Oglebay Institute Glass Museum — Attraction in Wheeling

This was a pretty neat little museum. Hands down, the glass blower demonstration was the most interesting. She was making paperweights that day and showed us how she made colored flowers in the glass, how she put multiple layers of glass together to make the object, how she uses tools to shape it and then how it is put in an insulated box to cool overnight. She talked to us and we asked all kinds of questions.

In the gift shop, we noticed all the glass was arranged by artist. So we asked which one was the work of the glass blower we'd just seen do the demonstration. We were pointed in the right direction and bought one of the pieces she'd made. I thought it was really cool to be able to buy something made by the glass blower we'd seen and talked to. There's a range of prices on the gifts in the shop. There are a few cute little items, but some of the larger vases are $80-$350. We noticed that not everything in the gift shop is made there- one section had Polish glass pieces. Anyway, I was wishing some of the vases there were about half the price they actually were.

The rest of the museum was neat. It has displays of different types of glass and explains about local companies that made glassware. Unless you are a big glass enthusiast/collector, I suppose there are only so many glass vases and candy dishes you can look at before you might get a little bored. This museum has about that amount. Still, it's...

While touring the oglebay festival of lights we stopped at the little shop at the hilltop we went to stand in line first to use the Restroom, after we walked a round for a few min I found something I wanted to buy (soup kit) so the register it was near the lady was counting her drawer so I walked over to the other counter on the other end, this lady working there rudely states I have to go back to the other register since it was for a different part of the store.... Walked back over to the other register again and stood there for a moment and the lady looks up at me and says sorry she couldn't ring me out not once did anyone say we are closed/or closing they let people walk around and look at items or use their bathroom...

I recently visited the Mansion Museum during the Oglebayfest event. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Savannah Allen who was at the reception desk of the museum. She is a very pleasant and professional addition to your staff who was very attentive to the people who stopped in. She was informative and helpful in answering the questions people were asking. She made my experience and time spent talking with her a pure delight. Please let her know how much I appreciated her time and effort! Sincerely, Brad Ritner, a Wheeling native and former resident of...