Historic Gems Restorations
Most of you have probably never visited Mannington, WV, the town Eric Flint modeled Grantville on, but you’ve almost certainly seen towns like it. You might even be from one. There are some gorgeous old homes and businesses in the downtown area, but not as many as there were in 1999 (when Eric visited Mannington) or even a few years ago. It’s a constant drip, drip, drip of loss, one lovely old building at a time succumbing to age, neglect, or plain bad luck. A once-packed downtown is now half vacant lots and half buildings that need a bit of TLC. The historic homes are a mish-mash of restorations, projects, and even a few derelicts.
There was an old apartment building on Water Street in Mannington that was torn down by 2008. The building next to it, at Pleasant and Water, had clearly been stunning once, but by 2003 it had a tree growing out the second story window and by 2004 it was gone. The chiropractor’s office at Main and Market is for sale. The fireplaces and woodwork are stunning, but the exterior water damage on the second-floor bay windows is worse every year, and the side yard is getting overgrown.
We visited in October 2022. By our next visit one year later, several homes in the historic district had been razed. But the renovations on a painted lady across from the Catholic Church were completed, and a unique home down Furbee had finished some renovations.
Mannington is like so many small towns across the USA that are long past their heyday. It has some beautiful old buildings. A few are well-maintained or restored and a joy to see. A few are so badly deteriorated there isn’t much choice other than to tear them down. But in the middle? That’s where help is needed. The buildings that still have “good bones.” The ones that are still standing, but may need new windows, or a paint job, or vegetation cut back. They may have damage from the last flood (Mannington floods) or from years of neglect. But they are still standing, and they need some love. That’s where Historic Gems Restorations enters the picture for Mannington.
We’ve all heard the story about someone walking down the beach and throwing starfish back. Someone says it doesn’t make a difference, and they reply that it makes a difference “to this one.” The 1632 community can help Historic Gems make a difference to this one small town, a place that was dear to Eric Flint and holds a special place in his widow’s heart as well. A place we can walk through and see a different world, quite literally.
Historic Gem Restorations is a non-profit dedicated to the preservation of historic buildings in Mannington, West Virginia. They have been awarded grants for exterior facelifts to several buildings in downtown Mannington. These include:
2024
205 Market Street – Sweet P’s restaurant.
2025
116 Market Street – Morris Marketplace Menagerie
116 Buffalo Street – The Mystery Vault escape room
115 Market Street – The Show Building. In Mannington, it’s the old movie theater. (But not the old, old movie theater, which was across the street.) In Grantville, it’s also the movie theater—and functional because when Eric visited in 1999, all the equipment was still in the building, so it came back through the Ring of Fire.
111 Market Street – Mountaineer Florist
If you walk around Mannington with Bjorn Hasseler, or Bethanne Kim, or Mike Knopp, or some of the other writers, they can tell you where to go for the best pizza in Grantville. They can describe which businesses are on an empty lot, and direct you to the grocery stores in Grantville. They can tell you why the Bridal Saloon (wine bar) is located near the train station and how an arsonist tried to burn down the building at Market and Water Streets but was foiled—in the 1632 universe. (In the real universe, the building burnt.) We are undoubtedly biased, but we think that connection makes Mannington special, and we want to help it keep the historic buildings that are still there.
We encourage you to follow the Historic Gem Restorations Facebook page to keep up to date on all they are doing.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555858332917
It’s now seeking a grant for further restoration of the movie theater. It also has a Go Fund Me page to replace three windows in the outside ticket area and two windows in the movie poster area:
As time passes, Mannington and Grantville diverge. If you’ve joined us on Baen’s Bar (baensbar.net) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/113392810011) or at a convention, you know that Mannington and Grantville were never exactly the same—just very, very close.
The Ring of Fire took Grantville from 2000 to 1631. The leading edge of plot is in mid-1637 now. It’s been just over six years in-story, while twenty-five years have passed in the real world. Grantville’s buildings are where Mannington’s were about 2006, except that Grantville had a pressing need for first housing and then businesses, so a lot of renovations happened in 1631-1633 that didn’t happen in Mannington. We would like to see Mannington thrive, and the survival of the historic district is part of that. Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond will feature some news and events from Mannington and Marion County, especially if we can pass along opportunities for you to be involved.
