're
actually in the process of allowing people to go in
and see what that looks like rather than having people
stay in it, because so many people want.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
To see in what an old caboose looks like. But
only you know, two people at the time ever got
to see it because people were in it.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
So we're in the process of allowing, rather than than
making you stay in there or allowing you to stay
in there, is to allow everybody to go through it
to see I mean, because it's amazing because that's where
they lived back when you you know, weren't restricted to
eight hours on the rail.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
They so it's amazing that you had a kitchen and
in beds and a bathroom and all that in that
in that little little car.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
That fascinating.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I mean, I guess a lot of people like me
who aren't train enthusiasts are still kind of mystified by
the Caboos because it was so different than any other
car on that train, and you always wondered exactly what
it looked like in there. So I think it'd be
an extra cole that you could rent it out for
the night.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
That'd be so neat.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yes, yes, and people.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Yeah. And the other thing you realize is people weren't
as big as they are today.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I hear that a lot with some of the older things,
you know, older homes, especially when you're coming through and
I'm not a tall guy by any means. And Jerry,
he's a little taller than I am. But some of
these older homes, when you walk through the doorways, you're
kind of not you don't have to duck, but you
feel like you have to duck down a little bit.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
So, yeah, it seems like there's a.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
General consensus that in the old days they were a
lot shorter than they are now.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yeah, most most log cabins were seven feet because you know,
you're construction by just raising these things over your head.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And so once you were over your head, you were
good it.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
Yeah, now something that has appealed to me. Like I said, James,
he's big into history. He loves the museums, he loves
all that stuff immensely. I mean, it's I don't even
know if I can actually put a true word to
his love for history. Immense is close myself. I like
the adventure side of what you're offering, but I also
(26:30):
love the arts. And you have something coming up with
y'alls opening what May sixth for the Spring Festival. Yes, yes,
y'all have a play that is going to be put on.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
To celebrate that fifty years on the Farm anniversary, a
gentleman Jesse Nolan, who was a professor.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Here at Marshall University a few years back, and his family.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
They used to come every week and we made good
friends with them, but then they had to their job
took him elsewhere, and we've still kept in contact. So
when he heard that we were coming up on fifty
years on the farm, he said, I want to do
something nice for your mom.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
My dad passed away eight years ago.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Mom's still living, she's eighty six, still lives in the
log cabin there, the original home, And he says, I
want to do something for your mom. And my dad
and I wrote a book together about heritage farm and
all of that before he passed. And so Jesse has
taken that book and put it to music, and so
(27:43):
it's going to be awesome and Mom's gonna love it,
which will be the best part.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
But yeah, we're going to.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Have the premiere of that performance at eleven thirty and
one thirty on May.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Sixth Okay, so this is the fiftieth anniversary. What is
new this season?
Speaker 1 (28:03):
And what do you have in store for the farm
in future years? And you've got to be brainstorm about
what you could add to this place.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
So to celebrate fifty years on the farm, in addition
to the musical, we have a new exhibit called a
History of Heritage, and so it celebrates the land itself.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
So these acres that.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
We are on their story and so it starts with
the mound builders of the Native Americans and then it
talks about the Savage land Grand So this whole area
from Guy and Dot down through the Big Sandy was
thirty thousand acres given by Lord Dunmore to sixty French
(28:47):
and Indian soldiers as payment for their service.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
In the war.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And so.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
There was a and we have that original map that
is going to be part of this new new museum.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
So it's on Lennon. It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Oh man, I would love to see that thing.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
And we have the original eighteen fourteen court case, the written,
handwritten opinion where the court all those years later finally
hired a surveyor and divided up the land because you
can imagine they just gave sixty guys thirty thousand acres, Well,
how do you tell who is who's which one's my?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Where's my four acres?
Speaker 6 (29:28):
You know?
Speaker 2 (29:29):
And so it's court case.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
And of course right after Lord Dunmore does that. Then
the Revolutionary War breaks out so they could care less and.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You know, after they lost.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
So it's a pretty interesting story how you get So
we are on lot thirty two of that land grand
so you can see all that there. And then we
talk about the German dairy farmers that were here. Got
to reach out to family members that are still living
and explore them, and then talk about mom and dad,
(30:03):
and then then the farm and so, and then a
little challenge to the people as they exit about their
own heritage and and how do you, uh, how do
you appreciate yesterday.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Today and and and dream for your own future. So
that's that's gonna be uh. I think that's gonna be
well received.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
And then we also are hoping here within the next
week to receive elk.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
So when you we on a on the wagon ride,
you go out.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
And see different heritage breeds that were here, like Scottish
Highlanders and Jacob sheep and and bison, and so we
wanted to bring the elk back so people could see
what what used to be here and hopefully over time
we can bring them back. I know they're doing that
in Logan County. So this will allow the public get
to see the magnificent uh creatures that that that used
(30:59):
to roam our Heill, just like the white tailed deer.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
And for people that aren't familiar with West Virginia, it
used to be an elk state and then they were uh,
you know, run out or killed.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
But then they started to reintroduce the elk.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I guess they were from Kentucky y years ago, right,
so and now you're going to get your own elk.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah, so I'm excited to share those with people.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
The bison's a big hit, just because of course Marshall University,
the Thundering Herd and his name's Marco, so that's but
but just you know, there there used to be millions
of of of bison and Appalachia and you know it's
just something we don't even realize.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
So so excited to bring bring the elk uh uh.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
As as to the to the group, and then as
far as the future, you know. So we're working on
a winter product so we can remain open all year.
