Eclectic exhibit will show local treasures at Allison-Antrim Museum

The January 2012 special exhibit at Allison-Antrim Museum, 365 S. Ridge Ave., Greencastle, will be “Local Treasures from the North Storage Bay”.  The exhibit will be comprised of artifacts from the museum’s collections which don’t have a place in the permanent exhibits. Each object has a story, which becomes the bridge between the 19th and 20th centuries and present day.

One of the items that will be on display is the baggage cart that was used by George Hamilton, who was employed as a porter by the McLaughlin Hotel in the early 20th century. Almost 123 years ago, on March 8, 1889, Hamilton was born in the village of Clay Hill.  The U.S. Postal Service awarded him the first contract in southern Franklin County, to deliver mail from the Jefferson Street train station to the Greencastle and Mercersburg Post Offices.  Hamilton was active in the Old Home Week Association. He died four and a half years shy of his 100th birthday on Oct. 24, 1984.

Although Greencastle-Antrim’s mail is no longer delivered to the Greencastle train station, the increase in the cost of fuel over the past decade has made it cost effective for the USPS to return to moving mail via rail freight by using intermodal containers.

What other treasurers will be brought out of the North Storage Bay for the exhibit? The answer is — artifacts that will tell stories about the area’s early agricultural economy, the industrial revolution and our ancestors who lived Greencastle-Antrim’s history.

The exhibit will be open from Jan. 2 to 27.  

Allison-Antrim Museum is open Monday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m. and at all other times by appointment.

For more information, visit the website at www.greencastlemuseum.org, on Twitter @greencastlemuzm,or call the museum at 717-597-9010.

There is no charge for admission, but donations are accepted and provide important support to cover the overhead costs of the museum and barn.