Dr. Joseph Audia, board of directors chairperson of Fort New Salem Foundation Inc., stands in front of the old Block House.
SALEM, W.Va. — Fort New Salem, a collection of authentic log homes turned museum, is expanding.
At 7 p.m. Monday, the Fort New Salem Foundation will break ground to kick off the construction of the Block House and Reynolds House to further work on what it calls its “Reshape the Future” campaign. Foundation members will celebrate the groundbreaking with a ceremony while donned in period costumes from the 1800s.
“Fort New Salem originally was built as a way to preserve the heritage of the area when the four-lane Route 50 was built,” said Dr. Joseph Audia, Board of Directors chairperson of the Fort New Salem Foundation. “It was turned into a classroom for what was once called Salem College in 1970, where they taught all things Appalachia, like blacksmithing, tinsmithing, basket weaving, and how to make butter and brooms.”
Fort New Salem has since then been donated to the Fort New Salem Foundation, that turned it into a museum in 2005, he said.
This new project will dismantle and reconstruct the Block House, a replica of the first establishment constructed in Salem when the community was settled in 1792…