Currently we we go dormant after our Christmas village and
don't wake back up until school tours come in April.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
So we're working on a.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Synthetic product that would allow us to teach kids how
to ski and twu being and.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Snowboard all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
So that's our that's our next activity that we're working
on real quick.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
What are the main festivals that somebody might want to
attend that you'll offer through the year.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Yeah, so good question. There's one. I mean, there's one
significant festival each quarter. So the spring festival is May sixth,
the summer festival is July second, the Fall festival is
September thirtieth, and then Christmas Village is the first two
weekends in December.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Okay, And during those festivals that's is that the only
time that you can see some of the original pieces.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, the museum, uh well, and and and.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
A lot of the artisans and things just just because
of the volume of people, the more you have, the
more you can the more you can show. But yeah,
so mom and Dad's original collection that was in the.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Old dairy barn.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
When they created the village, they moved it out of
that original dairy barn and they put it into a
building and and and and to the way they wanted
to present it is like a labyrinth. And so it's
it's super cool, but it it takes a lot of
people to show it because of the way it's set up.
(33:41):
So yeah, festival days are other than private tours. Is
currently the only way you get to see their original collection.
But it is worth it, if if nothing else, for
come out on festival just to see the original collection.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Okay, So hair does farm, museum and village. It has
a distinction that you guys can claim are the only
place in West Virginia that has this affiliation and who
is it with?
Speaker 4 (34:12):
So we are West Virginia's first Smithsonian affiliate. I like
to use first rather than only because I hope others
are able to join that Moniker, because it's a wonderful opportunity.
But we are the first, and and it's a program
the Smithsonian has across the entire country. And what they're
(34:36):
trying to do is they realize that not everybody's gonna
likely make it to get to go to Washington, d C.
To see the Smithsonian. So they have a program basically
it's like the Smithsonian in your neighborhood. So they want
places to be within you know, driving distance of of
(34:56):
of everybody in America to go somewhere and learn more
about their.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Either culture or art or history in some place that
presents it in a high quality manner like the Smithsonian does.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Okay, So your website has all the information that visitors
would need, dates, hours, lodging, and those kinds of things.
That also has ticket prices in there as well. What
are your ticket What's what's the emission prices this year?
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (35:31):
So Heritagefarm Museum dot com.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Adults are seventeen, seniors are fourteen, and children are ten.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Okay, So I'm also going to ask you about you personally.
You said you went to law school. Where's go to
law school? W Okay?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Did you at any point in your life think I
need to move out of this state.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
This is not for me, not really, No. I mean
I just I can grow it up on a farm.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
And I went to a single a high school with
four hundred friends, and I.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Mean, it's just I can't imagine any place better.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
I mean, I've traveled. I've been to forty nine of
the fifty estates. I've been to continents and countries. I've
been all over And I love traveling. I love everything
about it. I like going I like seeing new things.
But the best part's coming on right.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
It's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want
to live there.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
I get it, I get it.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
But yeah, I practiced law for about twenty years, and
then when Dad passed away, I came out here to.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Help with the farm.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
And it's funny, all those years practicing law, I fed
the animals.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
All the animals with my mother every morning.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
But now that I'm out here full time, I had
to hire someone to.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Feed the animals. So I don't know how all that
worked out. But it's a good life. I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I'm really curious now before we sign off here, what
was the one state you never visited?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
So I so I was supposed to go.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
My wife and I were celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary
last year.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
We were supposed to go to Alaska, which would have
been the fiftieth state.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
But I got I got prostate cancer, so we had
to trade in Anchorage for Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
But other than that, but we're doing good. All all
all's well now, but we'll we'll get well. We'll put
it on the eventual to do list again.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Thank goodness that you're doing okay, But hey, you guys.
Mean it's Hawaii. That's good.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Yeah, that was a twentieth anniversary and we took our
kids with us.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
And that was a beautiful God has a big, beautiful
world out there, Yes, absolutely, but it's.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
The most beautiful because you'll still want to come home.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
I was to say, it's the most beautiful in your backyard.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
I think, and and and I think that's just the
thing to remind ourselves is that, Yeah, we have plenty
of things to work on, but you know, we think
that the outside world has a negative opinion on us
that they you know, they really don't.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
We're the ones who give us most of our own
bad press.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
I mean, obviously there's exceptions to that rule. But when
someone comes to visit, you know, my main hat at
this point is tourism. So I get the host people
from all.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Over the world.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
They're amazed at how beautiful this state is and how
kind and welcoming the people are.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I mean, getting them.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Here is the hard part, but getting them to come
back is not difficult at all.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Right, So what's the official address of the Heritage Farm
Museum and Village.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
So thirty three hundred Harvey Road, Huntingdon, West, Virginia five
seven four, or you can find us online at Heritagefarm
Museum dot com.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
There you go, folks, put it on Google Maps, start
it heart at whatever. Just make sure you have plans
of getting there. You know, one thing that we do well,
we discuss things like this with the people who own
it or run it. We look at reviews and I
think there's a couple of thousand reviews on this on
(39:25):
Google Reviews, and you have like a four point eight rating,
which is crazy. But a lot of people what they
always look for general consensus. What they're talking about, A
great place for kids, b great place to mountain bike,
and see the people that work there are super friendly.
