Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park National Register of Historic Places Listing

Big Stone Gap went wild in the late 1880s. Coal fever hit hard. Speculators swore this mountain town would become the next Pittsburgh, and Rufus Ayers wanted a house that proved it. Ayers served as Virginia's Attorney General. He finished his three-story, Romanesque Revival mansion in 1895. He used thick, local red sandstone. Inside, craftsmen carved local oak, cherry, and walnut to create a sprawling 35-room monument to raw Gilded Age wealth. But the local iron boom fizzled out. Ayers lost his fortune, yet his stone house stood firm.

Slemp bought the property in 1929. He served as President Calvin Coolidge's personal secretary, giving him immense political power and deep pockets. He didn't just live there. Slemp filled the rooms with thousands of Appalachian pioneer tools, coal mining gear, and hand-woven quilts. He died in 1943. His will donated the entire collection and the mansion to the Commonwealth of Virginia. This became a brilliant, early example of real estate development & adaptive reuse. Instead of tearing it down, they saved the structure. Actually, the park now serves another purpose. Locals frequently book the outdoor gazebo and manicured lawn as a premier corporate events & wedding venue.