The County Farm Cemetery and Poor Farm
is located on the east side of Roneys Point Run Road, north of
County Farm Road, outside Roneys Point, West Virginia (Ohio
County). The cache can be searched for day or night, because
it is not placed in the cemetery. This is a park and grab cache
with the ability to explore the cemetery during day light
hours.
The County Farm Cemetery was
established in 1932, and it is no longer active. When I visited in
August 2011, the grass was over my knees and the cemetery had not
been maintained for many years. The cemetery has a large cast iron
fence and gate that protects the small bridge that leads across a
small creek. I found that the original wooden County Farm
Cemetery sign had rotted and fell off the original posts. What is
left of the sign has been placed leaning up against the outside of
the gate next to the road. You will find a chain on the gate, but
it is not locked. You can explore the open field that holds
hundreds of unmarked graves and venture into the surrounding wood
area where I have found numerous plot markers and small metal tag
post type markers for all these forgotten souls. I would be careful
of how far into the woods you explore because the cemetery is open
to the public , but once you get further into the woods you are on
the old Henry Schmulbach estate that the county owns. There are
numerous No Trespassing signs clearly posted here. A State Trooper
who lives at the top of the hill also protects the old estate and
T.B. Hospital that is now abandoned. The Poor Farm was originally
the Schmulbach Mansion built by German Wheeling brewer, banker and
powerful city leader Henry Schmulbach for his second wife. Henry
built the home in 1913 and lived here for only 2 years, prior to
this he lived at 2311 Chapline street Wheeling. When he died in
1915 his wife sold it to Ohio County. A wing was built onto the
left side of the mansion to accommodate a poor farm and later T.B.
home. In a photo I found of the mansion in the 1930's the home was
still new and beautiful looking. Ohio County stopped operating the
poor farm in 1962 and abandon the estate in the mid 1960's. The
County sold the property to the State of West Virginia in 1967 at
this time the state built a hospital that served as a drug and
alcohol, mental behavior treatment center and later a boys and
girls detention hall. This building closed in the 1970's and the
property transferred back to Ohio County. As for Henry Schmulbach's
Mansion the county gave it one last fair well goodbye when they
gave the local fire department permission to conduct a mock fire on
it for training purpose in 1975. This Mansion in its day was the
premiere Home in Wheeling. The rooms were decorated with hand-made
wallpaper imported from France, imported marble fire places and a
conservatory... what a total waste and complete disrespect to such
a key city leader. After further research of this property and
cemetery I found that other grave markers and head stones were
found in the woods with older dates then when this cemetery was
established. Some markers were from the 1890's and other from the
1910 era. I found that this was odd and later learned that many
displaced cemeteries in the Wheeling area had moved stones from the
old Catholic cemetery and Peninsula cemetery to here. I am not sure
why this was done or if the entombed coffins and contents were
moved here or not. After the Schmulbach Mansion fell into the hands
of the county it became a rest haven for the old, poor, T.B.
diseased, metal ill, criminals and other various people of
handicaps that society did not want and so they displaced them
here. In those days the" Out of site -Out of mind" concept was the
norm of the culture. How very sad I feel for all the nameless lost
souls who were shipped here, lived here and died here. Many of
these people are buried in this old lost
cemetery.
