Last week we talked about the stairway and second floor hallways at the museum so now let’s move downstairs and talk about the dining room and kitchen. We are very proud of our museum and have some outstanding articles that have been given to us through the years.

In the kitchen you will find cooking aids, a sausage stuffer, a large dough board that belonged to a pioneer family. There is a collection of teapots that are used for the museum’s Christmas tea. The food for the teas are prepared in the Victorian manner and are served to guests by the ladies and gentlemen of the society.

There is also a cook stove in the kitchen that is a Foster stove, made in Ironton. A hand-operated clothes wringer that was found in the basement of the museum is also on display. Visitors to the kitchen will also find an apple peeler and a churn, antiques that have been donated to us.

A collection of enamel utensils that were donated by Delores Cook are on a shelf over the sink.

In the dining room visitors will find a dining room table with recently re-covered chairs and an étagre that are all original to the house.

The china closet is filled with antique china and there are also mustache mugs with prominent men’s pictures painted on them.

The china cabinet/ book case belonged to the Bernard Massie family. The chandelier was a gift from a South Point family. The corner chair that once belonged to the Gray family is useful, maybe, for a gentleman wearing a dress coat and tails.

You will also find a portrait of Nancy Williamson Norton, who once lived in the Tower House on South Fourth Street. It was painted by Joseph Henry Sharp, a well-known painter who moved out west and became famous for his paintings of Indians. The portrait of Mrs. Norton was donated by her grandson, the late Norton Scott.

There is so much to see on your visit to these rooms and we hope you will visit soon. You will enjoy it!

Remember: June 27 is the date for a presentation by the Ironton Garden Club. On July 25 we will host an ice cream social on the lawn. There will be entertainment. This is something we look forward to.

Historical fact: The presidents and The Bible.

Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the United States, not only read the Bible himself but also taught scriptures in Sunday School.

As Theodore Roosevelt pointed out, a churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and scoffed at or ignored their religious needs is a community on the rapid downgrade.

Naomi Deer is a trustee with the Lawrene County Historical Society.