So those are three things to be proud of. But
(39:45):
I'm sure there's a lot more that you're proud of
as far as this establishment goes. And you want people
to come in and see everything that you have to
offer there.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yeah, thanks fellas. Yeah, like I said earlier, stuff's nice.
Speaker 4 (39:58):
But people make the difference and and man, there's just
there's just amazing people from whether they're working in a
museum or or uh An Artistan or working with the
animals or the adventure park, the uh just they they're
they're they're putting their best foot forward and face forward
for West Virginia and.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
I just I just love awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Well, it was great talking to you. Audie Perry, owner
of Heritage Forms, Heritage Farm Museum and Village, and West
Virginia's first Smithsonian affiliated museum.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Thanks Fellas, Hey, thank you. Oh I just say come
down and see us. We'll look forward to hosting you anytime.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
So this has been West Virginia Talk's latest episode. Heritage
Farm Museum and Village and West Virginia's first Smithsonian affiliated museum.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
I'm James, I'm this has been a J and J production.
Speaker 6 (41:00):
Many many many voice many many many many voice name
(41:23):
many many many voice name many nice
Speaker 4 (41:57):
Name and who
All right, everyone, it's another edition of West Virginia Talk
with James and Jerry. I'm James, I'm Jerry, and it's
another beautiful day in the Mountain State, West Virginia, and
we're gonna talk about a special place in the Huntington
metropolitan area. It is Heritage Farm Museum and Village. Now
this isn't like Hillshire Farm or Not's Berry Farm. It's
(00:34):
its own little thing and here to talk to us
about it is owner and operator Addie Perry. Welcome in
to the friendly confines of West Virginia Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Audie, Thank you, gentlemen. I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
All right.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So this is in technically Wayne County, correct, yes, sir,
but it's just outside of Funny Gate.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, the western gate to the Mountain State.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
All right, So you're very very close to Ohio and Kentucky.
So you have a tri state area following for this,
but we're going to try to get some people outside
that region to come in and visit.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Your place here.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So, Heritage Farm Museum and Village, this was the brainchild
of your parents, correct, that is correct.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
They they came here in nineteen seventy three. So we're
celebrating our fiftieth year on the farm, and they had
been raised in the city, and they wanted to.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Have a place for my older sisters to have horses.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
And this was a eighteen hundreds dairy farm, and there
was still an eighteen hundreds dairy barn on it, and
so they moved out for the barn, and then they
were just going to knock down the burned out shack
that was on it. But then when they went to
remove the wall board and the filth, they discovered two
hundred year old hand hun log cabin. And they said, whoa, whoa, whoa,
(01:54):
who did this? And how come we never learned about
them in school? And that began their passion for the
people of Appalachia. And then, like most passions have got
way out of hand, and now there's thirty some buildings
and a thousand acres and all kinds of good fun.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I really like that you pronounced Appalachian correctly.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There's only one way to pronounce it.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Didn't that That's what I thought. You don't hear that
in media.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
It's at the Apple, the Appalation Trail, or Appalachian Trail.
So it's there's a lot of variations on how it's pronounced,
but it's appleach.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Never I've never yeah, I've never found any of those places.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
But you know, well, it's like trying to find Western Virginia. Yeah,
it doesn't exist.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
You can always tell the new newscaster when they call
it Cable County or.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Cable County is the pronunciation. Okay, So this farm. When
people hear farm, they're thinking rolling pasture or a cattle pin,
but that's not what this is.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Exactly what is this?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
So it was so it was for you know, since
the eighteen hundreds it was dairy farming land, and then
all my growing up it was your typical farm, you know,
we raised cattle and pickens, pigs and chickens and all
that kind of thing. And then when I was away
(03:24):
at law school, they had always been collecting since the seventies,
collecting Appalachia, but while I was away at law school,
they began putting the museum together. Originally in that old
dairy barn was a three story tribute to Appalachia, and
then once my wife and I moved back, we began
(03:50):
with them to expand it down into the village. So
its roots are the farm and we celebrate obviously the
farm life for men. But in addition to that, we
each museum explores a different aspect of Appalachia, how it
is adapted to change. And it's a little different than
(04:11):
most museums, which typically only celebrate a period of time
or a famous person. The museums all deal with progression
of change over time and how the Appalachian people have
dealt with that change and persevered and overcome challenges. So
(04:32):
they're segmented into progress, industry, transportation, those kind of aspects
of life.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Right, and you mentioned museums plural. If I'm thinking right,
you have seven, correct.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
And then in addition to those focused museums, there's other
buildings like one room school house and eighteen hundreds of
in a log chapel that came from Lincoln County, a
neighboring county, and then places for artisans like the blacksmith
(05:09):
shop or the pottery cabin, hand blown glass, any of
those kind of places along the farm as well.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Let's let's talk about the museums first. Let's start with
the Progress Museum.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
So the interesting there's lots of interesting things in there,
but my favorite part is to visually show people what
a house that the drastic changes that happened beginning, say
eighteen fifty.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So it begins with what a home look like.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Here in Appalachia, especially western Virginia at that time. You know,
it's a log cabin and everything in it that man
and woman had to make themselves. They either figured out
how to make it themselves or they did without.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
And so with the.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
The items they make and that we're in that kitchen,
I mean, they're basically living the same way as Moses had.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I mean you're going outside to get water, You're.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
You're cooking your food over an open flame, and you're
using a candle to see after dark. I mean humans
have lived that way for thousands and thousands of years,
virtually unchanged. The power sources that we used were unchanged.
