Charleston, West Virgina

I started for Charleston on July 27th.  I ended up just passing through Virginia, which was a very beautiful drive even though it rained most of the way.  On a side note I stopped at a Love's and my car was immediately surrounded by bees, one of the truck drivers pointed out that one of the truck trailers had a bee hive on top of it.

When I finally arrived in West Virginia I went to see the Capitol Building first.  The building was completed in 1932 and was designed by Cass Gilbert.  The dome was molded after the U.S. Capitol, but is five feet taller than the actual Capitol.  The dome is covered with 23 and 1/2 carat gold.  I also saw the Governor's Mansion which was next to the Capitol.  I didn't get to see the State Museum & Culture Center since it is closed on Sundays.

What up

Governor's Mansion

State Capitol

Spring Hill Cemetery Park.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Appalachian Power Park which is home to the West Virginia Power, the Class-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  It was of course closed so I couldn't really see it that well, but I figured when in Rome, might as well see a chain gate with a field behind it.

Can you spot the field

The LaBelle Theater, it was originally built in the 1940s by Walter B. Urling.  He named the theater after his mother and daughter.  The name was changed to Cinema South in the 1960s, closed in the 1980s, reopened as a church in the 1990s, and in 2003 the city of South Charleston purchased, renovated, and reopened it as a working theater.

Movie theater

My last stop for the day in Charleston was something really interesting and something I'd never seen before.  It's called The Mound and it is the second largest remaining Indian burial mound in the state.  It is a large earthen pile measuring 175 feet in diameter at the base and is approximately 35 feet high.  It is believed that the earliest inhabitants of South Charleston were a tribe of people referred to as Indians of the Adena culture.

The Mound

Burial grounds