The First Settler Escape Room has opened in downtown Lewisburg, offering a glimpse into local history.
In an escape room, participants are let into a room with a series of puzzles and challenges to solve before the clock runs out, each solution getting the team closer to getting back out. The Greenbrier Historical Society’s escape room builds its puzzles around local history while raising money to fund the organization’s mission of preserving local history.
“The building is from 1799, the Barracks building in downtown Lewisburg. Historic building, log building, that kind of influenced our theme,” explained Nora Venezky, executive director of the Greenbrier Historical Society. “[We created] a first settler kind of experience for people. The entire premise of the escape room is people are traversing the Appalachian Mountains, finding their home here in Lewisburg, and surviving. That drives all of our puzzles.”
The room began with a conversation between Venezky and gamesmaster and puzzle designer Ivalee Keen.
“Nora was talking about how they had this space not being utilized by the historic society and we just decided it would a great use for it, making money for the historical society and an interactive way to learn about the history of Lewisburg,” said Keen.
The experience’s length depends on escape room experience – most with escape room experience are expected to take about 45 minutes, while those with no experience are given an hour to work through the numerous puzzles, many of which can be worked on in any order. Keen explained there are at least two ways to lay out a room.
“You can do linear, where this puzzle goes to this puzzle goes to this puzzle or you can do it more radial, where you can go into a room and have ten things to do and until you get to the next place all ten of them have to be done,” said Keen. “Originally we decided it was going to be very linear, and having people beta test through it, it just changed. … [The radial design] allows smaller groups within your group to work on different things at the same time. Not everybody standing on one puzzle. … There are some hard puzzles too. There are some easier puzzles, but there’s definitely some hard puzzles.”
Keen is an experienced escape room designer, having worked and created rooms in several cities throughout the country.
“I saw a Craigslist post for a gamesmaster, they needed a gamesmaster. I had not idea what it was, and I [thought] that just sounds amazing,” Keen said. “From that company, I worked up and started building rooms for them, their marketing, and doing their bank accounts. … It’s a weird niche that a lot of people couldn’t figure out and for some reason it just clicked with me so well. I love doing the escape rooms, building brain teasers and puzzles to make people struggle, it’s kind of fun. It’s a passion.”
The escape room is available by calling 304-645-3398 at least an hour in advance to the visit to allow for staffing or by booking online at http://www.greenbrierhistorical.org/escape-room. The further in advance bookings are arranged, the more flexible the time of the visit can be.
Individually, the room costs $25 per person, or the entire room can be rented for parties, whether for friends, family, work, team building or any other group of people, for $180. The barracks also have a basement which serves as a party room and lobby for the escape room, offering space for refreshments and a place to gather.
The funds generated by the escape room will go to support the Greenbrier Historical Society, its museums, archives, and educational efforts.
“All the proceeds are going to [the Historic Society],” Venezky said. “We’re a private, nonprofit organization. The money from this is supporting our mission to share history, doing school programs, stuff like that. … [We] put it all together, it’s a lot of work and labor. I build pretty much everything in that place. I built a bed from scratch. I build trees out of cement tubes and insulation. It’s very DIY.”
At its core, the escape room itself also supports local history education, giving a glimpse into the beginnings of Lewisburg and the Greenbrier Valley.
“The year is 1784 and you hear tell of lush and fertile lands west of the Appalachian Mountains in a new town named Lewisburg that has been formed near the Lewis Spring in Greenbrier County. You know the trip will be difficult, especially through the mountainous forests. Your goal is to make it to Lewisburg, establish a home, and survive on Virginia’s western frontier.”
Read more in the Friday, November 22, 2019, edition of The est Virginia Daily News.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.