Oak Hill, WV (WOAY) – The Friends of the Lewis House are holding their final fundraiser sale this Friday and Saturday, after the group determined it could no longer continue operations due to aging and illness among its remaining members.
The sale runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days at 103 Oak Hill Ave. in Oak Hill. Organizers say four rooms of items will be available, along with $5 and $10 Christmas grab boxes. Any items remaining after Friday will be sold at half price on Saturday. The group says everything must go.
The Historic Lewis House has stood on Main Street since 1903, built by coal baron J.E. Lewis the same year Oak Hill was incorporated. After the last Lewis heir passed, community members secured a state grant to save the building, forming the Friends of the Lewis House and opening it as a museum and event venue. The house is home to a Hank Williams Sr. museum, a turn-of-the-century parlor and coal heritage exhibits.
Ginny Cracraft, House Chair and Secretary of the Friends of the Lewis House, said the end of the sales means the end of the group’s only source of funding.
“It will mean a loss of revenue for us because this is the only money we get,” Cracraft said. “We have to earn whatever we use to keep Lewis House going and we’ve been able to do it for all these years. We’ve gotten down to three or four people and it’s just not possible to keep going.”
Cracraft, who turns 90 this year, is among the last active members of the organization.
Without fundraiser revenue, the building’s future is uncertain. Per the terms of Mrs. Lewis’s original will, the property could revert to the city of Oak Hill. Cracraft said the group is also open to transferring the building to another nonprofit.
“It will go back to the city of Oak Hill, according to Mrs. Lewis’s will,” Cracraft said. “If there would be a nonprofit that would be interested, we would love to talk with them.”
For Cracraft, who has spent a quarter century preserving this piece of history, it is a deep loss.
“It will be sad because it’ll be a part of my life that’s gone right now,” she said.
Any nonprofit interested in taking over the Lewis House can contact Ginny Cracraft at 304-719-9098.
