Pieces of Whitley County’s 200 year history on display through June

If you like history and want to find out a little more about the items and devices Williamsburg and Whitley County residents have used over the past 200 years, then you may want to take a trip to the Whitley County Extension Fine Arts Center in the coming weeks.

“The ARTifact: 20 Decades of Whitley County” display debuted to the public Saturday evening, and features about 140 items that were submitted from 27 total people.

The display features numerous items from an 1860 washboard that was used around the start of the Civil War and a 1930’s Western Electric wall-mounted telephone to the newest item on display, a 2012 hand-made violin, which was made by Clifford Moses.

Whitley County Fine Arts Extension Agent Cortney Moses estimated that most of the items are from the late 1800s through the 1970s.

“We have a few items that are really old. Some stuff is from the late 1700s. We didn’t get a lot of things submitted from recent times,” she added.

Moses said that it took about two weeks or so to get the majority of the items submitted.

“Once people started bringing things in, it got the ball rolling. It took me about one week to install everything,” Moses noted.

The exhibit will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. until the end of June at the Whitley County Extension Fine Arts Center, which is located across the street from Williamsburg City Hall.

“If anyone wants to schedule a time after that or a group tour they can call and make arrangements,” Moses said.

For more information, contact Moses at (606) 549-7373 or e-mail her at Cortney.moses@uky.edu.