T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Belmont County Tourism Council executive director Jackee Pugh informs the Belmont County Board of Commissioners that the Belmont County Heritage Museum will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on July 31.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County Tourism Council executive director Jackee Pugh let the Belmont County Board of Commissioners know Wednesday about her excitement over all of the happening in the county.

Pugh began by informing the board that her department distributed over $115,000 in GAP grants to its local nonprofit partners.

“That’s the same amount we’ve funded the last couple years, and it really helps some of these smaller organizations be able to put on events that they might not get the financial support from otherwise,” she said. “It’s a really fun time of year for us, because we get to hear about what’s happening in the county and learn about different projects and events and then we get to help support them.”

The GAP grants help “fill the gap” by assisting nonprofit organizations with events, projects, improvements or maintenance to a tourist attraction, event or historic site that enhances travel and tourism in Belmont County.

Among those events, the Belmont County Heritage Museum will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on July 31.

To celebrate the decade of operation it will be hosting a Milestones and Memories event from 4-6 p.m. which will also be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Ohio National Road.

United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. and Ohio Department of Transportation Historic Bridge Program Manager & Ohio Byways Coordinator Tom Barrett will be the event’s guest speakers.

During the museum’s offseason, museum Director Cathryn Stanley took everything off of the walls and reimagined how she wanted to display the artifacts for its anniversary year.

Pugh said instead of the museum being grouped by room and community it will now be grouped by theme.

“We have a transportation room, we have an industry room, a Trailblazers room, and all things that really made an impact in Belmont County history. It’s just a different way to take in the story and learn about the impact that we’ve had here in the county, and so far, it’s been very well received,” She said. “Cathryn had a record-setting attendance year last year, so we’re really happy with how that’s going.”

Pugh said she believes Stanley does a phenomenal job running the museum.

In addition to curating the museum, Stanley is also the president of the Ohio National Road Association.

According to Pugh, Belmont County has one of the largest stretches of the national road that goes through it in Ohio.

She added that Stanley does a great job supporting the efforts that the association does to preserve the road, markers, and signage, while promoting Belmont County as well.

Pugh then mentioned the Bigfoot geocaching program that her department created a couple years ago at Barkcamp Park.

She said that in the past year the program has seen people from Minnesota, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Washington State, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Connecticut visit Barkcamp to participate as well as individuals from China, Russia, and Taiwan.

“It’s a very niche thing for tourism, but it really does bring people in,” Pugh said.

She added that she believes putting the Bigfoot theme to the program has been a fun spin that people have enjoyed and it continues to bring people into the community.

Lastly Pugh spoke about the success of Gov. Mike DeWine recently attending the Underground Railroad Museum’s groundbreaking ceremony.

DeWine attended the ceremony in late June and was supposed to only be at the ceremony for an hour but she said he ended up spending over two hours at it touring the future home of the museum as well as talking to all of the residents in attendance.

She said that she believes the combining of the Black Horse Inn and the Underground Railroad Museum is combining two cornerstones of Belmont County history that will ensure the county’s history be preserved for many years to come.

Pugh is currently working with a curator, exhibit design team, and a fabrication team to build custom cases that tell the story of the artifacts inside of the museum.

“Dr. (John) Mattox did an amazing job collecting things, but now we’re going through everything and figuring out what’s authentic and what is true to the story we want to tell,” Pugh said.

She added that the curators goal is to display items that impacted Belmont County as far as the movement of the Underground Railroad.

“It’s amazing to me that every day I learn more and more and just get engaged with what an amazing gem we have here in the Flushing museum,” she said. “I know that by moving it out of Flushing to Morristown, there were concerns that we would be not honoring Dr. (John) Mattox legacy. But I can assure you all that that is something we’re keeping in the forefront of this planning, from every bit of the exhibit design, his presence and legacy will be felt.”

She added that the museum started as a traveling trunk that Mattox went into schools with and then turned into a whole museum and everyone involved in the project has made it a priority to preserve Mattox’s vision while honoring him.

Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton said that Pugh does a great job in her position every year and is glad that the county has her on the job.

He added that, while the general public sometimes thinks that Belmont County doesn’t have any attractions such as an amusement park or something similar, there’s always plenty going on.

“There’s very few attractions like that throughout the state or any state, so I guess my point is that I think sometimes what’s overlooked is just how much activity does happen from a tourism perspective in the county,” Dutton said.

He added that there were too many events and attractions in Belmont County for Pugh to fit into her report but believes she did a fantastic job summarizing the exciting things that are happening in the community.