Ceredo Museum

07/07/2026

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07/03/2026

1976 marked the United States Bicentennial, and the administration of Mayor Mose Napier celebrated the occasion with a series of public events. Things started with the opening of the new Ceredo Museum on April 1, 1976. The town established its own Bicentennial Committee to coordinate further activities, which are described in this excerpt from "Chronicling Ceredo: The History of a West Virginia Town" by Cody Straley:

"The Bicentennial Committee organized many other events for the occasion. 200 trees were planted under a 'Plant a Tree' program in May. Activities such as parades, craft shows, live music, and even a patriotic musical called 'I Love America' were scheduled every weekend from June 4 to July 4. The celebrations culminated with a three-day series of festivities the weekend of July 4, including a large parade, a community picnic, and the burial of a time capsule . . . It was buried in the front yard of the Ceredo Museum and scheduled to be opened in one hundred years."

For its efforts, the Town of Ceredo was designated an official Bicentennial Community by the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission.

06/20/2026

Wayne County's Role in West Virginia Statehood
By Robert Thompson

When Virginia seceded from the Union in the spring of 1861, the news was greeted by the people of Wayne County in wildly different manners. Wayne County's representative at the Virginia convention, Rev. Burwell Spurlock, had voted against secession.

At Trout's Hill (present-day Wayne), the people ran a "secession flag" up the flag pole at the courthouse and celebrated Virginia's leaving the Union. Just a few miles to the north, at Buffalo Shoals on present Route 75, the people raised an American flag at the Luther mill to show their support for the Union. Soon, the people of Wayne County divided nearly evenly in sympathies between North and South. The northern colony of Ceredo was of course pro-Union; however, strong Union communities existed at Fort Gay and along the East Fork of Twelve Pole Creek near present-day Kiahsville.

Eventually, over 1,100 men from Wayne County would serve in the Civil War, with those numbers divided nearly evenly between Union and Confederate forces. Needless to say, this situation meant the people of Wayne County suffered greatly during the war. Homes were frequently raided by Union and Confederate forces alike.

Thanks to the prominence of the northern colony at Ceredo, Wayne County was included in the new statehood movement from the beginning soon after Virginia seceded. When the First Wheeling Convention was held in May to determine the course of western Virginia, Wayne County was the only county south of the Kanawha River to send representatives.

John Adams, a Unionist who was originally from Vermont but now lived at Shoals, immediately began lobbying for a new state. Z.D. Ramsdell, a reputed abolitionist who lived in Ceredo, also worked to get the voters of Wayne County to oppose secession. On May 23, 1861, the referendum was held to allow the people of Virginia to voice their opinion of secession. Wayne County voters opposed leaving the Union with 523 out of 800 votes cast in favor of the Union. Obviously, secession won statewide, however. Now that Virginia had left the Union, the people in the west began the process of separating themselves from the east.

William Ratcliff, a slave owner who lived on the present site of Tolsia High School, was chosen to represent Wayne County in the Second Wheeling Convention which was held in the summer of 1861 and established the Restored Government of Virginia, a rival pro-Union state government in Wheeling. Ratcliff subsequently represented Wayne County in the legislature of the restored government.

As the statehood movement moved along, a "New State Meeting" was held in Ceredo on February 10, 1863. It was led by John Bachus Bowen and Charles B. Webb, prominent Unionists. Z.D. Ramsdell served on the committee on resolutions. Among the resolutions adopted was the following:

"Resolved, that we believe that the division of the State of Virginia is one of the most important measures which our Legislators have acted upon of late years, and that the establishment of a new State as proposed, will contribute to the interests and prosperity of every inhabitant of West Virginia."

Additionally, they pledged to “use all our influence and all honorable means” to get as many people to support the state constitution adopted by the Wheeling Convention. Creating the new state would “throw off the yoke and burden which Eastern Virginia has so long imposed upon us…"

When the state of West Virginia entered the Union on June 20, 1863, Wayne County was included in the new 8th senatorial district which also represented Cabell, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, and McDowell. Both senators, John Bachus Bowen and William H. Copley, in the new district were from Wayne County, probably due to its strong pro-Union base.

Though the county seat officially remained at Trout's Hill, the Yankee town of Ceredo became the de facto seat of government during the war. Circuit court was held there, and the county records were moved from the courthouse for safekeeping in Ceredo. New county officials loyal to the Union were installed as well.

