Greene Historical Society and Museum to mark 100 years in 2025
Founded in 1925, the Greene County Historical Society and Museum (GCHS) was established to share history and appreciation for the area.
Members officially began meeting in a single room in the basement of the Long Building, but by 1971, had secured the former almshouse and opened the museum as their permanent home.
Visitors can now pour over 30,000 artifacts pertaining to the history and heritage of Greene County, while walking through 19th century rooms in the 38,000-square-foot home.
A military room, chapel, general store, doctor’s office and others stretch across two floors, and the space available to the public is only a portion of the historic home.
“There are 54 rooms on three floors in this building. The third floor is not yet open, but we hope to open it in 2025. There’s also a barn, print shop and two log cabins on this property and the Waynesburg and Washington Railroad’s locomotive is a popular stop too,” said Executive Director Matthew Cumberledge.
GCHS has held events throughout the years, bringing visitors in from Greene County and surrounding areas for speaking engagements, car shows and a festival, but said Cumberledge, in 2025, they are planning to reinvent themselves.
“We don’t quite know what it will look like yet, but I think the event schedule will change quite a bit. We hope to offer a summer reenactment weekend and a paranormal haunted history event to name a few,” Cumberledge said. “One thing that will remain is the annual Harvest Festival in October. That will be our huge celebration for 100 years.”
For many years, the museum has rented the grounds for private paranormal investigations, and it’s not uncommon for staff and guests to walk away with a story or two about unexplained footsteps, sounds, smells and full-bodied apparitions.
YouTube has plenty of documented experiences there, and the museum is prepared to offer a spooky event next fall.
Aside from planning new events, the museum leaves staff and volunteers with quite a list to accomplish.
Not only do they hope to open the third floor to guests, the volunteers at GCHS are always working on the preservation and upkeep of the property, built between 1857 and 1887.
Most recently, they’ve been restoring each of the 150 windows in the museum, bringing them to safe and operational standards. Cumberledge said the final 20 windows should be complete this winter.
“The income we generate from the events and tours allows us to keep the building maintained, and it’s a big task,” Cumberledge said. “Nonprofits are hurting financially right now, and we’re all struggling to make ends meet, but we’re being creative and any donations are a huge help.”
They plan to launch a volunteer recruitment campaign this winter, in search of those interested in serving as tour guides, event hosts and more.
Watch their Facebook and website at https://greenecountyhistory.org/ for more information.
“We want people to learn about our local history, the almshouse, and the people that lived here. It develops a closer bond and appreciation for the community we all live in,” Cumberledge said.