A Beloved Home From the Past to Find New Purpose With Hardy County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Photo by Darryl Buning
By Stephen Smoot
In 1754 on an expedition ordered by the colonial government of Virginia to check French expansion into the Ohio Valley, 19 year old Major George Washington sparked the world’s first global war.
Two years into the struggle, Britain, Prussia, Hanover, and (most of) the Five Nations of the Iroquois League battled an imposing combination of Russia, France, Sweden, Spain, and Austria.
In Europe, Russian and Austrian armies overwhelmed much of Prussian territory. Hanover had little with which to help. North America saw the Atlantic Coast colonial militias and the Iroquois in a defensive posture as the French and their Indian allies pushed against the natural palisade of the Alleghenies.
George Washington served his King and colony by constructing a line of forts along the mountains, including Fort Pleasant at modern Old Fields. It was there that Robert Higgins, at the age where most intrepid adolescent boys take to the gridiron, wrestling mat, basketball court, or baseball diamond for adventure, entered history.
Higgins and a friend, as Samuel Kercheval and Charles James Faulkner wrote in “A History of the Valley of Virginia,” went to fetch water for Higgins’ mother. “Indians were lurking about Fort Pleasant, and constantly on the watch to cut off all communication therewith.” Likely, the men of the local families were on militia duty, forcing the boys to brave the danger in a war zone that presented potential dangers around every massive tree trunk.
Once they quietly found the spring and retrieved the water, the boys tried to sprint back the quarter mile distance to the fort. Higgins ran ahead of his companion – who fell to capture by the natives. Spurred on even faster, Higgins reached the fort safely.
Not long after, Higgins joined the area militia and, eventually, rose to the rank of captain.
The French and Indian War ended in 1763, but another conflict lay a few years away. He started the War of Independence at the rank of lieutenant and served with courage and honor. After the war, which took him far afield, he returned to Moorefield and constructed the three story whiteboard house that bears his name.
In between, the area that surrounded Higgins House endured devastating floods, the return of war in the 1860s, and efforts to replace it with something much more modern, but with much less of a story to tell.
And now, with the hard work of the Hardy County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, and aided by those with a passion for architecture and history, the Higgins House will gain new purpose as it enters a new era.
“Does one need to be great to be known?”
Robert Higgins gravestone bears that question that could have answers both grounded and metaphysical. History remembers him through the bits and pieces of his life left behind, especially his house that remains standing, sentinel-like at the corner of the parking lot adjacent to the city hall for the Town of Moorefield.
Michele Moure-Reeves, when it comes to Higgins House, is a historical preservation enthusiast and expert wrapped in the official cloak of a Convention and Visitors’ Bureau executive director.
Under her direction, Higgins House has slowly risen from the wear and tear imposed by time – now ready to assume a new role that will ensure its continued preservation far into the future..
But the story of Higgins House will remain intertwined with the story of Higgins himself.
First, as Moure-Reeves explains, the historical structure will house a museum. “The first floor,” she says, “will portray the life of a man whose life paralleled the development of our county.”
That development came with the violence and fear of war, but those who stayed persevered because of hope for a better future hacked from the land under a free Republic. “Three timelines are planned,” she said. These will look at a late childhood and early adulthood shaped by warfare and service in the militia, time spent as a prisoner of war, and life after the war as well.
As Moure-Reeves dove deeper into the history of the house, she discovered more about the man. For instance, at approximately the time he had constructed the house “he bought a large quantity of goods to be sold,” leading to speculation that he may have wished to use the building as a store.
Of course the house itself had its own story to tell. Char marks on the original logs and small core drilling samples into them revealed a complex history. Moure-Reeves said that most likely a fire damaged the building. Reconstruction required its deconstruction and reassembly around 1826.
Moure-Reeves knows that many come to Hardy County for its history. For that reason, the Higgins House will serve a dual purpose. The main structure will be home to the museum while additions built on either side will have a 21st century purpose.
On the Town Hall side, visitors will find the main entrance. Welcoming imagery and promotional brochures will greet them. On the other side, the addition constructed across from the Duffy Memorial Church will contain a small office, bathroom, and a kitchen to enable the center to host small-scale events.
Work has commenced on the second floor as well. Moure-Reeves invited Davis and Elkins University’s Gerald Milnes, an Appalachian folklore and folk art expert, to provide brief, but poignant, text to explain the powerful images and other exhibits it shall display.
Challenges confront Moure-Reeves as they do all such projects, especially since the COVID pandemic. Shortages, plus the multitude of restoration projects such as Travelers’ Rest and the Carskadon Mansion in Mineral County, Anderson House in Franklin, and many other such projects, sap time, effort, and limited resources of skilled workers and special materials.
Despite that, Moure-Reeves remains optimistic, saying they are “hoping to open in May,” but adds with a smile “all I need is five more hours every day!”
The mission of the visitor center lies in giving tourists a jumping off point from which to enjoy all of what Hardy County has to offer.
The mission of the museum in Higgins House, however, lies in “making the history of our nation local” by telling the story of the man and the house as each made their mark in a time and place.
Does a man need to be great to be known? Not at all. All a man needs to be known is to have lived a life that creates a lasting impact – and to also have dedicated, knowledgeable, and talented people in the future to share his story.