When the counties were divided into townships, today called magisterial districts, the influence of the new Union county government was evident. Wayne County's districts were named Ceredo, Union, Butler, Grant, and Lincoln. Only after former Rebels regained control after the war was Grant District divided to form Stonewall District. A century later, as population in the southern part of the county declined, Grant District and Lincoln District were eliminated and combined with Stonewall.

05/29/2026

Did you know that Ceredo is mentioned in the slavery exhibit at the West Virginia State Museum? ✅ Unfortunately, the information is a bit inaccurate. 😅
There’s no evidence to suggest that Congressman Eli Thayer ever intended for Ceredo to be a free Black settlement. The idea wouldn’t have made sense, since free Black people faced various restrictions in antebellum Virginia. For example, emancipated Black people had to petition the county court each year for permission to continue living in the county - and there was no obligation for the court to approve that request. It would have been more logical for free Black people to move across the river and settle in Ohio, which is exactly what happened in the community of Burlington.
As an abolitionist, Thayer’s solution to ending slavery was by peaceful economic means. He wanted to settle Ceredo with entrepreneurs from New England who would cultivate manufacturing industries, selling finished goods throughout the region. The financial success of Ceredo would demonstrate to Southerners the superiority of industry and paid labor to agriculture supported by enslaved labor. Seeing there was more money to be made without slavery, the South would gradually abandon the practice on its own.
Whether Thayer’s ambitious idea could have succeeded is uncertain, as the Civil War put an end to his settlement project.

05/22/2026

The original First Baptist Church of Ceredo building in the 1980s. The congregation built this sanctuary on Main Street in 1906 and expanded several times over the years. By the 1980s, facing a growing membership and deteriorating conditions within the old building, a new sanctuary was constructed to the immediate south. The new building, still in use, opened in 1987. The 1906 building was demolished shortly afterwards.

04/01/2026

How time flies! On this day 50 years ago, the Ceredo Museum opened to the public for the very first time. Pictured here is longtime barber and community historian Ed Adkins performing the ribbon cutting in front of eager Ceredo Elementary School students on April 1, 1976.
The Ceredo Museum was born thanks to multiple factors, including the recent discovery of the Ceredo Petroglyph in the Ohio River, the support of the Mayor Mose Napier Administration, and festivities surrounding the American Bicentennial. In fact, for establishing a permanent museum, Ceredo was designated an official "Bicentennial Community" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration!
Not many small town museums can claim to have lasted this long. We are very grateful to the longstanding support of the Ceredo municipal government, dedicated volunteers like our Director Syd Hanson, and of course people like you! We remain open most Tuesdays and Fridays from 9:00 - 4:00. Stop in sometime to explore our artifacts, look through our collection of documents, or just chat with the director. Here's to the next 50 years!

03/08/2026

Thanks for featuring our small town Creepalachia!

Ceredo sits along U.S. 60 in Wayne County, on the banks of the Ohio River at West Virginia’s western edge. It was founded in 1857 by Massachusetts reformer Eli Thayer, a Free Soil politician who believed slavery could be weakened by surrounding it with thriving free labor communities. Through his Emigrant Aid Company, abolitionist settlers purchased land from slaveholder Thomas Jordan and established a town meant to prove that industry and freedom could succeed side by side on the border of slave territory.

Early Ceredo grew quickly. By some accounts, it had around 500 settlers and several industries, including a shoe factory, match plant, iron foundry, gristmill, and woolen mill. Named for Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, the town was both economic venture and political statement. When the Civil War began, Ceredo became a Union stronghold and served as a recruitment center and headquarters for the 5th West Virginia Infantry under Col. John Ziegler.

The war years strained the experiment. Many of the original New England settlers left, industries failed, and the population fell sharply. Financial setbacks forced Thayer to sell his interest in 1868. Later growth in nearby Kenova, boosted by the Norfolk and Western Railway in the 1890s, shifted regional momentum away from Ceredo.

Still, the town endured. Ceredo is home to the historic Ramsdell House and was long associated with the Pilgrim Glass Company, which operated until 2002. Today, with a population of 1,414 as of 2020, Ceredo remains a small river town born from one of the boldest anti-slavery experiments in American history.