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All the United States West Virginia Kenova Kenova's Pumpkin House

Kenova's Pumpkin House

Thousands of jack o'lanterns light up Halloween at this historic West Virginia home.

Kenova, West Virginia

Added By
Jane Weinhardt Goldberg
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CAPTION
Pumpkin House day…   Jennifer Pauley
3,000 pumpkins at the Kenova Pumpkin House   Frank Pierson
  C-K Autumnfest
And it’s all over after Halloween night   C-K Autumnfest
The house is on the National Register of Historic Places   Nyttend
Up to 30,000 people will visit the house over the course of the display   Spotlight West Virginia
Wall of pumpkins   Jennifer Pauley
Each pumpkin is hand-carved   Spotlight West Virginia
It takes hundreds of carving volunteers   C-K Autumnfest
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About

Every year the former mayor of Kenova, West Virginia takes his historic home along the Ohio River and turns it into a showplace of Halloween extravagance. All it takes is three weeks, hundreds of volunteers, and 3,000 pumpkins.

Kenova is in far west West Virginia, at the split of the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers. At last count the population was just over 3,000, so maybe it’s no coincidence that Ric Griffith, owner of the Queen Ann style house on Beech Street (it’s on the National Register of Historic Places) settled on 3,000 as just the right number of pumpkins—that’s one for each Kenovan.

Ric used to be the town’s mayor, and he owns the town’s pharmacy too. That’s where it all started, with just four pumpkins decorating the Griffith & Feil Drug Store (Ric lived upstairs at the time). When he and his family moved to the Beech Street house, that number was up to 500. Then 1,000. And by the year 2000, he was overseeing the scooping and carving of 2,000 pumpkins. One year later, despite his volunteers’ cries of “enough!” he settled on 3,000, and has kept it there ever since.

Hundreds of volunteers help with the drilling, scooping, rinsing and carving of each pumpkin, and it takes another legion of carpenters and electricians to build-out and rig-up the displays. During the first week of October a local farm delivers the pumpkins, and from then until the town’s C-K Autumnfest (for 2016 that’s October 28 & 29) it’s a flurry of pumpkin guts, bleach baths and jigsaws to get ready for the lighting. After all that work, the display comes down after Halloween night.

The Pumpkin House has been a Kenova destination for nearly 30 years, with no charge to any visitor and no donations accepted either. But if you insist on spending some money, you can hit up the food trucks out front.

Related Tags

Eccentric Homes Houses Pumpkins Halloween Holidays Festivals

Know Before You Go

Kenova is in far western West Virginia, tucked in the corner of the Big Sandy and Ohio Rivers. Jump across to the north and you're in Ohio, to the west and you're in Kentucky. The Pumpkin House on Beech Street is on the banks of the Ohio River near downtown. Everyone is invited to come see, and there is no charge.

Community Contributors

Added By

Jane Weinhardt Goldberg

Published

October 24, 2016

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  • http://www.ckautumnfest.com/
  • http://www.tristateupdate.com/story/29433000/kenova-pumpkin-house
  • http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/west-virginia/kenova-pumpkin-wv/
Kenova's Pumpkin House
748 Beech Street
Kenova, West Virginia
United States
38.399737, -82.566857
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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of West Virginia

West Virginia

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Places 106
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Heritage Farm Museum & Village

Huntington, West Virginia

miles away

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Explore the Destination Guide

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West Virginia

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Places 106
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