Qualla: Lewisburg, West Virginia

Lewisburg, West Virginia: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Voxinferior, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every New Year's Day in Lewisburg, costumed marchers parade through downtown in a tradition called the Shanghai Parade - a relic of Old Christmas customs that survived the calendar reform of 1752, and somehow survived everything else, too. Shops stay open. Spectators line the sidewalks of a town whose downtown historic district covers 235 acres and whose population is barely 3,900 people. That ratio of history to residents is the secret of Lewisburg. A town this small should not have this many stories. It was named for the Virginia colonel who led the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Its spring house was built in 1770. Its Civil War battle in May 1862 left ninety-five unknown Confederate dead, still buried together at the Confederate Cemetery on McElhenny Road. National travel magazines have named Lewisburg one of America's coolest small towns more than once. Spend an afternoon walking its brick sidewalks and you start to understand why.

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Image: Voxinferior | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lewisburg, West Virginia: The Spring That Started a Town

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. Andrew Lewis Park sits in the middle of Lewisburg, and at the heart of the park stands a small stone structure called Lewis Spring. This is why the town exists. The natural spring was discovered in the 1750s; the stone spring house enclosing it was built in 1770, four years befor...

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Image: Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lewisburg, West Virginia: A Battlefield in the Streets

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CZmarlin — Christopher Ziemnowicz, releases all rights but a photo credit would be appreciated if this image is used anywhere other than Wikipedia. Please leave a note at Wikipedia here. Thank you!, CC BY-SA 3.0. On May 23, 1862, Union forces under Colonel George Crook fought Confederate troops under Brigadier General Henry Heth through the streets of Lewisburg. The Union won. Among the casualties were ninety-five Confederate soldiers whose names were never recorded - the unknown dead now...

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Image: CZmarlin — Christopher Ziemnowicz, releases all rights but a photo credit would be appreciated if this image is used anywhere other than Wikipedia. Please leave a note at Wikipedia here. Thank you! | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lewisburg, West Virginia: The Districts You Walk Through

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Picture taken by Sarah H. Shepherd, Public domain. Three historic districts overlap in Lewisburg. The downtown district covers most of the brick-front commercial core. The Maple Street district records the historically African American neighborhood, where Black residents lived, worshipped, and worked through the segregated decade...

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Image: Picture taken by Sarah H. Shepherd | Public domain

Lewisburg, West Virginia: Caverns Below, Galleries Above

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Valerius Tygart, CC BY-SA 3.0. Drive a few miles outside town and you reach Lost World Caverns - a system of limestone passages that drops nearly a hundred feet below the surface. Organ Cave, longer and stranger, runs for more than forty miles of mapped passage. Both have been worked through by spelunkers and ...

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Image: Valerius Tygart | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lewisburg, West Virginia: The Shanghai Parade and the General Lewis Inn

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. The Shanghai Parade, held every New Year's Day for more than 150 years, is one of the strangest small-town traditions in America. It dates from the period before the Gregorian calendar swap, when Old Christmas was celebrated on January 6 and the surrounding days carried their own...

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Image: Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia) | CC BY-SA 3.0