Category Archives: Uncategorized

The August 20, 2023, 2:00 program in the Summer Lecture Series will feature Manhattan model, Vito, a blue and gold macaw, who has had more adventures than most humans. Learn about his rescue training career, and the exciting life he has been living for 40+ years. Bring your curiosity and your camera, and have no fear; he is totally trained and is very gentle. His presenter is Jean E. Czernek.

Admission is free but donations are welcome. Free refreshments and tours of the museum conclude your visit!

The Hancock County Museum at 1008 Ridge Avenue, New Cumberland, WV, is honored to host Father John Neiman on July 16, 2023 at 2:00, who will present, as part of the HCM’s Summer Lecture Series, a talk describing how he met Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank, whose discovery and publication of Anne Frank’s Diary is known and loved world-wide.

Father John Neiman was born on July 4, 1953 in Santa Monica, California. He was raised in Encino, CA. and later attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX where he earned a BA and a MA in history.

He entered Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo, CA and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in February of 1986. Among those in attendance at his ordination were Miep and Jan Gies, who traveled all the way from Amsterdam for the ceremony.

Fr. John was very involved in Holocaust remembrance activities in the Los Angeles area for many years. He helped organize Holocaust education seminars for teachers and gave several talks at local schools and synagogues. In June of 1981 he attended the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Jerusalem and then the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Washington, DC in April of 1983.

He first met Otto and Fritzi Frank at their home in Birsfelden, Switzerland in June of 1976. Shortly after reading Anne Frank’s Diary, he contacted Otto Frank, who was very warm and welcoming, but stated he could not take on another correspondence because he was so very busy but ended the conversation with “If you are ever in the area please do stop in for a visit.” Father John immediately booked a trip to Amsterdam and arranged a brief visit that lasted several hours and developed into a remarkably close friendship with Otto and Fritzi. In fact, he credits them for inspiring him to become a priests

Fr. John served as an active priest in the Arch diocese of Los Angeles from 1986 until 2014, at which time he went on a medical leave of absence. After five surgeries, he retired in July of 2018, and, until recently, was living in Indian Wells, CA where he also cared for his ninety-seven year-old mother until she died. Upon retirement he chose the beautiful hills of West Virginia where his mother grew up in Moundsville, and that’s another interesting story – He has been “filling in” at many local parishes in the area as well as serving and enjoying the residents of The Peachtree Inn, keeping them all entertained with stories about his many travels, his keen sense of humor and funny things that happened along the way. The material today affords very little to amuse us, but perhaps we’ll save some of those stories for another time.

The Hancock County Museum, at 1008 Ridge Ave., New Cumberland, will hold its second lecture in the 2023 Summer Lecture Series at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 18th at the Museum. The lecture topic is “The Magic of Magicians,” presented by Nick Gallias, magician and mentalist. Nick began learning magic at the age of 12, and performed it as a hobby during his grade school and college years. After retiring, he began doing magic full time at multiple venues from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas. He also has been a consultant for the Steubenville Players, Weirton Players, Madonna High School and other groups. His “magic for real people” includes the audience in the show and he’s developed programs for schools and libraries, and has a special mentalism show for adults. His shows are new each year, and he amazes young children with magic and balloon art and adults with magic and mentalism, using what he calls “extraordinary sensory perception.“ His unforgettable shows both astound and amuse his audiences. At the HCM, he will speak on the art of magic and how to understand it. The lecture is free and open to the public, although donations are more than welcome, and refreshments will be served after the lecture. Tours are available after the lecture, both self-guided and led by an HCM docent.

The Hancock County Museum, at 1008 Ridge Ave., New Cumberland, will hold its first lecture in the 2023 Summer Lecture Series at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 21st at the Museum. The lecture topic is “Memories from the Grand Ole’ Opry,” presented as muses of a famous performer from the Opry. The lecture is free and open to the public; refreshments and tours of the Museum are available after the lecture.

Our final 2022 event will be a Christmas Party on Sunday, December 11th at 2:00. The museum is beautifully decorated for Christmas, tours are available before and after the entertainment, which includes the Victorian Carolers, Bud Simmons playing his dulcimer, and Tom Zielinsky, formerly from New Cumberland, and presently residing in Weirton, who is a professional accordionist, will be preforming on the world’s first and only, wireless, Bluetooth enabled, digital/acoustic, Concerto accordion. He will be preforming a number of traditional Christmas favorites, but will perform some new songs like “Believe” from The Polar Express, “Mary Did You Know,” “Mary’s Little Boy Child,” and his rendition of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s, “Christmas Cannon,” to demonstrate the powerful expression of this accordion. We will also have a reading of “The Night Before Christmas” and, possibly, other entertainment- we’re working on it. If you would like to join in the entertainment with a song, reading or instrumental contribution, please do. You can call the Museum at 304-564-4800 to let us know what you’d like to do, or just show up with your talent, instrument or whatever and join the fun.

As usual, delicious refreshments will follow the entertainment, and, as always, the Christmas celebration is free and open to the public.

Please join us for a delightful afternoon celebrating the best time of the year!

