Ceredo Museum

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.

01/23/2026

This presentation on researching historic homes features our very own Henry and Julia Hoard Stark House and Z. D. Ramsdell House, two of three Ceredo properties on the National Register of Historic Places!

The West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office and the West Virginia State Archives & History review the resources available to uncover more informatio...

01/08/2026

Recognize some of these houses? 😉

01/01/2026

Greyhound Racing at Ceredo in 1929. The dog track was located at the present Ceredo Plaza.
Wayne County News, July 4, 1929

12/29/2025

Wayne County Fair at Ceredo
September 29, 1927
Wayne County News

12/23/2025

Dive into the rich and often overlooked history of Ceredo, West Virginia—its founding, its people, and the events that shaped this unique community. From ear...

12/13/2025

Thanks to everyone who attended this evening’s book signing with Robert Thompson! The museum has had a great time hosting two signings this holiday season!

12/13/2025

Another book on Ceredo history!

Jack Dickinson will be signing his new book tomorrow, December 13, at noon during our quarterly meeting. Cody Straley will also do a presentation about the Clio platform. Please join us!

12/12/2025

School may be closed but the Ceredo Museum is open today! Please join us this evening as Robert Thompson will be signing copies of his newest books, “Taming Twelve Pole” and “Before Huntington.” Robert will be here from 4:30 to 5:30.

12/10/2025

12/08/2025

Exciting news for history in Ceredo!

Dive into the rich and often overlooked history of Ceredo, West Virginia—its founding, its people, and the events that shaped this unique community. From ear...