And then the next vignette, the next kitchen, so to speak,
(06:30):
is at nineteen hundred. So in just fifty years, incredible change.
You know, you now have a kerosene lantern and you're
still burning wood, but it's in a cast iron stove,
and you're still bringing water from outside, but it's now
piped into your house. And because of the Sears catalog,
Yesteryear's Amazon dot Com, you could have anything anybody had anywhere,
(06:50):
you no longer had to make it yourself. And so
even for someone in rural West Virginia at that point,
you you lived very differently than just a generation before.
It's probably the most dramatic change in a generation.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That the world's ever seen.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I mean, we clearly go through fast paced change today,
but nothing has ever been as dramatic as what happened
between that post industrial revolution time.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And then we show the next step of the progression.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
So nineteen twenty five and that same kitchen now is electrified, right,
and so all those same items.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Now have a new power source.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
And so the ability to produce more leisure in your
schedule because you no longer every day wasn't simply about
preserving food. Because of electricity and refrigeration and freezers, food
lasted longer, and so it dramatically changed what we did
(08:04):
with our time on a daily basis, even here in Appalachia.
And then we we segue into the progress. Museum tour
can be given many many different ways, depending on the
audience and their goal. We get a lot of strategic
planning group retreats, and so there's a lot of cool
(08:25):
discussions of you know, are you are you a rodepex
or a mateg and what's your great idea.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And is it leveraged to its maximum? Is it's still relevant?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
So there's a lot of visual implications of the various
inventions along the way, and then there's a lot throughout
most of all the museums there's large model railroad displays
that have to do.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
In this one, it's talking.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
About how the railroad really changed Appalachia because we've always
had abundant natural resources, but until the railroad came to
the mountains, there was very little way to get those
natural resources out. And so not only did it change
Appalachic economically, it also introduced mass immigrations into those rural
(09:17):
communities to build the bridges and factories and mines and
and the railroads to to to change change the story
the narrative there. And then every museum has a hands
on component. In the Progress Museum, it's the printing shop.
(09:37):
So you know, thinking of progress, I mean, other than
the wheel, the printing press probably changed everything the.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Most, because you.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Every everything posts that that's been invented. You kind of
have to credit the ability to have education for people
to learn to rewrite and do math and and that
really leveraged the creat activity of humankind, and so the
ability to mass produce printed text really really change the course.
(10:09):
And so we celebrate that and explain that and allow
people to figure out how to typeset and put letters
upside down and backwards, and you realize how critical it
was to get it right the first time, right, no,
no white out, no delete key. So pretty pretty, pretty
amazing people along the way, And that's the main point.
I mean, stuff's nice, but people always make the difference.
(10:32):
So's it's it's the people who when we celebrate.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Well, the other museums that you have, I mean you
have Transportation Museum and it goes through several moods of
transportation over the times. You have the Dollhouse and Carriage exhibit,
life sized dollhouse that people can walk through, the Industry Museum,
and then you have a children's hand on activity center,
which we'll get to that in a little bit. But
the other two museums are probably the ones that I
(10:57):
would really pique my interest more than anything, and that's
the Country Store Museum and the Heritage Museum. The Country
Store Museum there's a lot of Coca Cola stuff there.
My wife would go nuts for that. So talk a
little bit about the Country Store and heritage museums.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
So the Country Store is really fascinating. It's a great
way to help, especially children, realize that if you don't
know where you've been, you will never know where you're going.
