Oglebay Good Zoo

About Oglebay Good Zoo

The Oglebay Good Zoo occupies 30 acres inside Oglebay Park, a self-supporting public municipal park on 1,650 acres on the outskirts of Wheeling, West Virginia. The park itself traces to 1926, when Earl W. Oglebay, of the Oglebay, Norton and Company, deeded his estate, Waddington Farms, to the city of Wheeling for public recreation; it opened to the public in 1928 under the governing Wheeling Park Commission, and zoo records place the Good Zoo's own history to that same year. The Good Zoo is the only Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited zoo in West Virginia.

The zoo was dedicated in memory of Philip Mayer Good, a seven-year-old boy who loved nature and was the son of Barbara and Larry Good of Wheeling. It sits within a larger park that also includes two championship golf courses, a planetarium housed inside the zoo itself, a nature center, a ski slope, and Schenk Lake. As of 2026, the Good Zoo's collection is described as more than 68 species, including cheetahs, zebras, kangaroos, wallabies, tamarins, lemurs, ostriches, llamas, goats, barn owls, bald eagles, red pandas, gorals, peacocks, and white-naped cranes.

History

Oglebay Park's land dates to a farmhouse built in 1846 by Paul Matvey. Earl W. Oglebay bought the eight-room house and its surrounding 25 acres in 1900, renamed the property Waddington Farm, and used it as a summer estate and working model farm, gradually buying up adjacent parcels until the farm reached 750 acres by his death in 1926. He lent parts of the land to researchers studying crop rotation and soil improvement, drawing skepticism from the local agricultural community that reportedly turned to respect once his results came in. The mansion he expanded became a public museum in 1930 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979; it remains open for tours today, operated by the Oglebay Institute.

The Good Zoo grew up as one piece of the park's public recreation mission. It now includes a discovery lab with an indoor South American rainforest exhibit and a veterinary hospital where visitors can view routine checkups and operations. That hospital doubles as a breeding center for certain species, a quarantine area for new arrivals, and a rehabilitation center for wild raptors, including turkey vultures and bald eagles, both also kept on exhibit at the zoo.

Exhibits and habitats

Within the Good Zoo, the veterinary hospital functions as a visible exhibit in its own right, letting guests watch operations and routine checkups on zoo animals as well as ongoing raptor rehabilitation work. The discovery lab houses an indoor South American rainforest exhibit alongside other hands-on learning spaces. The source material available for this page does not describe the zoo's individual outdoor habitat areas in further detail.

Animal highlights

The available source material does not include a species list for the Good Zoo, so no specific floor count can be given here. The zoo describes its 2026 collection as more than 68 species overall, naming cheetahs, zebras, kangaroos, wallabies, tamarins, lemurs, ostriches, llamas, goats, barn owls, bald eagles, red pandas, gorals, peacocks, and white-naped cranes among its residents. Turkey vultures and bald eagles held at the zoo's veterinary hospital also serve as part of its wild raptor rehabilitation program.

Conservation and programs

The Good Zoo participates in multiple Species Survival Plans, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' cooperative breeding and conservation programs, which combine captive breeding, education, research, and habitat preservation efforts aimed at helping threatened species. The zoo's veterinary hospital also runs an ongoing raptor rehabilitation program that treats injured wild raptors and other native birds.

Planning your visit

The source material available for this page does not include current hours, ticket prices, or parking details for the Oglebay Good Zoo. The zoo does host annual events, including "Boo at the Zoo" each October and "The Good Zoo Lights Up For You" during Oglebay Park's larger Festival of Lights, a holiday lighting tradition that began at the park in 1985 and now spans more than 300 acres over a six-mile drive; the zoo's own light display, added in 2006, uses roughly 35,500 LED bulbs synchronized to music. Because specific visiting details are not available here, check the zoo's official website before planning a trip.