Milford Historical Museum reopens | Spine

After being closed for 15 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Milford Historical Museum reopened for visits on Saturday July 10 and will maintain its hours of operation on Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for future ones. month.

MHS board chair Sue Bullard said the museum is typically open three days a week, but after interviewing docent volunteers, they’ve decided to reopen only on Saturdays for now.

Milford Historical Society Annual Picnic

The annual MHS Picnic, which takes place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 18 at the Mary Jackson House, located at 648 Canal Street, is also back this month.

“Mary Jackson was born and raised in Milford, went to school to be a teacher, but had a taste for acting,” Bullard said. “Her best-known role was on ‘The Waltons’ TV show in the 1970s, she played one of the Baldwin sisters. “

Upon Jackson’s death in 2005, she bequeathed her home to MHS, which uses the location for its Spring Tea fundraiser, and events like the annual picnic and bridal showers.

Tables and chairs will be set up on the lawn (in inclement weather, the picnic will move indoors) and families are asked to bring their own picnic.

“We will come together and talk about historical things – anything that everyone wants to talk about,” Bullard said. “We usually get alumni coming over so we can pick their brains out on what happened in Milford years ago and it’s a lot of fun.”

No home visit this year

Due to the time it takes to plan, MHS will have to wait another year for the Milford Home Tour, which is the organization’s biggest fundraiser.

“The Home Tour is normally the third weekend in September, but in order to get everything ready, we start asking our owners in March and April, and we start researching the history of the houses,” Bullard said. . “And pretty much now everyone was lining up to work in the houses. It’s a lot of work and at that time we weren’t sure if the owners would want to open their house. In addition, it takes a lot of docents to work on it. So we just thought we had to postpone it for another year.

Bullard said plans were underway for a historic walking tour on the same weekend the home visit would have taken place, Sept. 18-19.

Volunteers wanted

Volunteers are always needed to act as guides at the museum.

“We have a great training program, so for anyone interested, we can provide all the knowledge and information they would need to take tours of the museum,” Bullard said.

MHS also offers scholarships / volunteering opportunities for students in Grades 10-12. Students can earn volunteer hours by doing a variety of work at the museum – from gardening and cleaning days to guiding work. Up to 30 hours of work entitle you to a scholarship of $ 300; 100 hours entitle you to a scholarship of $ 1,000.

There are limited places; interested students can contact Sue Gumpper at (248) 685-2691.

For more information on the Milford Historical Society, follow them on Facebook, visit www.milfordhistory.org or call the museum at (248) 685-7308.