And why understanding our past is important because when you
walk into the Country Store, it doesn't take you long
(11:35):
to realize, oh, this is yesteryear's Walmart, right, and it's
everything in one spot.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
It was your hardware store, it was your clothing store,
it was your pharmacy, it was your grocery store.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It was all at one spot.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
And you know, we tend to forget, we think Walmart's
something new, And it helps you understand the concept that
basically every generation simply rebels against whatever their parents did,
and when they do, all they end up doing is
(12:10):
reinventing what their grandparents did.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, it's just a little subtle change.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Yeah yeah, yeah. So if you think so eighteen fifty,
each of us are our own commerce points. So you know,
I'm the tailor, you run the gristmill, and and you know,
and Jeremy as the farmer, and so each of each
of the townspeople come to us individually for their point
(12:37):
of commerce.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Well, then the next generation came and said, man, I
want to go to all.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Those different people, won't we hire Joe to run a
country store. And then we as the vendors, sell all
of our stuff to Joe. And then the people only
had to come to one place. It was all in
one place. So the country store was born.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And then the next generations along and says, man.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I could have a better selection of filling the blank, hardware, grocery,
whatever than that country store. And all you're doing is
reinventing what we had in eighteen fifty of different points
of commerce, but we put it downtown, and so downtown's
were born, but they were each individual buildings of commerce.
And then the next generation comes along and says, man.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I hate going to all those different stores.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Well, we put it all in one place, and so
the big box or you know, which is simply the
reinvention of the country store.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And if you look at it now, we're that following generation.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Nobody builds a mall anymore, nobody wants a big box anymore.
They now were going back. Of course, the Internet is
changing that as well. You can go on some site
and get all things that are purple in one spot.
But you know, in recognizing that will help someone understand, well,
what's likely to be next and how do I fit
(13:54):
into that changing errator?
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Now y'all have.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
A large or two Esion Guild membership, is that correct?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Right? Yeah? Amazing people.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
So I any given day we're open, the mix changes
obviously at festivals. We try to have all of them,
from the glass blower to the bread oven, the pottery
and woodworking, ten smiths, broommakers, printmakers, fiber artisans, blacksmiths.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
The sawmill. It's amazing. Those people are incredible.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Now do you get to do like hands on things
or is it just basically where you walk in and
they kind of teach as they go along.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, So it depends on the day that you arrive.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
So if it's a big festival, you know you're because
of the number of people you're watching what the artisans
are doing. You can from that extreme all the way
to on days that we're not open to the public,
you can go online and book a class.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So you can you can learn directly if you want.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So if you want to take a blacksmith class, we
have those open you know at right.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Now okay, and can you tell me a little bit
about the Conway Homestead.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
So that is one of the original homestead cabins that came.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Right from top of the hill where we live. So
when I mentioned earlier.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
That this area, so this whole area where we are
was settled by seven German dairy farming families and in fact,
the hill above us is called German Ridge really and
so yeah, so this, the Conway Home, was one of
the original structures up on German Ridge. And and the
(15:52):
kind folks were allowed allowed us to bring it down
so people could.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
See what it was really like.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
I mean, we have we have lots of log cabins,
but that is the one we've kept as is ie
no running water, no electric you know, so you can
and we and we cook in its open hearth and
so you can see how dark and smoky and uh,
I mean it it's really eye.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Opening because you typically.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
And this was a quote wealthy house because it had windows,
so you can imagine it's still dark.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So it's but it's it's really.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Humbling and awe inspiring at the same moment to realize
these people were amazing, And so that's one of the things.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We tell the kids, somebody in your family was amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
They built their own home, they grew their own food,
they made their own clothing, and they were able to
protect their family against everything that came against them, or
else you and I wouldn't be.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Here today, right.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
And it's not to shame us like we're less than
it's to inspire us to say, man, that is the same.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Blood that is within you. We just need to accept
the challenge and take it on absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
So I would love to do the strolling through and
seeing the log church and the old schoolhouse and the
black the blacksmith shop and.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
What have you.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
But some people have more of an adventurous spirit, so
you have an adventure park also.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
So when the pandemic hit and we couldn't go anywhere,
we decided to just start building up into the mountains
and and and it was a nice it was a
nice segue actually, because you know, we've been celebrating that
amazing person and how they overcame challenges in the mountains.
But we all the buildings are down in the valley,
down in the in the in the village, so we said, well,
(17:47):
we want to get the people up into the mountains
and let them overcome challenges of their own with a
modern twist. And so we added the challenge courses and
the zip lines and the mountain bike park and all
that kind of fun. So it's in a great way
to get people up into the mountains that we're celebrating.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Now, anybody that comes to do the Adventure Park, they're
going to pay a little bit extra fee, right.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Yes, yes, Now, we do have some fun adventure things
for all ages that are included in general admission, like
the Treehouse track, which has rope bridges and different challenges
that you can skid her like a squirrel and climb
like a bear, and tunnel like a groundhog, and it
takes you up into a giant treehouse about sixty feet
(18:32):
above the valley floor and celebrate the birds. There's a
fifty bird song wall and eagles nests and all kinds
of cool things up in there. But then for adventures
that require harnesses and extra equipment, then yet then you
can reserve those separately. But when you do reserve those,
(18:55):
all the farm activities are included in that about the
same price that you would pay for those adventures elsewhere.
