Oak Hill, WV (WOAY) – Destination Downtown Oak Hill has put up a new installation of Windows to the Past, a project designed to turn empty store fronts into pieces of historical education.
The project takes empty store fronts and adds educational and historical images to their windows. The displays are also reusable, so if a business were to move into the empty property, the display can simply be moved elsewhere.
The newest installation features images of historic people and buildings from the area, including the W E Carwile House and Oak Hill’s first general store building.
Destination Downtown member Adam Hodges is helping coordinate the project.
“A way to keep people from feeling like there’s a lot of empty spaces in Oak Hill is to actually fill them up with these kinds of images. So if you fill the windows with interesting things, people don’t really notice so much that there’s a few empty businesses.”
The project is funded by part of a $9,000 grant from the National Coal Heritage Area, an organization aimed at preserving and protecting lands, structures and communities associated with the coal mining heritage of Southern West Virginia.
The display is located across the street from B&B Autoglass on Main Street and is also back-lit at night.
