Museum Newsletter - 16 May 2005

Friends of the Bullitt County History Museum
E-Newsletter
May 16, 2005

Mt. Washington Spring festival booth...
Bad weather but good Friends

The Bullitt County History Museum hosted its first booth at a festival this weekend at the Mt. Washington Spring Festival. Weather was threatening the first day and rained all day Saturday, so this wasn't the best of starts. Despite the strong winds Friday, we had a good number of visitors at the booth and even sold a few books (though the main purpose was just to let people know about us). Festival organizers placed us in a perfect location and were very helpful. People were genuinely happy to see us there and several visitors had not been aware that our museum exists. We also added several new "Friends" to this newsletter. Saturday was a rainout for us.

E-Town History Show also visited

Barbara and Ken Bailey had a Bullitt Genealogy booth at the history show at E-town on the same weekend as the Mt. Washington festival. Our apologies to good friend Gary Kempf for not being at his event in force. We hope to have better presence there next year. Thanks go to Barbara and Ken for making it possible to be there at all this year.

Activity:

>> Another front-page history article is in the May 16 "Pioneer News" on friend Ken Blair's Iron Furnace research. He and Bob Druin met the other day with Jesse Walls and dug some exploratory holes at the back of the Shepherdsville city park where we think an 1830's-era iron-works (and maybe a salt-works before that) once existed. He made several significant finds including a fire pit and a six foot section of a stone wall. Read the newspaper for details. I understand there will also be an article soon in the Courier Journal. Many thanks go to Jesse Walls and Mayor Joe Sohm for providing the backhoe and labor for the day.

>> I mentioned last time that we had purchased several items. One purchase was the flat-drawer storage cabinet that I have been wanting so long. It allows us to properly store old newspapers, maps, etc. as big as 53 inches by 53 inches. Extra good news is that since we are a member of the Historical Confederation of Kentucky (we joined at the first part of the year for $50) the purchases were discounted well over $600 compared to the best on-sale prices at any place I could find.

>> We have had several out-of-state visitors lately at the museum searching for (and finding) genealogical information. Two visitors from Michigan and Georgia came by last week seeking information on the Bullard (not Ballard) name. That is a rare name around here but they did find (thanks to the help of volunteers Madonna and Jim Cash) some of what they sought.

>> Isaiah Sharp is wanting to develop a shopping area in the Shepherdsville area with a historical theme. The plan is to incorporate designs of old buildings from the area, and maybe even save some old buildings by moving them to the shopping complex. It sounds like a fantastic new way of saving old things from destruction and preserving our heritage. It is a big project. It would be a great thing for local history if he can make it happen. Mr. Sharp has visited the museum a couple of times now and met with me, Penny Pack, Barbara Bailey, Madonna Cash, and Randy Matlow as a preliminary, quickly-gathered exploratory group. Here's wishing him success!

Special Thanks:

>> I thought I had written it in a previous newsletter but I can't find it, so...

Special appreciation goes to volunteers Bob Druin and Jim Crepps for the number of volunteer hours they have put in at the museum. I reported at the Genealogical meeting a couple of months ago that Bob Druin became the first volunteer this year to have put in over 100 hours of service staffing the museum. Bob covers one full day every week and is a faithful and knowledgeable volunteer. This month marks the second volunteer to go over 100 hours. Jim Crepps covers most of a day every week for me and is a dependable helper at the museum. People like these are what make our museum available and useful to the general public. Thank you!

Working Schedule:

By the way, here is generally how the volunteer staffing schedule is running right now for the museum operating hours: Bob Druin covers Mondays 8-4; Jim Crepps covers Wednesdays 10-4; Barbara Bailey covers Fridays 9-4. Madonna and Jim Cash cover Thirsdays 9-Noon. I cover Tuesdays and Thursdays all day and come in as I need to on the other days. This of course does not show the many other hours and volunteers used in non-staffing work.

Good volunteers are what makes this all really happen.

Operating hours are whenever the courthouse is open, generally 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays except holidays. We have a list of others who cover the museum or do other duties as needed. If you would like to volunteer just let me know.

Another Great Resource:

From the Louisville Genealogical Society newsletter "Lines & Bylines" comes this useful genealogical web address. www.ellisisland.org provides extensive information on the thousands of immigrants that passed through Ellis Island into the United States. Though my family name goes back to pioneer days, I did a simple search for Stranges and found literally hundreds of references.

As always, thank you all for being a Friend of Bullitt County History!

David Strange
Bullitt County History Museum
Executive Director
Museum Phone: 502-921-0161
E-Mail address: David.Strange@BullittCountyHistory.org