You also get to enjoy the animals and the museums
and the artisans and all that in the village as
part of it.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So the activities that you mentioned with harnesses and that
kind of thing, what activities are you talking about?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
So we have two different challenge courses. We have Wilder
Zip and Climb, which is the family adventure course.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
It's two stories tall, has about.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Twenty different challenges, aerial challenges, and one hundred foot zip line,
so it's a super great introduction to the harness, ballet,
zipline adventures for young.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
And old alike. And then we have a four story challenge.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Course that's called Talitha Kom and it is a beast
it's amazing, forty different challenges, includes a forty foot free
fall called the Mountaintop Drop. And then we have the
Redtail Racers, which are the zipline course that you go
to at a time and you go about forty miles
(20:04):
an hour, which is how fast a redtail flies so
hemp hence the Redtail Racers. And then we have about
ten miles of mountain bike courses. We take you up
on what's called a holler Holler, which is a six
seedter UTV and we haul you up the holler and
if you scream then it's a holler, holler, holler.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And you can enjoy the trails up on top of
the mountain or the pump track.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
But then there's a bunch of different ways to have
gravity trails take you back down the mountain and there
are a lot of fun and it's a great way
to see the Appalachian Forest from all different angles because
you can zip over top of them, you can climb
through them or ride through them and explore them that
(20:53):
way as well.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
Now, one of the awesome things I think about your
bike trails is that you'll offer bikes. Is there that
people don't have to bring their own? And you offer
e bikes on top of that. So somebody that's a
little bit older, maybe the knees are kind of giving out,
can't really do the hard stuff those e boks.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Why are you looking at me when you say that?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Well, you know, hey, hey, there is no shame, man.
Those things are amazing and they really allowed to even
the plate filters.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
We like, we like for the whole family to be
able to come out and everybody to participate, and and
and honestly, you know, I can't keep up with my
youngest daughter.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
But but with a knee bike, I can.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Right, whatever it takes, that's right, that's right, Just keep
me on the hill.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
So if all these things weren't enough, I mean, the
heritage form is a draw for people filming. So we're
talking barnwood builders, we're talking American pickers, and I know
the History Channel they were out there filming a documentary
on the Hatfield McCoy feud.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's really fun to host,
to host film crews. We just hosted one couple of
weeks ago for Lifetime and looking forward to doing another
one here in a week or so for a commercial
when when someone wants that authentic background of of yesteryear, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
A it's a fun place to take a.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Shoot, right, right, So you have all these things going on,
and I know, just being outside of Huntington, you know,
there's several dozen places to stay for tourists that come there.
But they don't have to stay in Huntington. They can
stay with you, right, Yes.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
We have several different cabins. Actually, one of the places
you can stay we call the Hollyberry Inn.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It is one of the original.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Uh farmhouses for the the Black Dairy Farm, and obviously
it's been upgraded with electricity and running water and all
of that, but it still has the original floor and
it's beautiful. And then we have the Strawberry d which
(23:17):
is the Hollyberry End is a four bedroom home.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
The farmhouse there.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Then the Strawberry Inn and BlackBerry In are cabins log cabins,
each with two bedrooms.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So yeah, there are a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
And then that original barn has now been turned into
a retreat center where you can eat, sleep, and meet
forty people bunk.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Bed style inside a seven room barn. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
But you also have something that people can rent out
for the night that wasn't meant to be a cabin, right.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
The Kaboos.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. You can definitely tell where the
modern day r V concept came from.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
It was it was the caboose. We are actually in
the process, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
If you want to change it or not, but we're
actually in the process of allowing people to go in
and see what that looks like rather than having people
stay in it, because so many people want.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
To see in what an old caboose looks like. But
only you know, two people at the time ever got
to see it because people were in it.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
So we're in the process of allowing, rather than than
making you stay in there or allowing you to stay
in there, is to allow everybody to go through it
to see I mean, because it's amazing because that's where
they lived back when you you know, weren't restricted to
eight hours on the rail.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
They so it's amazing that you had a kitchen and
in beds and a bathroom and all that in that
in that little little car.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
That fascinating.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I mean, I guess a lot of people like me
who aren't train enthusiasts are still kind of mystified by
the Caboos because it was so different than any other
car on that train, and you always wondered exactly what
it looked like in there. So I think it'd be
an extra cole that you could rent it out for
the night.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
That'd be so neat.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yes, yes, and people.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Yeah. And the other thing you realize is people weren't
as big as they are today.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I hear that a lot with some of the older things,
you know, older homes, especially when you're coming through and
I'm not a tall guy by any means. And Jerry,
he's a little taller than I am. But some of
these older homes, when you walk through the doorways, you're
kind of not you don't have to duck, but you
feel like you have to duck down a little bit.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
So, yeah, it seems like there's a.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
General consensus that in the old days they were a
lot shorter than they are now.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yeah, most most log cabins were seven feet because you know,
you're construction by just raising these things over your head.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And so once you were over your head, you were
good it.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
Yeah, now something that has appealed to me. Like I said, James,
he's big into history. He loves the museums, he loves
all that stuff immensely. I mean, it's I don't even
know if I can actually put a true word to
his love for history. Immense is close myself. I like
the adventure side of what you're offering, but I also
(26:30):
love the arts. And you have something coming up with
y'alls opening what May sixth for the Spring Festival. Yes, yes,
y'all have a play that is going to be put on.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
To celebrate that fifty years on the Farm anniversary, a
gentleman Jesse Nolan, who was a professor.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Here at Marshall University a few years back, and his family.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
They used to come every week and we made good
friends with them, but then they had to their job
took him elsewhere, and we've still kept in contact. So
when he heard that we were coming up on fifty
years on the farm, he said, I want to do
something nice for your mom.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
My dad passed away eight years ago.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Mom's still living, she's eighty six, still lives in the
log cabin there, the original home, And he says, I
want to do something for your mom. And my dad
and I wrote a book together about heritage farm and
all of that before he passed. And so Jesse has
taken that book and put it to music, and so
(27:43):
it's going to be awesome and Mom's gonna love it,
which will be the best part.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
But yeah, we're going to.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Have the premiere of that performance at eleven thirty and
one thirty on May.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Sixth Okay, so this is the fiftieth anniversary. What is
new this season?
