Heritage Partner: Wheeling National Heritage Area

The Wheeling National Heritage Area (Wheeling Heritage) preserves and celebrates the city’s dramatic setting, resources, and history, including its role as the birthplace of the state of West Virginia during the Civil War.

The Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation leads community efforts to recognize, communicate and preserve

Wheeling’s heritage. Through a focus on the core of the Heritage Area and its unique Heritage Port, we serve as a catalyst for economic revitalization, acting in public/private partnerships, which offer our citizens the opportunity to actively participate in the benefits of our activities.  Our projects and programs support the “Plan for the Wheeling National Heritage Area.”

Wheeling’s economic future is enhanced, providing new employment opportunities and economic revitalization through preservation and utilization of the  Wheeling National Heritage Area’s natural setting and historic resources.

• Public Awareness and Identity – Citizens and officials in Wheeling support and understand WNHAC’s mission and how it provides vision, leadership, and resources to the community.
• Preservation – WNHAC assists public and private entities in Wheeling to appreciate and value historic resources within the community, providing assistance and encouragement to achieve appropriate preservation and reuse.
• Interpretation and Education – Residents and visitors understand Wheeling’s history and the community’s part in the national story, including its roles in transportation, commerce, and conflict, as well as the important contribution of the city’s resources to these themes.
• Economic and Community Development – WNHAC projects, including completed facilities such as the Artisan Center, Heritage Port, Inter-modal Transportation Center, and Wheeling Stamping as well as activities defined in the revised Plan, build a pride of place and sense of vitality in the core of the City, encouraging new and expanded shopping, office, recreational, entertainment, and residential opportunities in the core of the Heritage Area.
• Recreation – Public open spaces in Wheeling, including Heritage Port, the Heritage Trail, and other venues defined in the Plan, allow citizens and visitors to appreciate the natural and man-made beauty of our city’s resources, understand its history, and engage in a variety of public activities that will enliven the city and contribute to its economic vitality.
• Sustainability – WNHAC assists the community and its public and private institutions to act cooperatively to preserve and use the community’s heritage to advance revitalization and reinvestment initiatives, developing sources of income that can sustain the organization when federal heritage funds are no longer available after 2015.

▶ FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT THE WHEELING HERITAGE WEBSITE.