Field Trip!

The kids and I took a field trip with our homeschool group to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, formerly known as the Weston State Hospital.

This is the main entrance. I love the curved archways.

This is a view from one of the rooms the nurses would have lived in.
This is a pencil drawing of some of the patients from the 1850's.

This is original stencil work on the ceiling of the first floor.
A gurney.
Each section of the hospital looked the same. Long hallways with doors on either side.
The rooms were almost all identical each with a window to allow sunlight...supposedly to have curative effects on the patients.
A couple of the rooms had these big eye bolts. Here they would chain the most violent of patients.
Here's a link to the museum's web site. Be sure to read about the history of the building. It's all very interesting.

HISTORY AND HERITAGE TRAVEL IN WEST VIRGINIA TRANS-ALLEGHENY LUNATIC ASYLUM