Carnegie Hall West Virginia

It’s hard to believe sometimes just how much Andrew Carnegie contributed to American culture. Here was this wealthy industrialist, a steel magnate, who was certainly no friend of the working man.
And yet he believed in literature and the arts. For the common man. «Free to the People’ adorns the main Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh
Carnegie started libraries all over the United States includig the Carnegie Library of Homestead, which is actually in Munhall, PA and is today a major performing arts venue.
So while vacationing in West Virginia, I was pleasantly surprised to see a Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg. In 1902 Carnegie was approached by local interests to help fund a new classroom building at the Lewisburg Female Institute, which was to replace an earlier structure that had burned down. Lewisburg Female Institue later became the Greenbrier College for Women, which closed down in 1972. Ownership passed to the Greenbier Center, a state run facility for mentally and emotionally challenged children. Carnegie Hall faced demolition in the 1980s, but was later taken over by a non-​profit group. Restoration was completed in 1997.
Carnegie Hall also serves as a museum with about three or four different exhibit spaces. My husband Rick and I toured the Libby Caligan Vass Stephens «Covenant»
exhibit in the main hall. Stephen’s work deals in the abstract, incorporating complex life forms intermingled with design elements and cultural symbolism. We also looked at he artwork in the Old Stone Room and Auditorium Galleries. Rick found the whole thing a little –ahem– dry, but he did like the building’s Greek Revival style. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see a show here.
Oh, speaking of which, here’s a short list of the talent that’s played here: Taj Mahal, Winton Marsalis, Gillian Welch, The Del McCoury Band, Cowboy Junkies, Sonny Landreth, Josh Ritter, and Arlo Guthrie.

Carnegie Hall has some great shows, but I always wonder why they only use the auditorium a couple of times a month… it seems like a waste.