Crippen House

The Peter Crippen House property on Creek Road has a tremendous amount to tell us about Huntington’s history. Not only is the house perhaps one of the oldest surviving industrial buildings in the country, it was the home of an early African American community leader and his family for nearly 140 years.

The house is believed to be the first mill building in Huntington, built in 1657 and decommissioned in 1672. It was then moved from Mill Lane to its present location where it was converted to a residence. Two centuries later it was purchased by Peter Crippen, who came to Huntington from Virginia in the 1830s. Crippen was one of the founders of Bethel AME Church, the first African American church in Huntington. His family continued to own the property until 2019. Occupied for four centuries, the property contains a multitude of clues to Huntington’s past.

Plans are being developed to move artifacts of the house to the property at the southwest corner of New York Avenue and Mill Dam Road. There the proposed Huntington African American Museum (HAAM) will be established for visitors who will learn more about this chapter of our community’s history. The archeological study has been completed at the onetime residence location on Creek Road.