Historical group to host open house

Viewing the Caleb and Jerusha Burns dining room are Mike Gregory, Michele Lansing, Laurie Gregory, Mary Peglow and Chuck Lansing. Peglow, granddaughter of now deceased Maryville residents, Mary and Arthur Warner, brought her children to the museum recently.

The Nodaway County Historical Society Museum will host an open house of the Caleb and Jerusha Burns House, 422 West Second Street, Maryville, from 2 to 4 pm on Sunday, June 9.

The house was built about 1849 and is the oldest home in Maryville which is still standing on its original foundation. Society members will be available in each room to share stories with visitors of the home. They will explain the furnishings and artifacts displayed, which include a wood stove and a dry sink in the kitchen, a sampler made by a young girl on her voyage to America in 1852 in the parlor, dishes from the Beal family in the dining room and a rope bed which belonged to Nat Sisson upstairs. Sisson settled in the county just after the Civil War and was said to have blown the last bugle call at the Battle of Appomattox.

Refreshments will be served in the kitchen, some enhanced by herbs from Jerusha’s herb garden in the backyard.  Joann Espey, Maryville Garden Club member, will be available outside at the herb garden to explain common kitchen garden plants of the era.

The 1883 Hickory Grove school house and the main museum at 110 North Walnut Street will also be open for tours during the afternoon.

Everyone is invited, admission is free and donations are welcome.

For more information, call the museum at 660.582.8176 or Alice Hersh at 660.582.4107. The museum is open 1 to 4 pm, Tuesdays through Fridays.