HUNTINGTON — Back from Cleveland where she spoke during the Republican National Convention, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is setting her focus on exploring the state she calls home.

Capito, R-W.Va., made two stops in Huntington and one in Hurricane Thursday as she continued her statewide small-business tour.

First, she visited with the Perry family and toured Heritage Farm Museum and Village in Huntington, a Smithsonian-affiliated living history museum dedicated to telling the story of Appalachia.

"I'm here to see what wonderful educational opportunities and the preservation of our culture - it's so amazing to me to see a blacksmith working, to see the evolution of transportation and sewing machines," she said. "They bring in a lot of visitors, a lot of kids, and I've just enjoyed learning more about my state but also about the Perry family and how they developed this."

Capito said she was friends with the late Mike Perry, who founded the farm with his wife Henriella, but was never able to make it to the museum while he was alive.

"I know Mike's not with us today, but boy, we can sure feel his spirit and passion for collecting and appreciating the past, for innovating and showing innovations," she said. "It's incredible. It's much, much larger and comprehensive than I thought."

Capito's second stop was at West Edge, the former Corbin factory building in Huntington's West End, to learn about the Coalfield Development Corporation, a not-for-profit, community-based organization that works to provide quality and affordable homes, create quality jobs, and generates opportunities for quality life for low-income families in southern West Virginia.

"I'm going to see how we will be transitioning our coal miners and how we will be working to ensure we keep people in the state," she said. "There's been a lot of effort and federal dollars that we've been able to allocate to that initiative to get people back to work."

Coalfield Development was recently awarded a $1.8 million grant from the Economic Development Administration with the hope of creating 320 jobs. It was Capito's first time visiting the West Edge site.

Capito's final stop was at Books and Brews in Hurricane, which also included a walking tour of Main Street to learn about the city's developments.

"I really wanted to take the summer to appreciate my state and appreciate the tourism," Capito said. "You learn so much about how people lived before me and how innovative they were, but it's a type of tourism. It's a part of the heritage of our country, too.”