Killbuck Valley Museum is newest addition to Holmes County Farm Tour
By Jenna Polen
August 13, 2012
900
Stop number four on the Holmes County Farm Tour will be at the Killbuck Valley Museum, located just off U.S. Route 60 in Killbuck. Visitors will get the chance to see up close and personal artifacts from the Holmes County area.
We will be giving museum tours at our stop, and will be giving a brief history of the museum. While they are there visitors can feel free to ask any questions they will have about the exhibits, said David Reed, curator of the museum.
The tours will be by donation only. Visitors who do not want to take the tour are welcome to look around by themselves if they prefer. This is the first year that they are participating in the Farm Tour. They will be giving tours of the museum at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. and they will emphasize the history of Holmes County and the exhibits, said Lauren Croskey, a member of the Holmes County Farm Bureau.
On display are actual millstones from the old Duncan Mill of Killbuck, as well as a miniature replica of the mill.
The archaeology room has displays of recent digs prepared by Dr. Nigel Brush, professor of archaeology at Ashland University. Mastodon bones and Indian artifacts are all part of the history of the Killbuck valley.
We are a natural history museum, so we have tons of information on geology in Holmes County. We have an archeology room, and an exhibit of prehistoric artifacts that have been found in Holmes and Coshocton counties, said Reed.
The geology room has rocks and minerals from all over. A very popular attraction is the fluorescent minerals display. The museum also holds a lot of local history and a historic school display, plus a gift shop with books about wildlife, geology, and archaeology.
The museum will also display a variety of old medical supplies used by Dr. Roth, a former local medical professional. They will have on exhibit old equipment and old medicine bottles from the Holmes County Historical Society. Some of the items are coming from the history museum at West Holmes High School.
The exhibits that the visitors are really going to want to see are the mineral display in the geology room, the artifact collection and the Dr. Roth display that are equally interesting. We have a large number of artifacts and materials on display. The fact that they are all from the area makes them unique. There is no other museum that displays these things around us, said Reed.
The artifacts and history of Holmes County will be an exciting addition to the Farm Tour.
We decided that it would be a good idea for the Killbuck Valley Museum to be a stopping place because its a pretty cool thing. There arent a lot of museums around Holmes County and it gives locals from Holmes County and visitors a brief view of the history we have to offer. There arent a lot of museums around and I think that the people on the Farm Tour are really going to enjoy it, said Croskey.
