Marlinton —
I guess the summer is over when the students return to school and college. Zachary Grimes, our faithful Sunday volunteer, has returned for his junior year to Shepherd University, and Brittany McMann, our hostess, has returned for her senior year to Roanoke College.

The museum has been open every day this summer since May 29 with a good number of visitors.

Assuming the duties of hostess for the last week of August and for Saturdays throughout September is Adrienne Juergens, a graduate of Pocahontas County High School and West Virginia Wesleyan College, who will work in the county for AmeriCorps this year.

In addition to weekends in September, the museum will be open on Labor Day. The Sunday schedule will be  1-5 p.m. and on Saturdays from noon-5 with the exception of September 25, which is not only the day of the Roadkill Cookoff, but also Smithsonian Museum Day, so it will be open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. and will honor the Smithsonian admission cards.  

Depending on the fall colors,  individual and group requests,  and tourist traffic, volunteers will open the museum in October; we hope also to have visits from local school classes that month.

The Historical Society also owns and operates the old county jail at Huntersville; it will be open for viewing the first weekend in October during Traditions Day. Volunteers will have history and genealogy books for sale at Huntersville and also in Marlinton during the Autumn Harvest Festival; they are, of course, also available at the museum and Pocahontas Times office and  are a major source of funding for the operation of the museum. 

Funding for the Heritage Room at the McClintic Library was given by PCHS members, Jane Price Sharp and her sister, the late Florence Price McNeel; it houses the society’s genealogical records plus many other materials on local history and genealogy. Unlike the museum, it is open year round and is available whenever the library is open. 

If you are planning a family or class reunion or a wedding and are interested in using the museum grounds this fall or next year, contact curator Bill McNeel, for more information.

Juergens is pictured in the museum's popular vintage music machine department. She is reading a letter from J.B. McNeill to Samuel Kee (owner of the cabin which now stands beside the museum). In the letter McNeill announces that Kee is the holder of  the lucky number in the drawing made in January 1887 at the gala opening of his Buckeye store. His prize stands on the showcase to the left, a Melodia with four cobs, produced in the U.S.A.  Juergens will happily turn the crank for you to hear a hymn, song  or a waltz, as enchanting music is formed by air passing through the holes in the paper scrolls. The instrument was the gift of the late Glenna Hayes, who also donated the Kee cabin, her mother's birthplace, to the museum in the 1960s.  The transportation of the cabin by Burns Motor Freight from Kee Flats is a whole other story. (There are pictures of the move inside  the cabin; this was quite a feat of ingenuity and manpower).

To make the second floor, which displays household and medical equipment, tools and special exhibits, available to people who cannot handle the stairs, Norman Alderman has recently filmed its contents and we plan to show this DVD in the archive room downstairs.

The continued operation of the museum and its upkeep depend on the generosity of the people of the county; it is not self-supporting. Fortunately, we were able to do much-needed repairs on the outside of the building two years ago; however, we were unable to complete repairs on the inside when our funds ran out. Your memberships and gifts will help make this incredible facility available to the next generation of Pocahontas residents, visitors to the county, historians and researchers.

If you have ideas for future activities of the Historical Society, please pass them on to the directors and officers, whose names were printed in this paper last month. They will meet September 23 at 5 p.m. at the Marlinton Presbyterian Church, for a brainstorming session.  Additional interested people are welcome to join us and should bring a sandwich.

Stop by and visit the museum before the season ends. We have several new exhibits as well as books and advice to help with research of family and local history. Incidentally, we are still looking for an ice box to fill the aperture on the back porch, if anyone has one to donate.