Recent Happenings

VolksWalk Tours Thurmont April 12, 2016

4/25/2016

On April 14, 2016 the Thurmont Historical Society, with Wes Hamrick leading the group and serving as Tour Guide, hosted a 5K VolksWalk for the York/White Rose Wanderers group on an educational tour of some of the historic sites of Thurmont, MD.
     Starting at the 7-11 parking lot on Frederick Road the group proceeded past the former Cozy Inn to Water Street. A quick trip up the hill brought them to the Town Square with Mr. Hamrick pointing out sites of interest and providing the history of each as they walked.
   From the Town Square the group headed west on Main Street, with stops at the Match House and a tour of the Weller House, before proceeding up Altamont Avenue.
     After an information stop at the Weller United Methodist Church they reached Church Street and, with stops at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church and the Creeger House, returned to the Town Square.
     The group then walked east along Main Street past the Memorial Park until they reached the Trolley Trail. Following the Trolley Trail took the group to Moser Road where a quick right led them past the Thurmont Regional Library. A short walk further found them again at Frederick Road.
  At this point the members of the group headed to the Mountain Gate Restaurant for lunch and then returned to their waiting bus thus concluding the trip which everyone enjoyed despite the cool weather encountered. (Photos © Russell C. Poole)

April 3, 2016 The Memorial / personalized bricks have been installed.

4/5/2016

...And the job is done!

With the help of numerous volunteers today the job of digging out the area for the Personalized /Memorial Bricks went quickly and smoothly.

A special thank you to Mr. Thad Bittner for his generous donation of time, materials, and expertise in installing the completed bricks. Another special thank you goes to Mr. John Kinnaird and R.S. Kinnaird Memorials for engraving the bricks. Thad and John's combined craftsmanship has added a great new focal point for visitors to the historic Creeger House.

For more photos please click on the "Photo Gallery" link at the top of this page.

Notice : Unfortunately the sale of Memorial / personalized bricks is suspended at this time due to some production problems. The Thurmont Historical Society will be addressing this issue at their Board of Directors meeting later this month. Please check back at the end of April to determine whether THS is again able to offer these items.

Good News!

3/30/2016

The memorial bricks are finished and are ready to be put down on either side of the front entry.

Thad Bittner has volunteered to lay the bricks in front of the Creeger House at no cost to the Society. He has also offered to cover the cost of the stone and sand that will be needed to do the job. However, the Historical Society needs to remove 6" of dirt from the current flower beds in order to make room for the bricks.
     If you can spare a small amount of your time on Sunday, April 3, at 1 p.m. The task will not take very long and should not be a burden on anyone.
     Please take a few minutes out of your day to come “dig it” with your friends at the Thurmont Historical Society on Sunday, April 3, at 1 p.m.
  When the job is done and the front of the house is beautiful, you’ll be able to say proudly, “I helped do that!” Please help out. Bring your favorite digging tools when you come.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Notice to members

3/20/2016

Dear Members and Friends,
As most of you are aware we were involved in a dispute with a contractor regarding repairs to the Summer Kitchen. When he refused to acknowledge that we had problems and would not talk with us the contractor filed with District Court for the total amount he billed us. It was very evident that the concrete pad he installed was directing storm water into the Summer Kitchen and the new support pole was causing the overhang between the Creeger House and the Summer Kitchen to pull away from the Summer Kitchen.Since we were aware we would need to fix these problems, The Board of Directors decided to file “A Notice of Appeal”. Also this was Grant Funded “taxpayer’s money” so this seemed to be the ethical thing to do. Yes we did incur expenses but ultimately his bill was reduced. Total billed was $9,000 which the Judge reduced to $4,270 to be paid to the contractor.
Back at square one now as we get estimates to fix the Summer Kitchen. The remaining funds will definitely not cover the repairs which need to be done. Asking for your help. Renew your membership and hopefully add something to help with our expenses and the repairs needed to save this historical structure.
I will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
Donna Voellinger
President, Board of Directors
Thurmont Historical Society

Historic Quilt display January 31, 2016

2/1/2016

On Sunday, January 31, 2016 the Thurmont Historical Society hosted an open house at the Creeger House, located at 11 N. Church Street. A highlight of the open house was the display of two handmade quilts created by local school students.
The first quilt (left) was created in 1976 and was comprised of student created art representing the 200th birthday of the United States.

The second quilt (below) was titled "1983 - Second Grade Storyland - 1984" and was made up of squares hand colored by the students.

The 1776-1976 quilt was on loan to the Thurmont Historical Society for the event while the 1983-1984 quilt was recently donated to the Society's permanent collection. Photos © Russell C. Poole

Recent Donations and Improvements. Photos by Cindy Poole 6/1/2015

6/12/2015

Recently the Cozy Inn donated a few more items to the Thurmont Historical Society's collection. We have received a lady's evening dress and matching hat along with and a man's suit jacket.