Speaker 1 (28:03):
And what do you have in store for the farm
in future years? And you've got to be brainstorm about
what you could add to this place.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
So to celebrate fifty years on the farm, in addition
to the musical, we have a new exhibit called a
History of Heritage, and so it celebrates the land itself.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
So these acres that.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
We are on their story and so it starts with
the mound builders of the Native Americans and then it
talks about the Savage land Grand So this whole area
from Guy and Dot down through the Big Sandy was
thirty thousand acres given by Lord Dunmore to sixty French
(28:47):
and Indian soldiers as payment for their service.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
In the war.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And so.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
There was a and we have that original map that
is going to be part of this new new museum.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
So it's on Lennon. It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Oh man, I would love to see that thing.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
And we have the original eighteen fourteen court case, the written,
handwritten opinion where the court all those years later finally
hired a surveyor and divided up the land because you
can imagine they just gave sixty guys thirty thousand acres, Well,
how do you tell who is who's which one's my?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Where's my four acres?
Speaker 6 (29:28):
You know?
Speaker 2 (29:29):
And so it's court case.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
And of course right after Lord Dunmore does that. Then
the Revolutionary War breaks out so they could care less and.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You know, after they lost.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
So it's a pretty interesting story how you get So
we are on lot thirty two of that land grand
so you can see all that there. And then we
talk about the German dairy farmers that were here. Got
to reach out to family members that are still living
and explore them, and then talk about mom and dad,
(30:03):
and then then the farm and so, and then a
little challenge to the people as they exit about their
own heritage and and how do you, uh, how do
you appreciate yesterday.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Today and and and dream for your own future. So
that's that's gonna be uh. I think that's gonna be
well received.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
And then we also are hoping here within the next
week to receive elk.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
So when you we on a on the wagon ride,
you go out.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
And see different heritage breeds that were here, like Scottish
Highlanders and Jacob sheep and and bison, and so we
wanted to bring the elk back so people could see
what what used to be here and hopefully over time
we can bring them back. I know they're doing that
in Logan County. So this will allow the public get
to see the magnificent uh creatures that that that used
(30:59):
to roam our Heill, just like the white tailed deer.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
And for people that aren't familiar with West Virginia, it
used to be an elk state and then they were uh,
you know, run out or killed.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
But then they started to reintroduce the elk.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I guess they were from Kentucky y years ago, right,
so and now you're going to get your own elk.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah, so I'm excited to share those with people.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
The bison's a big hit, just because of course Marshall University,
the Thundering Herd and his name's Marco, so that's but
but just you know, there there used to be millions
of of of bison and Appalachia and you know it's
just something we don't even realize.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
So so excited to bring bring the elk uh uh.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
As as to the to the group, and then as
far as the future, you know. So we're working on
a winter product so we can remain open all year.
Currently we we go dormant after our Christmas village and
don't wake back up until school tours come in April.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
So we're working on a.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Synthetic product that would allow us to teach kids how
to ski and twu being and.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Snowboard all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
So that's our that's our next activity that we're working
on real quick.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
What are the main festivals that somebody might want to
attend that you'll offer through the year.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Yeah, so good question. There's one. I mean, there's one
significant festival each quarter. So the spring festival is May sixth,
the summer festival is July second, the Fall festival is
September thirtieth, and then Christmas Village is the first two
weekends in December.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Okay, And during those festivals that's is that the only
time that you can see some of the original pieces.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, the museum, uh well, and and and.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
A lot of the artisans and things just just because
of the volume of people, the more you have, the
more you can the more you can show. But yeah,
so mom and Dad's original collection that was in the.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Old dairy barn.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
When they created the village, they moved it out of
that original dairy barn and they put it into a
building and and and and to the way they wanted
to present it is like a labyrinth. And so it's
it's super cool, but it it takes a lot of
people to show it because of the way it's set up.
(33:41):
So yeah, festival days are other than private tours. Is
currently the only way you get to see their original collection.
But it is worth it, if if nothing else, for
come out on festival just to see the original collection.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Okay, So hair does farm, museum and village. It has
a distinction that you guys can claim are the only
place in West Virginia that has this affiliation and who
is it with?
