Mercer County,  West Virginia  Historical Society

Mercer County Historical Society, Inc.
(908 Harrison Street)
P.O. Box 5012
Princeton, WV   24740
phone: 304-425-9017
mercercountyhistoricalsociety@yahoo.com

April 27-28: 3rd Annual better Living Show
 Friday, 10-8 & Saturday 10-6 at the Brushfork Armory. Featuring over 100 exhibitors with demonstrations, door prizes, health seminars & screenings, and a money machine.  There will be a charge for admission. For more info, call 304-377-7184.

May 12 – Bramwell Spring Tours
Take a step back in time to the historic town of Bramwell, as costumed interpreters share the history of Bramwell’s Historic Millionaire Mansions. Admission is $15.00 per person. Call Betty Goins at 304-248-8381 for more information.

May 19, 2012
Auction at Four Seasons Antiques for the Part 4 of the Estate of Sandy Pennington. MCHS will have a concession stand with food & drinks. Check their website for more information: www.fourseasonsantiques.com. Call Lois Miller for directions to the location.

May 26, 2012 - Community Yard Sale
The Mercer County Historical Society will be sponsoring a community yard sale in the parking lot of the Old First Community Bank-downtown Mercer Street. If you are a vendor and would like to sign up, call the Mercer County Historical Society at 304-425-9017. There is NO set up fee. The Historical Society will be selling concessions.

May 22-28 – The 28^th Annual Mountain Festival.
Attractions & events include: The James H. Drew Carnival, Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show, Miss Mountain Festival Pageant, Memorial Day Classic Auto Show, Eudora Farms Exotic Animal Petting Zoo, Fireworks, Chainsaw Carvers & Auction, Vendors, sporting events and much more. Go to www.bluefieldchamber.com for information and the entertainment schedule or call the Chamber at 304-327-7184.

October 12 - 14, 2012 - Living History Festival
The Mercer County Historical Society is moving forward with planning and preparation for the festival. We are still looking for ideas and suggestions. We need your input. Call us or email your suggestions. Our phone number & e-mail address are at the top of the newsletter.

Volunteers Needed
We are still looking for Volunteers on Mondays around 10:00 a.m. to help file, clip obituaries and log in information. If you can help a few hours once a week, let Lois Miller know. Thanks Tina Harrell and Linda Dick for their help

Now is the time to book your Christmas dinners & parties at the History House
We are already booking events. Contact Lois for more information on mercercountyhistoricalsociety@yahoo.com

Visit our Current Events Page
Click Here

Cook Book
The Historical Society is planning a cookbook. Members, we need you to submit recipes and old photographs for this cookbook. Please don’t hesitate and miss out, as it's a great opportunity to get photographs and recognition for your treasured family recipes. Save them for posterity and help the Historical Society raise money in the process. Don’t let Mom’s delicious apple pie recipe get lost to future generations! Put it in our cookbook!

Don't forget, we have GREAT BOOKS you can buy
See Lois Miller or Pat Smith for a list of books, or review the books on this web site.
Our newest book is a 128 page black & white paperback of photos and memories, shown below. It sells for $10.00. Shipping is $3.00 plus WV sales tax.

Kroger Cares Fundraiser
Help us raise money for our History House expenses at no cost to you. Mercer County Historical Society purchases gift cards from Kroger for $5.00 and we sell them to our membership for $5.00. Your five dollars is on the card when you purchase it from us. You loose nothing. You then purchase your groceries at Kroger and load the amount of money you expect to spend. For example, you load on $50.00 and when you pay for your groceries or gas, they swipe your card and the amount of your purchase is deducted from the amount you have loaded on the card. In turn, Kroger will send the Historical Society a statement every 4 weeks and 5% of the sales from the card to us. You are out nothing.
1. Load your card at customer service when you first get your card; after that you can do it at the register.
2. Use your card at least every 90 days so it does not expire. (Do not let your card expire).
3. Always leave a small amount on the card, like $1.00, so it doesn't expire (leave a small amount on your card at all times).
4. Purchase Gas or Groceries.
You can get your card at the next Historical meeting on September 28 or call Sandy Work at 304-487-3724. For those of our members that are out of area, you can also participate by sending us $5.00 and we will mail you your card. Remember it will have your $5.00 on the card when you get it. You can only do this by purchasing your card through a non profit organization, so if you shop at Kroger, you can help us too and still use your Kroger Plus card. Your family and friends can also buy and use these cards and it helps us out at no cost to them, so get them signed up also.

The Bronze Look, LLC
Fund raiser for MCHS

The Bronze Look has MCHS on a once per year fundraiser where MCHS will receive 7% of any gold taken to The Bronze Look, at 311 Mercer Street in Princeton. Put money in your pocket and help out MCHS with their “Charity Gold” project. Take your unwanted and broken gold jewelry, they give you a check and then they send MCHS a 7% donation. We all win! So save up the gold items you no longer want and watch for when they are going to sponsor an MCHS fund raiser. 
Historic 311 Mercer Street
Princeton, WV  24740
www.TheBronzeLook.com

We save aluminum cans
You can help us through your charitable donation of your aluminum cans. Bring them to the History House the night of the meetings, or drop them off at the wooden bin at the side of the History House.

NEW BOOKS AVAILABLE
These new books will be a great source of information for researchers & history buffs
Echoes of The Last War
On the Skirmish Line
Early Princeton & the Episcopal Church
Pioneer Church
Mercer County History 2002 (Hardback Book)
Virginia Railway Feature by Sam R. Pennington
Historical Genealogy by Charles S. Hatcher   (8 x 10 paperback)
The Virginia Era by Lloyd D. Lewis  (8 x 10 paperback)
Memoirs of Old Princeton (Small Hardback)
A Thousand Names from the Annals of Giles and Mercer County
Mercer County Births 1853-1873
Deaths of Mercer County 1853-1890
Marriages of Mercer County West Virginia 1853-1890
Defending the Railroad, The Battle at Giles County Court House and Pigeons Roost Ridge
click here for more information

Research Library at the History House
We are still looking for local and surrounding county books, and family genealogies for our library. If you only have one copy, let us borrow it and make a copy for our research library.
Click here for more information.

It is a good time to PLEDGE to the History House; send in a small donation to help with our monthly expenses, as we still try to raise funds to complete our renovations. For example, some members send $10.00 per month, some send quarterly, some pay by the year. This is especially helpful to those who cannot be on hand to help us with our fundraisers. The History House is a 12 room structure with monthly expenses, just like every other house.

The "History House" is available for small wedding receptions, meetings, anniversaries and birthday celebrations. We can accommodate about 25 persons and we can cater the event if you so desire. We can prepare something as simple as finger foods or a full dinner. A fee will be charged for room rental if a group has someone else cater or bring in their own food.

The Historical Society is collecting aluminum cans. If you have cans that need to be picked up, call Lois at 304-487-0559

Please click on the "Current Events" link below for other events.
MCHS Annual Dues are $15/individual  $20/family/$150 Lifetime Individual

Become a member of the Mercer County Historical Society