Lexington Museum

A WALK ABOUT HISTORY

What a pleasure to see old frame houses with weathered boards. And wood shingles for a roof. Artifacts from our history draw us closer to our ancestors. The survival of artifacts gives us some assurance of continuity. I feel more at home with nature in a wood house with wood floors. Perhaps that’s because I grew up in an all-wood house with an unpainted interior.

The wood boards that have survived in the floors of the Hazelius House and Fox House at the Lexington County Museum are wide enough to have been milled from sizable trees. That is to say, they are easily a foot in width. 

Friday, Annette Lucas and I were ushered about the grounds of the museum where there are numerous buildings dating back to the 18th and 19th Century, many of them moved to the museum from other locations. Trish Shandor gave us the lowdown on where the structures came from and what they were used for. The appearance doesn’t necessarily clue you in to a building’s purpose. For example, do you know what a dove cote looks like? Or a smoke house? Ash hopper? Potato house? You’d probably recognize the school house, if for no other reason than that there were chalk tablets and a lectern.

The photo below is of an historic structure, and the museum has one, but not this one. Do you know what it is? 

This is a cotton press, used to make tight bales of cotton.

The museum has quite a collection of historic quilts, but you won’t notice unless your guide points them out. Many of them are stacked on beds in the furnished houses.

Spread over the museum’s seven acres are 36 historic structures, too much to see in one day. After several hours of strolling the grounds to Lisa’s commentary, we still hadn’t explored the loom room, or Leaphart-Harman House, cotton gin house, cane press, or barns. I’m planning to return. My thanks to Annette and Trish for an enjoyable lesson in Lexington’s history.