Speaker 4 (34:12):
So we are West Virginia's first Smithsonian affiliate. I like
to use first rather than only because I hope others
are able to join that Moniker, because it's a wonderful opportunity.
But we are the first, and and it's a program
the Smithsonian has across the entire country. And what they're
(34:36):
trying to do is they realize that not everybody's gonna
likely make it to get to go to Washington, d C.
To see the Smithsonian. So they have a program basically
it's like the Smithsonian in your neighborhood. So they want
places to be within you know, driving distance of of
(34:56):
of everybody in America to go somewhere and learn more
about their.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Either culture or art or history in some place that
presents it in a high quality manner like the Smithsonian does.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Okay, So your website has all the information that visitors
would need, dates, hours, lodging, and those kinds of things.
That also has ticket prices in there as well. What
are your ticket What's what's the emission prices this year?
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (35:31):
So Heritagefarm Museum dot com.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Adults are seventeen, seniors are fourteen, and children are ten.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Okay, So I'm also going to ask you about you personally.
You said you went to law school. Where's go to
law school? W Okay?
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Did you at any point in your life think I
need to move out of this state.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
This is not for me, not really, No. I mean
I just I can grow it up on a farm.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
And I went to a single a high school with
four hundred friends, and I.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Mean, it's just I can't imagine any place better.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
I mean, I've traveled. I've been to forty nine of
the fifty estates. I've been to continents and countries. I've
been all over And I love traveling. I love everything
about it. I like going I like seeing new things.
But the best part's coming on right.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
It's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want
to live there.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
I get it, I get it.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
But yeah, I practiced law for about twenty years, and
then when Dad passed away, I came out here to.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Help with the farm.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
And it's funny, all those years practicing law, I fed
the animals.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
All the animals with my mother every morning.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
But now that I'm out here full time, I had
to hire someone to.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Feed the animals. So I don't know how all that
worked out. But it's a good life. I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I'm really curious now before we sign off here, what
was the one state you never visited?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
So I so I was supposed to go.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
My wife and I were celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary
last year.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
We were supposed to go to Alaska, which would have
been the fiftieth state.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
But I got I got prostate cancer, so we had
to trade in Anchorage for Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
But other than that, but we're doing good. All all
all's well now, but we'll we'll get well. We'll put
it on the eventual to do list again.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Thank goodness that you're doing okay, But hey, you guys.
Mean it's Hawaii. That's good.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Yeah, that was a twentieth anniversary and we took our
kids with us.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
And that was a beautiful God has a big, beautiful
world out there, Yes, absolutely, but it's.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
The most beautiful because you'll still want to come home.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
I was to say, it's the most beautiful in your backyard.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
I think, and and and I think that's just the
thing to remind ourselves is that, Yeah, we have plenty
of things to work on, but you know, we think
that the outside world has a negative opinion on us
that they you know, they really don't.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
We're the ones who give us most of our own
bad press.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
I mean, obviously there's exceptions to that rule. But when
someone comes to visit, you know, my main hat at
this point is tourism. So I get the host people
from all.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Over the world.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
They're amazed at how beautiful this state is and how
kind and welcoming the people are.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I mean, getting them.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Here is the hard part, but getting them to come
back is not difficult at all.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Right, So what's the official address of the Heritage Farm
Museum and Village.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
So thirty three hundred Harvey Road, Huntingdon, West, Virginia five
seven four, or you can find us online at Heritagefarm
Museum dot com.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
There you go, folks, put it on Google Maps, start
it heart at whatever. Just make sure you have plans
of getting there. You know, one thing that we do well,
we discuss things like this with the people who own
it or run it. We look at reviews and I
think there's a couple of thousand reviews on this on
(39:25):
Google Reviews, and you have like a four point eight rating,
which is crazy. But a lot of people what they
always look for general consensus. What they're talking about, A
great place for kids, b great place to mountain bike,
and see the people that work there are super friendly.
So those are three things to be proud of. But
(39:45):
I'm sure there's a lot more that you're proud of
as far as this establishment goes. And you want people
to come in and see everything that you have to
offer there.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yeah, thanks fellas. Yeah, like I said earlier, stuff's nice.
Speaker 4 (39:58):
But people make the difference and and man, there's just
there's just amazing people from whether they're working in a
museum or or uh An Artistan or working with the
animals or the adventure park, the uh just they they're
they're they're putting their best foot forward and face forward
for West Virginia and.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
I just I just love awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Well, it was great talking to you. Audie Perry, owner
of Heritage Forms, Heritage Farm Museum and Village, and West
Virginia's first Smithsonian affiliated museum.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Thanks Fellas, Hey, thank you. Oh I just say come
down and see us. We'll look forward to hosting you anytime.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
So this has been West Virginia Talk's latest episode. Heritage
Farm Museum and Village and West Virginia's first Smithsonian affiliated museum.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
I'm James, I'm this has been a J and J production.
Speaker 6 (41:00):
Many many many voice many many many many voice name
(41:23):
many many many voice name many nice
Speaker 4 (41:57):
Name and who
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com