by Kate Shunney
West Virginia University’s 27th president, Michael Benson, continued his 55-county “Welcome Home Tour” last Wednesday, April 29 by visiting Morgan County as he gets to know the Mountain State.
Benson, who took over leadership of the state’s land-grant university in July of 2025, has been exploring the different regions of West Virginia and meeting people, many of whom have ties to WVU.
On Wednesday, Benson and his team started their day at Cacapon State Park then visited Caperton Furnitureworks before coming to downtown Berkeley Springs. Despite a light rain, the university president and companions walked from the Berkeley Springs Train Depot into the center of town, accompanied by Travel Berkeley Springs director Dusty Martin and local historian Terry Golden.
Himself a historian, Benson was drawn to the war monuments and Civil War markers on the Fairfax Green near the courthouse and walked up to the corner at Mercer Street to see two of George Washington’s original lots, granted to him by Lord Fairfax.
At Berkeley Springs State Park, a tour included a look inside the original Roman Bathhouse, a stop at George Washington’s bathtub and conversations with park employees. The tour took the West Virginia University team to The Country Inn for lunch with local officials before Benson’s state tour took the group further east into the panhandle.
In an op-ed he wrote about the tour so far, Benson said the insight into West Virginia’s different regions is just the start of his quest to lead WVU into a “new era.”
“In all, we’ve traveled upwards of 4,500 miles so far, meeting thousands of hardworking and friendly people with deep ties to the Mountain State,” Benson wrote. “The end of the ‘Welcome Home Tour’ though, is only the beginning and it’s the ‘what’s next?’ for the University that excites me most.”
“As I look ahead, I see West Virginia University continuing to expand as an educational training ground built of exploration by putting the student experience first, leading to growing enrollment supported with sound financial planning,” wrote Benson.
“As a history professor, one of my many favorite tour stops was the West Virginia State Museum in Charleston where a 35-star American flag hangs. The flag was hand-stitched soon after West Virginia became a state and flow over the Soldiers’ Cemetery during President Abraham Lincoln’s ‘Gettysburg Address’ on Nov. 19, 1863. It was President Lincoln who said, ‘Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.’ My feet are proudly planted in West Virginia. Let’s Go!” wrote Benson.
