Graham House Museum

From West Virginia (WV) Cyclopedia

In eastern Summers County, at Lowell, WV, 13 miles east of Hinton, WV, the Graham House appears much as it did in the early 1770s when Colonel James Graham (1741-1813) settled along the northward bank of the Greenbrier River. His friend, Samuel Gwinn, also settled on the opposite side of the river at about the same time, and the Gwinn homestead, now known as the Gwinn Plantation, is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At the time of their settlement, the region was subject to frequent attacks by Native Americans, and in 1777, a band of Shawnee attacked and killed Graham's 10-year-old son, a visiting neighbor, and a young slave boy, and captured Graham's daughter Elizabeth, whom Graham ransomed in 1785.

The Graham House is notably large compared to other log cabins of the period. As it had been designed to serve as a fortress, it was likely built with a single door and no windows, but an additional door and several windows were added at a later date. An single-story extension on the rear of the house was added in the 1970s and includes a kitchen area and bathrooms. The building now functions as a museum operated by the Graham House Preservation Society. Admission information may be found at the society's official website (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jordanjones/Graham/GHPS/).

National Register of Historic Places: Graham House PDF (http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/summers/76001946.pdf)