The pumpkin house

     The 'ber months are among us now, so I thought I would write a little about one of WV's most popular fall attractions, The Pumpkin House in Kenova, WV.

The house.
The house itself is the homestead of Joseph Miller, built in 1891. Joseph S. Miller (1848-1921) was a prominent citizen of WV. He was an attorney and  served many years of his life in local government, served as WV auditor, was appointed as commissioner of the IRS and ran for Governor of WV in 1884  (he dropped out of the race). Joseph became good friends with president Grover Cleveland and Cleveland actually spent the night at the house once.
The fact about Joseph Miller that I love is his daughter's name was Lavalette and that's where the town of Lavalette, WV got it's name... But that's the topic for another day
Since Joseph Miller, other prominent members of the town have resided in the house, including current owner Ric Griffith who served two terms as Mayor of Kenova and is currently a state delegate.

The pumpkin house tradition.
Ric had started the tradition at his former residence in 1978 but it really took off when Ric and his family moved into the house formally owned by Joseph S. Miller in 1991.
Today Ric, along with several volunteers carve about 3,000 pumpkins every October to put on display. If you haven't took part in this WV tradition, I recommend it.
a photo I took of the pumpkin house in October of 2019
Sources-
Wikipedia.org, Joseph S. Miller
Wikipedia.org, The pumpkin house
CBS Philadelphia, the pumpkin house features over 3000 pumpkins in wv, (2019)[video] youtube.com
Wikipedia.org, Ric Griffith
The clio.com, the pumpkin house, ( 2020).

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