January 16, 2010. There was a sign at the Tobyhanna Millpond #1 Ice Harvest inviting all to visit the Bi-Centennial Museum, so I drove the 2 miles to check it out. The museum still had their Christmas decorations up, which made things look very nice.
Upon entering the inner door I was met by Kay Kinsley, president of the Coolbaugh Township Bi-Centennial Museum, who took me on the tour.
The Museum property had several owners: Nancy Drake, the Rhodes Family and Annie Wills. Annie was a society lady in Scranton and built a mansion in Coolbaugh as her summer home. After Annie died, the mansion was purchased by the Catholic Church, which built a Retreat House adjacent to the mansion and provided a Rectory for the priests. In 1989 Coolbaugh Township purchased the property and the mansion served as the township headquarters for several years before becoming the Bi-Centennial museum.
The museum contains toys and school materials from the 30's.
An unusual feature of the Wills mansion was the shower with no less than 7 shower heads.
This pedal operated organ was brought to the museum from the former Catholic Retreat.
Paying respect to the Tobyhanna Army depot, the museum had a room in honor of our service personnel.
The entrance area had tools for Ice Harvest and Ice fishing.
And tools from the 20's and 30's.
The tour was interesting and Kay Kinsley provided insight into the life of Annie Wills, who received one of the highest honors in Roman Catholicism: "Countess of the Church", bestowed by Pope Pius in 1928.