It’s fall! The season to enjoy spending time indoors with family and friends. Holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas line-up and inspire decorations, special menus and gifts. Even the football season brings with it weekly gatherings complete with team colors, food, beverages and fun.
Did you know at one time, Wheeling was known for its parties and gatherings, complete with colorful glassware made right here in the Friendly City? Oglebay Institute’s Glass Museum is featuring an exhibit called “Cheers to Wheeling: An Exhibit of Punchbowls, Pitchers and Partyware,” which will show you exactly what it means to party in style.
“Our exhibit now on display in the Frey–Hires Gallery features an array of colorful glassware dating to the Victorian era and continuing through the time when the Oglebays lived in the Mansion Museum, where they made their summer home,” explained Holly McCluskey, OI’s curator of glass.
“Wheeling has this long history of memorable parties and our exhibit illustrates that at one time, in Wheeling, every night was Saturday night and every Saturday night was New Year’s Eve. Wheeling has been known for its hospitality from its earliest years as a ‘Gateway to the West’.”
“Wheeling’s reputation as a city that loves a party is well deserved, going back generations. This exhibit shines a light on unique pieces that enhanced the art of entertaining,” said Jay Frey, one of the sponsors of the changing exhibit gallery.
In fact, one of the city’s earliest parties hosted in 1825, welcomed none other than General Marquis deLafayette, one of George Washington’s favorite generals in the American Revolution. Visitors can see a copy of the actual formal invitation to the Lafayette ball in the exhibit.
There are other photographs and images showing other parties around town. One shows Col. Oglebay himself with a mint julep in his hand, surrounded by his friends. This historic image is from a program cover dating to the Oglebay’s era in the mansion.
“We want visitors to enjoy this special exhibit and we hope that they find it as colorful and fun to look at as we do. There are many early pieces of our glass collection, dating to the Victorian era, including a piece made and exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.” This exposition showcased breakthrough inventions and major manufacturing feats to the public in honor of our country’s 100th birthday.
There’s a Tom and Jerry holiday punch set (not the cartoon, the British cocktail), lemonade pitchers, cake stands, fingerbowls, epergnes, and one huge 16-inch punchbowl set, complete with base and cups.
And if you haven’t been to the Glass Museum for a while, you are in for a surprise since the space was updated with new paint, carpet, flooring and brightened with LED lighting that makes its treasures sparkle and shine and there are more than 3,500 pieces of Wheeling glass on display here daily for visitors to enjoy.
“Cheers to Wheeling is all about celebrating the artistry and craftsmanship the created elements of entertaining we may not see or experience in our everyday lives,” commented Michael Hires.
The Cheers to Wheeling exhibit is on display in the Frey-Hires Gallery of Oglebay Institute’s Glass Museum through the spring. Visit it when you’re at Oglebay soon.
Admission to the Glass Museum is $15 and includes entrance into both the Mansion and Glass Museum or you can pay just $10 for a single museum. Admission is free for ages 17 and under accompanied by an adult and free to Oglebay Institute members.
The Museums of Oglebay Institute are open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily from April- through the first week in November, with expanded weekend hours during Oglebay’s Festival of Lights. Call 304-242-7272 for more information.
About the Museums of Oglebay Institute
Before the iconic 1846 yellow mansion became the first accredited museum in West Virginia, it was the summer home of Cleveland industrialist Earl W. Oglebay. Today, as Oglebay Institute’s Mansion Museum, it invites visitors to connect with history and the people who lived it. Each of the museum’s thirteen-period rooms takes guests on a journey through the lives of the people who might have used the objects inside—and the historic events that marked the times.
Nearby, the Oglebay Institute Glass Museum celebrates Wheeling glass. From walking sticks to everyday dishes to the world’s largest piece of cut lead glass, the Sweeney Punch Bowl, the collection functions as a visual narrative of the Ohio Valley’s long legacy of glassmaking and the craftsmen who made it possible.
