The Blenko Glass Factory is one of the last handmade colored glass tableware factories anywhere in the world. You’re undoubtedly familiar with our brightly-colored, modern and stylishly designed glass, but have you ever stopped by to see how it’s made?
The good news is that we’re not so far away – a good day trip, or a relaxing overnighter – and you’ll see our history, our legacy, and our ongoing evolution all in one day! Schedule a trip for a weekday, and see our glassblowers in action from our free Observation Deck, or book a tour to get behind the scenes!
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Our historic factory in Milton, WV is a sight to behold – and our Visitor Center Museum and Gift Shop the only place where you’ll see so much of our glass in one place. Wander through our Museum or our Garden of Glass and marvel at our rich design history! Weave in and around our gift shop tables and find just the right one-of-a-kind piece to bring home. The Road from Pittsburgh Is Not So Long!
Golly, you’re basically just down the road from us! We asked our Creative Director to put together a roadtrip itinerary with some cool stops between Pittsburgh and Milton!
| | From Pittsburgh - A Glass History Odyssey!
From one epicenter of American glass production to another, the road trip from Pittsburgh to Milton is a time-travel odyssey through the history of Appalachia and the Ohio Valley’s storied and historic glass production. A roadtrip slightly off the beaten path from Pittsburgh will yield all kinds of wonderful glassy delights!
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Oglebay Glass Institute and Museum
The Oglebay Resort is home to all sorts of amusements and treats, including a zoo - but for our purposes, they’re also home a really great glass museum, one that collects in particular the evidence of Wheeling, WV’s long glass production. They have glass studios on premises, and some artisans that continue to practice the craft. Wheeling itself is a beautiful town, once home to many millionaires, and now home to a huge number of gorgeous, if fading, Victorian homes.
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National Imperial Glass Museum
The National Imperial Glass Museum is a labor of love - like many or most glass museums, honestly. One of the best glass museums out there, it seeks to preserve the memory and the beautiful designs of the Imperial Glass Company, and is run by passionate local volunteers and volunteer archivists who have built up an impressive collection beautifully organized and displayed!
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Marble King
The last marble manufacturer in the entire United States! Although Marble King isn’t always open for tours or to the public, pay homage to the place where they turn industrial glass cullet into marbles – and if you’re lucky, see the elevated marble machines cranking out hundreds of these babies every minute. Most of the specially-colored marbles are a thing of the past, though, but Marble King is still a leading manufacturer of marbles for industrial applications (like that clack-clack in your spray paint cans!)
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Wissmach Stained Glass
Contact Wissmach to see if you can arrange a tour of this magnificent stained glass factory and facility. The factory is a marvel of producing giant sheets of stained glass - whether beautifully transparent or charismatically opaque or swirled. It’s a treat to watch the gathering chariots wheeled up to one of their two dozen furnaces and wheeled out and dumped into the flattening machine – or forked and tossed with other colors for variegated glass!
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Eclectic Goods Market
It may not seem like much from the outside, but this antique mall is huge – it goes on and on, and it has more than a few really awesome and perpetually updating dealers that have cool antique and vintage stock. The owners are die-hard Blenko fans, and the love is mutual!
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