The Hancock County Museum, at 1008 Ridge Ave., New Cumberland, WV, will present the last in its 2022 Summer Lecture Series on Sunday, October 30th at 2:00. The “lectures” will, in the Halloween spirit, be very spooky tales told by Paul Zuros and Fred Miller, both of whom entertained us with their local scary stories at last year’s Halloween special lecture. As always, the lecture is free and open to the public (although I’ll be passing the witch’s hat for donations), and Halloween favorite beverages and sweets will be served in the kitchen after the presentations. Tours are available both before and after the lectures (aka tall tales).

As Doris Cameron, our secretary, so eloquently wrote in our minutes, “ The Hancock County Museum Commission meeting of October 2022 confirmed plans for a great Halloween gala as their final lecture of the season on October 30th at 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon at the museum. The decorations are plentiful and spooky stories and eerie tales will be shared by Fred Miller and P.J. Zuros to entertain and get your blood flowing! Of course the afternoon will include some delightfully light refreshments. So bring your friends and enjoy the day.

A lengthy discussion was heard concerning our annual Christmas Open House party in early December. We are anxious to share this holiday event but we are in great need of volunteers to help put up decorations and participate in singing with the Victorian Carolers. Will you help?? Call the museum or any member to sign up.”

Please call after our Nov. 2nd meeting so that we can give you a date for decorating.

The September 18th lecture in the Hancock County Museum’s 2022 Summer Lecture Series will be given by Paul Zuros, and will be based on his favorite newspaper articles in the series ”History in the Hills,” that he has written about the history of our area in the upper part of the WV Northern Panhandle and in the Steubenville, OH area. The lecture starts at 2:00, and tours are available before and after the lecture. Refreshments are served in the kitchen after the lecture, which is free and open to the public, although donations are always greatly appreciated. The Hancock County Museum is located at 1008 Ridge Avenue, New Cumberland, WV. Parking is in the grass in the back of the building or in the Catholic Church parking lot next door to the south of the Museum.

Paul (PJ) Zuros was born and raised in Weirton, West Virginia. Raised by parents who were interested in history, Paul developed his love for the past early on. His interest in local history started when he volunteered with the Hancock County Museum in New Cumberland and then later with the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center.
He was graduated from Weir High School and went on to WVU to pursue a degree in History and minor in Public Relations and Italian Studies. While at WVU, he worked for the National Park Service in Richmond, Virginia at the city’s Civil War sites. Paul graduated from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh with a master’s degree in Public History with a concentration in Decorative Arts and Museum Studies. Over the years Paul has worked with the John Heinz History Center in their library and archive, the Fort Pitt Museum, and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Before returning to the Ohio Valley to take the reins as Executive Director of Historic Fort Steuben, Paul was operations manager with the West Virginia Humanities Council and served as the Executive Director of the Historic Craik Patton House, a historic house museum in Charleston WV. For nearly two years, he has been writing a bi-weekly local history column in the Weirton Daily Times and the Steubenville Herald-Star entitled, “History in the Hills.” Paul currently resides in Weirton with his wife Abigail, and four beautiful children.

Hancock County Museum Summer Lecture Series

August 28, 2022

Pamela Makricosta, of Weirton, will share her “Yiayla’s – Grandma’s Bundle” presentation at the Hancock County Museum, 1008 Ridge Ave., New Cumberland, on Sunday, August 28, 2022 at 2:00. Her grandmother survived the 1914 Christian Holocaust of Asia Minor which is present-day Turkey. Pamela is an author, English and Greek language instructor, Weirton Museum vice president, and Literacy & Lifelong Learning Coordinator at the Mary H. Weir Public library. She will also discuss the latest book, Secrets in the Mist.

Mary Zwierzchowski, local historian, author, and Assistant Reference Librarian of the Mary H. Weir Public Library, will be on hand to answer questions about the book, Secrets in the Mist: The History of Brown’s Island which she co-authored with Jane Kraina. She will also be selling and signing the book. The book was published this year on the 50th anniversary of the 1972 explosion that took the lives of 19 men.

The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served after the talk and questions.

At 2:00 on 7-24-22 in the Hancock County Museum, Tom Zielinsky will be recapping The Final Days of Weirton Steel, 2nd Edition, and explaining the truth about the Weirton Steel ESOP and why it didn’t have to happen. This program is free and open to the public , and will be followed with questions and refreshments.

Tom Zielinsky was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and was raised in New Cumberland. After 33 years of service, he retired in 2003 as Senior Director of Information Strategy for Weirton Steel Corporation and retired again in 2013 as technology director for the Hancock County Commission. He has degrees in electronic engineering, computer science, and an MBA from Franciscan University of Steubenville. Author of four books, The Final Days of Weirton Steel was published in 2010, The Final Days of Weirton Steel, 2nd Edition published in 2021, Rockyside, A Forgotten Mining Community published in 2017, and Zalia, Hancock County, West Virginia, Rediscovering a Lost Community was published in 2020. He resides in Weirton with his wife, Patty. They have four children, 10 grandchildren, and two great-grand sons.

The first speaker for the 2022 HCM Summer Lecture Series will be Shannon Giambroni of the Newell Coalition, who will speak on Sunday, June 26th in the Hancock County Museum at 2:00. Her topic will be the history of the Laurel Hollow Park in Newell, WV. She will give a projected PowerPoint presentation, so we are looking forward to some interesting pictures.

Refreshments will be available after the lecture as are tours. Self-guided tours are available both before and after the lecture.

We hope to see you there!