(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Britton Cook, from Timberworks Lumberjack Show, does some spring board chopping Saturday at Henderson Hall during the 3rd Annual River Road Music Festival.

WILLIAMSTOWN — The River Road Music Festival returned for a third year at the Henderson Hall Plantation this past weekend drawing hundreds of visitors in support of preservation efforts.

“This is a benefit for Henderson Hall,” Senta Goudy, Henderson Hall board member and volunteer said. “The original part of the house was built in 1836 and the rest of the house was completed in 1859, so it’s a very old building, and we host tours here, and we want to be able to preserve it. All the artifacts, like 95% of the artifacts in there, are original to the Henderson family.”

She said the benefit aims to raise funds for much-needed UV protection for the Hall’s windows.

“We have them in some windows, but we need them in all the windows to protect everything that’s inside,” Goudy said. “There are letters that were written back and forth to their son, who was in the Civil War.”

The event featured a variety of activities, including professional lumberjack shows from Timberworks Lumberjack Show, live musical acts, wood carving demonstrations and a hatchet throwing competition put on by the WVUP Forestry Club.

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Max Wilson, left, sits on a wooden chair made by Deven Blair, right, during the Timberworks Lumberjack Show Saturday at Henderson Hall during the 3rd Annual River Road Music Festival.

“(Saturday) we have lumberjack shows on the hour every hour, and then we have three great acts,” Goudy said.

Musical performances included Moon King, Smokestack Betty, headliner TORN, who performed a salute to Creed, and Grassinine: Central Ohio’s Premier Mountain Rock Show.

“They are an incredible Blue Grass group. They’re really popular in the Columbus, greater Columbus area, and it’s a group of people who just love music, love having a good time,” Goudy said.

This year marked the first time the festival was held over two days, with Goudy saying the idea was to expand the event and make it more entertaining.

“We added the lumberjack show, so we are trying something different and trying to grow the festival and we want to increase people’s knowledge and interest in Henderson Hall too, because it takes everybody to be able to preserve this history,” Goudy said.

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Max Hineman, left, and his brother Maverick Hineman throw axes at a target Saturday at Henderson Hall during the 3rd Annual River Road Music Festival.

The event also offered primitive camping for attendees.

Goudy emphasized the importance of the benefit saying it was meant to help preserve the history of Henderson Hall for future generations.:

“This is a benefit to preserve our history for generations to come. And we do a lot of tours here and share our history, and we want to be able to preserve it for our children and our grandchildren,” Goudy said.

When asked about future plans, Goudy said the board is already working on ideas.

“We’ll see next year, what we end up doing,” she said. “But I think it would be awesome to do a big gospel sing on Sunday.”

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Grassinine: Central Ohio's Premier Mountain Rock Show, performs Saturday at Henderson Hall during the 3rd Annual River Road Music Festival.

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Britton Cook and Deven Blair, from the Timberworks Lumberjack Show, compete in a log rolling competition Saturday at Henderson Hall during the 3rd Annual River Road Music Festival.