The newest addition to the historic Hoge House in Winfield exposes the sharp political divide felt among West Virginia families during the Civil War.
As it turns out, Putnam County was a prime example of that discord.
The Historic Hoge House Foundation and the Rivers to Ridges Heritage Trail unveiled two new interpretive panels outside the Hoge House on Tuesday. The displays commemorate Judge James W. Hoge and the Civil War in Putnam County, and are the latest features in a long-running restoration project on the house and surrounding property.
Slated to be completed and open to the public sometime in 2016, the restored property will center on Hoge's life and also serve as a Civil War museum for Putnam County.
Jim Flook, a volunteer with Rivers to Ridges through AmeriCorps, explained the significance of the panels within the context of Hoge's life and career during the Civil War.
"When historians try to think about the whole war at once, they try to look for pieces that tell us about all the different parts of that larger story," he said during the unveiling.
Also referred to as the "Brothers' War," the Civil War brought to light a deep-rooted contrast in ideologies among West Virginians who disagreed on which side to fight for.
Of the roughly 600 Putnam County residents who served in the Civil War, about 52 percent served in the Union Army, while 48 percent served in the Confederate Army, Flook said.
"So when you think about a nation divided, Putnam County [was] that divided," he added.
Even Hoge, who occupied his now-restored house from about 1856 until his death in 1882, had his own views on the Civil War and West Virginia's separation from Virginia.
"There were many who thought he had Southern sympathies, and [they] would complain about his being appointed as a judge in Putnam County," Flook said.
One of the panels also details the house's brickwork and other architectural features.
After first moving to Putnam County in 1852, Hoge entered into private practice in 1855, according to information from the Historic Hoge House Foundation. He served the county in various capacities in the second half of the 19th century, including several terms as Putnam County's prosecuting attorney; holding a commission in the state militia; representing the county as the sole delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention and serving as judge of the 11th Circuit Court after the Civil War.
More than a decade has passed since the Hoge House was first transported from Winfield Road to county-owned property behind the Putnam Judicial Building. Much of the restoration work was completed by AmeriCorps volunteers.
"We've [repointed] a lot of the brick," said Lowell Wilks, project coordinator for Rivers to Ridges.
Volunteers also completed work on painting, flooring and other upgrades to the house that still maintain its historical integrity.
The project is part of a larger initiative by Rivers to Ridges Heritage Trail. Comprised of 126 miles along W.Va. 62 on the northern side of the Kanawha River between Nitro and Point Pleasant, the project establishes historic interpretive waysides along the trail. The waysides are meant to illustrate and explain important moments in a town's history. Fourteen of the 18 waysides that lay along the trail are in Putnam County.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.