Jefferson County Alms House

The Jefferson County Alms House, also known as Snow Hill Farm, located near Leetown, West Virginia, is an historic Federal style house. Snow Hill was built circa 1813 for John Hurst, son of James Hurst, a prosperous local landowner. In 1857, Snow Hill was purchased from the Hurst family for use as a farm for the local poor. By 1931 the Alms House (also known as the County Infirmary) had declined to the point that it had become a local disgrace. Corrective measures were taken, and the Infirmary survived until 1959, when its last nine inmates were moved to other quarters.

The property now houses a number of County agencies.

Famous quotes containing the words jefferson, county, alms and/or house:

    “[B]y going to the College [William and Mary] I shall get a more universal Acquaintance, which may hereafter be serviceable to me; and I suppose I can pursue my Studies in the Greek and Latin as well there as here, and likewise learn something of the Mathematics.”
    —Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    “In the County Tyrone, in the town of Dungannon,”
    —Unknown. The Old Orange Flute (l. 1)

    “If alms were only given out of pity, all the beggars would have starved to death.”
    —Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    “Wearing overalls on weekdays, painting somebody else’s house to earn money? You’re working class. Wearing overalls at weekends, painting your own house to save money? You’re middle class.”
    —Lawrence Sutton, British prizewinner in competition in Sunday Correspondent (London)