BECKLEY, W.Va. (WVNS) — History comes to life at the West Virginia Youth Museum on Sunday, June 30, 2024, as visitors are transported back in time to the late 1700s to meet Thomas Ingles, son of Mary Draper Ingles.
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History Alive! is a program sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council that offers living history performances throughout the state.
Featuring over 10 characters, the show offers glimpses into the characters’ pasts from a first-person perspective.
Thomas Ingles came to the Southern West Virginia Youth Museum to tell his story, one that has often been overshadowed by his famous mother, Mary Draper Ingles.
Becky Leach, executive director of the Raleigh County Historical Society, said these presentations are important for everyone.
“This is just an encouragement to keep our history alive and that it’s something to look forward to and hold onto for the future, for future generations. We don’t have to lose all of yesterday just because it’s gone,” Leach said.
Leslie Gray Baker, parks and recreation director for the city of Beckley, said they try to give two presentations each summer.
“It’s a unique way to get people involved and interested, and I think it’s really important because in most cases the presentations we choose are of local interest to us,” Gray Baker explained.
Past speakers have included Francis Pierpont, the “Father of West Virginia,” Nellie Bly, the journalist famous for infiltrating psychiatric hospitals to report on the squalid conditions there, and Walt Disney, pioneer of the American animated film industry and creator of Mickey Mouse.
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In this presentation, the Hurricanes’ Doug Wood played Thomas Ingles.
He said he wanted people to see Thomas as a real person with conflicts, rather than a black-and-white binary.
“Well, one of the key things I want to portray is the conflict he had because he was raised Shawnee. He was a Shawnee man when he returned to Virginia, but when he returned to Virginia he couldn’t speak any English,” Wood said. “He had to have a sex change to become a Virginia gentleman, and then he finishes school and learns how to be a Virginia gentleman, and then he immediately starts fighting the Shawnee who raised him.”
The next History Alive! presentation will feature Mary Harris “Mother” Jones on August 5 at Wildwood House.
