Saving the
Ruffner Cabin

What We’re Doing

Friends of Malden Village is relocating the Ruffner Cabin from Charleston to the Malden Village Green in the Malden National Historic District. Currently situated next to the Craik-Patton House at the Daniel Boone Park, the cabin must be moved to accommodate site expansion. This relocation will save the oldest structure in Kanawha County and ensure its permanent preservation as a public heritage asset.

Historical Significance

Built in the late 1700s, this cabin is the oldest known structure in Kanawha County and is documented in the Historic American Buildings Survey. It housed the pioneers of the regional salt industry, which predated the Industrial Revolution in New England. The building stands as a physical witness to the enslaved Virginians who built the valley's earliest industries and organized the nearby African Zion Baptist Church, the first Black Baptist church in all of West Virginia. It represents the formative years of a young Booker T. Washington, who lived and worked in the Ruffner household after walking to freedom in 1865. Protecting this rare piece of the American frontier prevents it from being lost forever.

this treasured piece of Kanawha County history.

A Look Inside

  • "The logs were stored in Malden through money donated by the city of Charleston, in hopes that a site might be acquired for its restoration."

    —Sunday Gazette-Mail, January 4, 1976

Exactly 50 years later, a site has been found and prepared for the cabin’s arrival in Malden.

JOIN THE CAUSE

Reach out to Friends of Malden Village at friendsofmalden@gmail.com or call 304-590-3136 for more on how to get involved or donate.