WHEELING, W. Va. – Local historian Margaret Brennan will present “Inspiring Women in Wheeling History” at West Virginia Independence Hall in Wheeling on March 19, 2022, at 1 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.
March is Women’s History Month. The 2022 women’s history theme is “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope” and certainly through the years up to the present day, Wheeling women have provided care to local residents, from Dr. Eliza Hughes to the Civil War nurses, to the workers in today’s hospitals and nursing homes. They have promoted hope in our old city from Betsy Zane in 1782, to so many great ladies through the years.
Brennan is a local historian with a M.A. in history and a certificate in public history from West Virginia University. She has researched local women from Betsy Zane to the Civil War Sisters of Wheeling Hospital to Dr. Eliza Hughes and Dr. Harriet Jones. She will, as Abigail Adams said, help us to “remember the ladies” of Wheeling history.
For more information about WVIH and the concert, contact Debbie Jones, site manager, at (304) 238-1300 or Deborah.J.Jones@wv.gov.
West Virginia Independence Hall has been on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) since 1970. It was originally built as a federal custom house in 1859, served as the home of the pro-Union state conventions of Virginia during the spring and summer of 1861 and as the capitol of loyal Virginia from June 1861 to June 1863. It also was the site of the first constitutional convention for West Virginia.
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1988, the museum is maintained and operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, with the cooperation and assistance of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, except major holidays. The museum is located on the corner of 16th and Market Streets in Wheeling.