The museum is not on the regular path, but the nearby city is cute, and has good dining options,…read moreeven for vegetarians. It really is worth the time to stop in, enjoy a meal, and take in the tour.
Jay Johnson, who was the last owner of the property before it was donated to non-profit company that owns it now, was our tour guide. He does a very good job of it. He covers a lot of history through the history of his family that lived in the house beginning in 1882. The house was built, and expanded by his family, who used it both as a residence, and as a hotel.
When Johnson inherited the property as the last, surviving member of the family, he inherited a jumbled mess of boxes stored for many years with items dating back beyond the Civil War. The really interesting part of it all is that he has all the provenance - the pictures, the letters home, and the legal documents - to go with the story. And, there's something for everyone to see there including toys, clothes, furniture, family paintings, antique and obscure pieces of dining implements, and a complete room devoted just to the Civil War.
The house/museum is so complete, and so interesting, it has been licensed by local schools as part of their education program, and students are brought here to learn not only about the history of the town and family, but of the country as well.
For $8.00, the price can't be beat. Children under the age of five are admitted free with a parent, and students are only $5.00. Of course, they take donations on top of the admission price, and we were so impressed, we left $50.00. It was that good!
