Cunningham Farmstead

Cunningham Farmstead. . In time the Cunninghams built a granary, barns, coal-and-wood house, outhouse, and chicken house, in addition to the main house, to form a traditional central West Virginia subsistence farm. It was on the Cunningham farmstead, in 1861, that Union fortifications were established at Bulltown. , For the better part of four years, Moses Cunningham, son of Henry Cunningham and a firm supporter of the Confederacy, saw his daily farming activities and family life disrupted by the operations of a substantial Union garrison. Indeed, although a noncombatant, he was wounded at the Battle of Bulltown. One account has it that he was shot in the backside when he ran into the line of fire shouting "Hurrah for Jeff Davis!" After Confederate forces broke off the attack and left the area, Moses Cunningham cared for one of the Confederate injured, one John Sumpter, who had suffered a broken leg in the battle. , The farmstead is shown as it appeared 1920. Later, electric and telephone service were added, and the plowing was done by tractor. But the house still has no sanitary plumbing, water is still provided by means of a hand pump, and most tasks on the Cunningham farm-such as the shucking and shelling of corn-are still accomplished by hand.