Museum to hold open house Saturday for new Livery Station

UNION — The Union County Museum invites the public to come see its completed Livery Station on Main Street in Union.

A special open house and ribbon cutting is planned for Saturday. The Union County Ambassadors will have the honor of cutting the ribbon at 11 a.m. The open house runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Val Stockhoff, member of the museum’s board of directors, said the purpose of the event is to “celebrate the Livery Station and be able to let everybody see what’s been going on over the past couple of years and thank everyone who made it possible.”

“It’s an extension that evolved out of planning the Agricultural, Timber and Transportation building. We wanted a place to display and tell the whole story of Union County history,” said Stockhoff.

In the new Livery Station the public will get to see a real buggy used by pioneers traveling here over the Oregon Trail. It has been completely refurbished. The museum gives rides to people for special events with a team of horses.

“Old folks say, ‘This brings back so many memories’ and the kids say, ‘People used to ride on these things?’” Stockhoff said, laughingly.

Equally impressive will be a freight wagon used in the Summerville area and freight routes around the county. In the new building, there are also a blacksmith shop, tack gear, a buckboard and a replica of an 1800s cabin.

“The buckboard is a saddle people can get on attached to a spring similar to a horse’s gait,” Stockhoff said.

The event will feature root beer floats for guests, and there will be several Dutch ovens cooking up delicious sample treats.

“We thought it would be good for people to see what the pioneers lived like on a day-to-day basis. The Dutch-oven food would be a real treat to them,” Stockhoff said.

Samples from the Dutch-oven demonstrations will be provided at 12:30 p.m.

The museum hopes to have the Agriculture, Timber and Transportation building opened by next spring.

Stockhoff said the Ag building will have “community-type displays like a carpenter shop, post office, timber mills and logging-type exhibits. It will be the whole agricultural history of Union County along with transportation displays like railroads and cars.”

The Union County Museum first opened in the early 1970s through the formation of the Union County Museum Society in 1969. The museum’s 40-year anniversary is approaching.