The Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park is a Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

, run as a state park

State park

State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...

, dedicated to preserving the history of the southwestern part of the state. It is located in Big Stone Gap

Big Stone Gap, Virginia

Big Stone Gap is a town in Wise County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,643 at the 2010 census.-History:The community was formerly known as "Meneral City" and "Three Forks." The "Big Stone Gap" refers to the valley which has been created on the Appalachia Straight, located between...

, in a house built in the 1880s for Virginia Attorney General

Attorney General of Virginia

The Attorney General of Virginia is an executive office in the Government of Virginia. Attorneys General are elected for a four-year term in the year following a presidential election . There are no term limits restricting the number of terms someone can serve as Attorney General...

 Rufus A. Ayers

Rufus A. Ayers

Rufus A. Ayers was a Virginia lawyer, businessman, and politician, who served as Attorney General of Virginia.Ayers was born in Bedford County, Virginia. His family set out for Texas, but passed through Goodson en route, and decided to stay there. Ayers attended Goodson Academy until it was...

. The structure was acquired by the state in 1946 from a foundation managed by C. Bascom Slemp

C. Bascom Slemp

Campbell Bascom Slemp was an American Republican politician. He was a six-time United States congressman from Virginia's 9th congressional district from 1907 to 1922 and served as the presidential secretary to President Calvin Coolidge...

. Much of the museum collection focuses on the coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

boom of the 1890s; there are also exhibits dedicated to the history of Big Stone Gap and the surrounding area, and the story of the pioneers that migrated westward during the eighteenth century.