-
West Virginia State Fairgrounds (State Historic Preservation Office, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Catherine Jourdan)
The West Virginia State Fairgrounds comprise a motley collection of frame and metal buildings, along with a harness racing track and a grandstand, all wedged between the north and south lanes of a divided highway, U.S. 219. The fairgrounds, established in 1921 as the Greenbrier Valley Fair, were expanded in 1941 when the state fair moved from Wheeling. An impressive group of ten stables, easily seen from the northbound lanes of the highway, are among the oldest buildings on the grounds. Gable roofs extend on both long sides to protect the doors of the stalls. Five of the ten stables are for show horses, five for racing horses.
The Meadow River Lumber Building (see also Rainelle, GR30) is among the most appealing of the early structures on the midway. A miniature one-room frame bungalow with a front porch covered by an extended gable roof, it was built in 1928 (before the fair was a statewide event) to showcase the company's products. It is now used as a museum of the fair itself. Fairlea, located midway between Lewisburg and Ronceverte, now serves primarily as Greenbrier County's “strip city.”