Morgan Morgan Monument | |
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Location | Bunker Hill,[1] Berkeley, West Virginia, United States |
Coordinates | 39°20′07″N 78°03′11″W / 39.33528°N 78.05306°W [1][2] |
Area | 1.05 acres (0.42 ha)[3][4] |
Elevation | 549 ft (167 m)[1][2] |
Established | 1924[5] |
Named for | Morgan Morgan |
The Morgan Morgan Monument, also known as Morgan Park,[6] is a 1.05-acre (0.4 ha) roadside park in the unincorporated town of Bunker Hill in Berkeley County, West Virginia. It is located along Winchester Avenue (U.S. Route 11) and Mill Creek. The park features a granite monument that was erected in 1924 to memorialize Morgan Morgan (1688–1766), an American pioneer of Welsh descent, who was among the earliest European persons to settle permanently within the present-day boundaries of West Virginia.
The West Virginia Legislature appropriated funds for the construction of the Morgan Morgan Monument in 1923. West Virginia Governor and Morgan descendant Ephraim F. Morgan appointed and oversaw a committee of three people to plan and supervise the monument's construction: Haze Morgan, another Morgan descendant and the commission's chairperson; Blanche M. Pickering (Mrs. A. A. Pickering) of Rowlesburg; and West Virginia State Senator Harry P. Henshaw of Bunker Hill. A dedication and unveiling ceremony was held for the monument on September 13, 1924, and Governor Morgan served as the principal speaker.
Initially owned by the West Virginia Monuments Commission following the monument's establishment in 1924, the Morgan Morgan Monument was transferred to the West Virginia Road Commission, which maintained it as a roadside park from 1924 to 1956. From 1956 to 1970, the park was managed by the West Virginia Conservation Commission's Division of State Parks as a West Virginia state park. It was the only West Virginia state park ever to have been located within Berkeley County. The West Virginia Road Commission (now known as the West Virginia Division of Highways) resumed its operation of the Morgan Morgan Monument in 1970, and the division continues to maintain the monument as a roadside park. In 1980 the Morgan Morgan Monument and its park were included as a contributing property in the Mill Creek Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.