Virginia AG Rufus Ayers' 1888 stone mansion — now a state park museum with reported handyman and maid apparitions
10 W 1st St N, Big Stone Gap, VA 24219
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Standard Virginia State Parks admission; free for children under 3. See DCR website for current rates.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Victorian mansion with some interior stairs; ground-floor exhibits accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1888 · Virginia Attorney General Rufus Ayers Residence · C. Bascom Slemp Collection · Big Stone Gap Coal Boom Era · Virginia State Park System
Rufus Ayers (1849-1926) served as Attorney General of Virginia from 1878 to 1885 and later became a significant investor in Wise County's coal and iron resources during the great land-speculation boom of the late 1880s. Like many of the outside investors of that era, Ayers believed Big Stone Gap would become a major industrial center. He commissioned architect Charles A. Johnson to design a substantial Victorian stone mansion on a hill overlooking the town, with construction beginning in 1888 and completing in 1895.
Ayers' industrial ambitions — shared with investors including John Fox Sr. and Virginia attorney general colleagues — were not realized. The coal boom proved smaller and less accessible than projections suggested, and the Iron City vision faded by the mid-1890s. The mansion remained a private residence through the early twentieth century.
In the late 1920s, C. Bascom Slemp acquired the property. Slemp had served as a U.S. Representative and as personal secretary to President Calvin Coolidge. His sister, Janie Slemp, was a dedicated regional collector who assembled a significant collection of Southwest Virginia artifacts and memorabilia in the mansion. Janie Slemp donated the property and collection to the Commonwealth of Virginia, which established it as the Southwest Virginia Museum.
The museum became a state park in 1967 and is operated by Virginia DCR. Four floors of exhibits cover the coal boom era, pioneer life on the Wilderness Road, and the history of the region's African American and Native American communities.
Sources
The ghost traditions at the Southwest Virginia Museum center on two figures associated with domestic service at the mansion during its private residential period. Staff and after-hours visitors have reported a male apparition described as a former handyman, seen crossing through areas of the building associated with maintenance and utility work. A female figure believed to be a former maid has been reported on the upper floors, appearing most frequently when the building is closed to the public.
Neither figure has been identified by name in any source encountered, and no specific incident — accident, illness, or other death — is attributed to either apparition. The accounts appear to derive from staff oral tradition and have been amplified by the museum's Halloween programming.
Virginia DCR has incorporated the mansion's ghost reputation into two annual public events: 'Haunting on the Hill,' an evening program, and 'Hoots N' Haunts,' a family-oriented Halloween event. Both events are ticketed and appear on the state parks events calendar.
Notable Entities
Tour the four-story Victorian stone mansion built 1888-1895 for Virginia Attorney General Rufus A. Ayers. Exhibits cover the coal and iron boom that briefly made Big Stone Gap a Pittsburgh rival, Southwest Virginia pioneer life, and the Slemp family collection of regional artifacts.
Virginia DCR hosts annual Halloween programming at the mansion including 'Haunting on the Hill' and 'Hoots N' Haunts,' which incorporate the museum's ghost traditions into seasonal programming. Check the Virginia State Parks events calendar for current dates.
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