The "Diamond Jim" gentleman's jacket

The "Lil" Lady's evening dress and hat

Other happenings around the Creeger House include some ongoing repairs and improvements to the Summer Kitchen located immediately behind the main house. Improvements included a new concrete pad in front of the Summer Kitchen along with replacing the support post. Inside the old, deteriorating wallboard was removed, existing wall studs were reinforced, and new water resistant wallboard was placed over them. The Summer Kitchen improvements are part of an effort to preserve and incorporate the area into the overall history of the house.

The new concrete pad and support post (above left) and on the right the repaired and refinished interior wall of the Summer Kitchen.

The Tourist Cabin is Finally Here!! Photos © Russell C. Poole 5/28/2015

6/12/2015

Starting with a beautiful day on Thursday, May 28, 2015, a crew from W.F. Delauter and Son moved the Tourist Cabin carefully from the Cozy Village along Frederick Road, Water Street, across the town square, and finally to a new home on the Thurmont Historical Society property.

The Tourist Cabin was originally built by Wilbur Freeze, father of Cozy Inn owner Jerry Freeze, in 1929 as the then Camp Cozy transitioned to more permanent shelters. During the closing of the Cozy Inn this past spring Jerry Freeze offered the cabin to the Historical Society as a way of keeping some of Thurmont’s history alive and local to where it occurred.

The Thurmont Historical Society enlisted the aid of volunteers to build a frame for a stone filled pad to set the building on near the back of the Society’s property.

Many thanks to the guys from W.F. Delauter and Son for a professional job well done!! Shown above from left to right are
Wayne Smith, Carol Newman - THS, Satch Smith - in doorway, Donna Voellinger - THS, Michael Lauder, Adam Merrbaugh, Bob Fogle, and Jack Merrbaugh.

More photos here.

6/12/2015

On Friday, May 8, 2015 the Thurmont Historical Society held an open house as part of the Art, Wine, & Cupcake Walk. The Society also hosted four local "Arists of the East Side". On hand for the event were docents to greet visitors and to show them around the Creeger House. The Artists which included Linda Sandagger, Sharon Crider, Russ Poole and Cindy Poole were also present with a selection of their works on display.

Throughout the town numerous other businesses were open with many of them also hosting local Artists for the evening including John "Gnarly Artly" Nickerson at the Thurmont Bar & Grill.

More photos here.

6/12/2015

Pictured above from left to right - Nancy (Hoke) Turner, Ronald Hoke, John Hoke, and Susan (Hoke) Hahn,
not pictured Magy (Hoke) Littlejohn

On Saturday, April 4, 2015 members of the Hoke family came to the Creeger House to present the Thurmont Historical Society with a unique piece of furniture produced locally by their parent's Hoke Furniture Company.

This particular furniture piece, a Hoke Model 9600 Deluxe Night Stand was produced in 1981 at the factory located on the east end of Thurmont. It was finished in the then popular "Blanco" (white) with gold leaf highlights. Another piece of Hoke Furniture, a Thru-Dor crib from another donor, was received on the same day. The crib was of a unique design with a width that made it easy to roll from one room to another as the mother worked throughout the house. It could be also be quickly folded for transport in the automobiles of the time

More photos here.

Bible Documentation Project 3/24/2015

6/12/2015

On Tuesday, March 24, 2015 the Thurmont Historical Society, in cooperation with the Thurmont Senior Center, spent the day meeting with interested residents to photograph & document family Bibles. The event took place from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M. at the Thurmont Senior Center building at 806 E. Main Street in Thurmont, MD.

The Bibles were photographed by Russ Poole while Historical Society Board member Liz Stitely documented seniors recollections by video and took notes from verbal interviews. A number of other members of the Historical Society were on hand to assist in signing in participants and ensuring the process moved smoothly.

The Christian Weller Family Bible (shown here) was generously donated to the Thurmont Historical Society by Pepper Scotto of Jefferson, MD who discovered it while sorting through her late father's belongings. Printed entirely in German this Bible shows a publication date of 1813. This is an important addition to the Society's collection.

During the day a total of nine Bibles and / or family photo albums were photographed . In the weeks following an additional Bible and a photo scrapbook of the Creager family and Florist business were also photographed. In total over four hundred images were created for this valuable addition to the Thurmont Historical Society archives and research library.

In the weeks following the session at the Senior Center all of the images were post processed by cropping and resizing then burned to CD or DVD as appropriate. Two copies of each disk were created for each of the participants. One copy was designated as a work disk to view on their computer or television and a second copy to store as an archival backup in case of damage to the work copy. The Thurmont Historical Society received two disks containing a complete set of all of the images created as an addition to their research materials and for further historical research in the future.

Photo © Russell C. Poole

<<Previous

VolksWalk Tours Thurmont April 12, 2016

April 3, 2016 The Memorial / personalized bricks have been installed.

Good News!

Notice to members

Historic Quilt display January 31, 2016

Recent Donations and Improvements. Photos by Cindy Poole 6/1/2015

The Tourist Cabin is Finally Here!! Photos © Russell C. Poole 5/28/2015

Thurmont Art, Wine, & Cupcake Walk Photos © Russell C. Poole 5/8/2015

A Donation from the Hoke Family. Photos © Russell C. Poole 4/4/2015

Bible Documentation Project 3/24/2015

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