Stepping into history
In the corner of Walter Seal’s room full of French and Indian War items is a display about the Delaware Indians.
Walter Seal holds a Pennsylvania tomahawk and knife.
Walter Seal of Monongahela is shown with a variety of artifacts he has collected from the Battle of the Monongahela in July 1755.
A 19th-century miniature drum is part of Walter Seal’s collection.
Walter Seal’s collection includes a French powder horn and bayonet from the French and Indian War.
MONONGAHELA – Stepping into the living room of Walter Seal’s home feels like stepping into a museum.
The room is filled with relics and treasures that are hundreds of years old. His collection includes a few Civil War pieces, and an even greater number from the French and Indian War, as well as a few from Washington County’s own Whiskey Rebellion.
An 1870s British military uniform, swords, rings, bayonets, coins, official documents, authentic photographs, flags and more cover the tables, walls and display shelves of the room.
Seal, 57, of Monongahela, has a special interest in American-Indian artifacts. His grandmother, Bessie Hemphill Seal, was half Cherokee.
To embrace his heritage, he collects items representing the Huron, Seneca, Manhatos, Delaware, Cherokee, Pawnee, Iroquis and other tribes. Items such as arrowheads, eagle feather headdresses, grain baskets, pipe tomahawks and papoose carriers from the tribes are all featured in the living room.
Seal said he gets many artifacts from Washington and Greene counties, but he also travels frequently to Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia to buy or trade items.
“I just love history, and I want to preserve history for the kids of today,” Seal said. “I think the kids of today spend more time worrying about current events than they do the history, and I just love it when I see a young person interested.”
Seal’s favorite items from his collection include a French and Indian War powder horn and bayonet. These items were captured by Sgt. Israel Calkins of Waterbury. Conn., at the Battle of the Monongahela, July 9, 1755. This location was at Braddock’s Field, which is now the site of Braddock, 10 miles east of Pittsburgh. Seal traded items from his Civil War collection to acquire them.
The oldest item in Seal’s collection is known as an Oldawan chopper. While it appears to be a regular rock, it is much more than that. It is actually an ancient chopping tool between 1.4 million to 2.6 million years old, and one of the earliest stone tools in evolutionary history.
“I just like the fact that I’m holding something that could be thousands, or even millions of years old,” Seal said. “When they had to make their tools, they had to make them to survive.”
Seal credits his passion for collecting historical artifacts to two of his history teachers who showed him displays and got him into collecting.
“If you don’t appreciate the past, you’re going to make the same mistakes as you did before. And you’re doomed to repeat the past if you don’t remember it,” Seal said.