Even the fire escape stairwell is artistically crafted. Each step of the iron staircase had scrollwork embossed into the metal.

The top floor of the main hospital was a nurses' dorm. Each room was shared by two nurses. The nurse worked a 12 hour shift so the two were never in the room together. The nurse worked 6 days a week. I suspect they didn't stay around for the 7th day, truly a day of rest. I can't imagine how the nurses stayed sane.


Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, aka Weston State Hospital.

Authorized by the Virginia State Legislature in the early 1850's as a state mental hospital, it served as a Union headquarters during the Civil War. (At which time, that part of Virginia became the state of West Virginia.) Afterwards, it continued serving as a psychiatric facility until 1994. The original building is the largest hand cut stone masonry building in the United States.

There are several smaller buildings on the site which were used for additional patients including those with TB and the "legally insane."