Whitley County Historical and Genealogical Socity Museum to open Sat.

If you want to get a taste of what life was like 50 or 100 years ago in Whitley County, or want to research your roots to find out where you came from, then you might want to take a trip to downtown Williamsburg Saturday.
The Whitley County Historical and Genealogical Society Museum will hold its open house Saturday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in the old L&N Railroad Depot at 529 Main Street, Williamsburg.
“It will be an open house, and a happy birthday celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Depot being here,” said Patricia Jones, president of the Whitley County Historical and Genealogical Society. “The public can come, and be able to come through, and see items that were donated, and what we are doing here. It is open to the public. It is free of charge.
“It is something so people can be proud of who they were, and where they come from. If they have out of town guests bring them buy. We are trying to generate interest in the downtown area. This building is celebrating its 100th birthday. In 1905 it was erected on this site. The previous depot was located near W.D. Bryants.”
The building served as a train depot until the mid 1970s, and the college acquired it sometime in the late 1970s. After that the college used it as a dormitory for exchange students, and then to house it TV-3 program until nearly a year ago.
The society was founded in 1997, and initially bounced from place to place in terms of its offices.
The society’s first full-time home was the Rock House on the Whitley County school system’s central campus. The building was constructed in the 1930s through one of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.
The Rock House was torn down about two years ago to make room for a new roadway, and the society moved its offices partially into the Depot about that time.
Jones said the society first moved into part of the building in March 2004.
Initially, they only occupied two rooms, which were used as a library for research purposes.
Society members soon became in need of much more space.
“We started approaching different people to see if they could help us get a larger building. We were really swamped for space. When we would have a meeting, everyone was touching elbows,” Jones said.
About a year ago after speaking with several local officials, society members got pointed in the direction of University of the Cumberlands President James Taylor, who told them that the entire depot building would be available soon.
The college agreed to charge the society a nominal fee in exchange for the society keeping up the building and paying the utilities.
In addition to serving as an office for the historical and genealogical society, the building will now be used as a museum to highlight items from Whitley County’s past.
“It is our hope to fix something that will be of interest to the common man. We want it to be a place where people can walk through, take their time, and remember how things were when they were kids. It is also a place where people can leave things for display for their children and grandchildren and everyone to enjoy,” Jones said.
She added that many people don’t realize that the society has a library of research books at the museum dealing with genealogy, and that everything is available to the public.
“We have people come in here all the time. We had a someone bounce in here last week, and said, ‘Can we just walk through? We used to go catch the train here.’ People go through, and try to figure out which room was used for what. It tickles me to death,” said Historical and Genealogical Society Treasurer Brenda Meadors.
She noted that the train used to function much as a modern subway station does today.
Her mother used ride the train everyday when she was in college.
“She rode from Pleasant View to Williamsburg because she went to Cumberland College. She would ride the train every day to school. What surprises me are the prices back in those times. They could ride for a dime and 15 cents from station to station. Back then that was the mode of travel from one little community or one town to the next,” Meadors said.
Among the displays at the historical society are passes used by the public and railroad employees’ family members for riding the train.
Not too long ago, Meadors recalls talking to a woman, whose nephew had a father that worked for the railroad several years ago.
“He didn’t know there was any transportation other than a train. When you worked for the railroad all the kids got to ride free. He didn’t know what a car was for. He just thought you always went by train,” Meadors noted.
Jones said that in the future, the society is going to try and work with the school system so that school groups can take tours during Appalachia Week, and times like that.
“We want to get the kids involved. I’m finding out they know more about this county than I do, and more about some of the items than I do. Hopefully in the next year, we will be able to do something like that,” Jones said.
The museum will be open to the public from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. each Wednesday, and on the last Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. – noon.
Jones said the hours are limited because the facility is manned by volunteers, but can be opened at additional times upon request.
“If there is a time when someone has guests, contact one of us, and we will arrange a time for them to view the museum, and be here to staff it,” Jones added.