The Ruffner family

  If you had read my last post, you'd know about the Tacketts. Well, this post is about the Ruffners. You hear that name a lot around Charleston, Ruffner park, Ruffner Avenue and so on, but who are the Ruffners?
Joseph Ruffner came to what is now Charleston from the Shenandoah Valley in the the spring of 1725 after he bought 500 acres of land along the Kanawha river from John Dickinson. Unfortunately, Joseph died 
March 23rd, 1803.
After Joseph, Sr. Passed, all of his lands went to his sons. Joseph's Son, David and his brother Joseph, Jr. pioneered the salt industry in the Kanawha Valley. The two devised ways and tools for drilling the first salt well into the Kanawha bedrock. In 1831, David laid out the town of Malden on his land. 
I read once that a visitor in the early 1800's described Charleston as "just a few cabins on the river bank". One of those cabins was surely the Ruffner cabin (Rosedale), which I had the privilege of seeing about a year ago. It now sits in the Daniel Boone park but originally sat at 1538 Kanawha Blvd. East.It was dismantled in the 1960's but rebuilt in its new home in 1976 by volunteers.It is said to be the oldest extant structure in Kanawha county. I've read a few different things about the history of this cabin but everybody seems to agree that it was built on the Ruffner farm, which was right outside of  the former Fort Lee, again the year is unclear but the Library of congress says "built in 1803 as a dwelling for Joseph Ruffner and to have been altered and elaborated into a clapboarded house in 1827 for Joel Ruffner. " So I'm assuming it was built by joseph, Jr. Since Sr. Died early in that same year. One really interesting thing I read is that the cabin served as a HQ for Colonel Lightburn in the 1860's during the Union occupation of Charleston.
Ruffner cabin wv
A picture I took of the Ruffner cabin
     Theres another impressive structure in Charleston built by a Ruffner. The Holly grove mansion. It was built in 1815 by Daniel Ruffner, another one of Joseph, Sr.'s sons. It is now part of the Capitol complex.
Daniel had advertised his residence as an Inn and had guests such as Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and John J. Audubon
Holly grove mansion wv
The Holly Grove mansion. Photo sourced from Wikipedia
April Morgan Ruffner park wv
My friend April Morgan (Charleston Ghost Tours) at Ruffner park

References 
Gerald, S.R.(2010) Ruffner family, e-wv.com

Ruffner cabin, Daniel Boone park, Us route 60, Charleston, kanawha county, wv, loc.gov

Peyton, Billy Joe and Clio Admin. "Ruffner Log Cabin (Rosedale)." Clio: Your Guide to History. September 19, 2017. Accessed November 30, 2022.

Holly grove manson, wikipedia.org


Allen Chambers Jr., Holly Grove mansion, sah-archipedia.org


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