News…

Families are invited to create noisemakers, treasure chests, snowflake cards and snowman pictures on Sunday, Jan. 8, as part of the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex’s crafting extravaganza called “Out with the old, in with the new.”

The event kicks off the Moundsville museum’s 2012 season of family programs. From noon until 4 p.m., visitors can have fun making crafts in the museum’s Activity Room.

Visitors will use seeds, corn kernels and small pieces of wood to transform clean plastic soda bottles into rattles that they can decorate with other odds and ends that have been piling up in the museum’s closets. Some supplies may be limited.

“These activities encourage hands-on craft making, and they are fun activities for the entire family,” said site manager David Rotenizer.

The museum’s new calendar of family programs for 2012 also will be available for visitors to take home with them for an “in with the new” preview of the coming year. While supplies last, families also can pick up copies of the Historic Preservation Office’s popular 13-month calendar, “Transportation in the Mountain State by Water, Road, Rail and Air,” which highlights how the state’s mountainous terrain, abundant rivers, narrow valleys and dense forests have challenged its people and industries.

For more information about this or any other programs at Grave Creek Mound, contact Andrea Keller, cultural program coordinator at Grave Creek Mound, at (304) 843-4128 or e-mail her at Andrea.K.Keller@wv.gov. Indicate in the message if you are interested in receiving information about upcoming events at the mound.

Operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex features the largest conical burial mound in the New World and ranks as one of the largest earthen mortuary mounds anywhere in the world. The Delf Norona Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. It is closed on Mondays.

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The Division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the Division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

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