By SHELLEY HANSON

GLEN DALE — Kara Gordon, site manager for the Cockayne Farmstead, doesn’t have a typical day at the “office” — and for her that’s quite all right.

“The site is a farmhouse from 1850 that was left unchanged by the last family member, who lived there until 2001,” she said. “All the family’s original belongings, furniture, and decor, accumulated by four generations, are still inside, which makes it an incredibly unique site with a fascinating story about the families who built Marshall County.

“The site is owned by the city of Glen Dale, but operated by the Marshall County Historical Society.”

Gordon noted she is actually the only paid employee of the society.

“We have lots of volunteers and work with the Preserve WV AmeriCorps program to have their members placed here, but I am still the only permanent employee, so if it needs done, chances are I’m the one who needs to do it,” she said.

“As a result, my typical day could be so many different things. Some days I’m planning events or educational programs. Some days I’m visiting schools or speaking to local club meetings. Some days I’m working in our collections or archives. Some days I’m writing grants or sending newsletters. Some days I give tours. Some days I’m trying to get rid of ground bees or weed whacking the garden.”

She noted event planning is also an adventure “that often brings some strange tasks.”

“When I decided to go into museum work, I never anticipated that I’d be making a wedding cake out of spackle, sewing a wedding dress that’s outdated by about 150 years, making Christmas ornaments out of popsicle sticks, or trying to hunt down a World War II tank,” Gordon said.

“In between that, there’s paying bills, tracking grants, working with conservators to repair items, interacting with donors, brainstorming new ways to get the community involved, and all sorts of other little tasks.

“I don’t think most people realize how much goes on here or how much we put into running this site. It takes a lot.”

Gordon said it was while in college she realized her strong interest in curating history.

“After high school, I knew I wanted to go to college, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to pursue,” she said. “I grew up with American Girl stories and amazing trips to Colonial Williamsburg and other historic sites, but when someone suggested I choose history, for some reason I thought it would be boring.

“After my first year of college though, I knew I had been wrong and this was really what I loved. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but after hearing presentations from some archivists and curators during my last year of college, I realized that aspect of history work was what most appealed to me.

“It combined the things that I was good at and offered a way to make history interesting and engaging to other people. I was lucky enough to intern several great places — the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston archives, the Mansion Museum at Oglebay, the Margaret Hunter Shop in Colonial Williamsburg, and the West Virginia and Regional History Center at WVU — and so got the see the variety of different public history opportunities that were out there and truly fell in love with museum work.”

Gordon said the region being community-oriented is one of its bright spots.

“The Ohio Valley is very community-oriented. We have so many groups working together to accomplish good things,” she said. “I think that makes this a much nicer place to live and work than many other places. We also (mostly) appreciate our history and the stories of how we came here. I think that’s the foundation to building a stronger community.”

Gordon said her philosophy in life and work is grounded by her Catholic faith.

“We’re here to serve God and love others, and that’s my goal in life and work,” she said. “I do what I do out of love for my community. I’ve always seen history as something that creates connections, between people living today, and also people living generations ago.”