Some of the land and buildings at 510 South Bedford Street were gifted to the Georgetown Historical Society by the Town of Georgetown on Return Day. The Town had been gifted some of the buildings and carriages from the Estate of Nutter D. Marvel Sr. A great amount of the carriages in the collection were sold by the heirs of the Marvel family before the gifting to the Town, The buildings were in much need of repair, the roofs were leaking and there were mold and mildew issues. The red metal roofing project was undertaken by the Historical Society membership and mold problems were eliminated. One notable Eagle Scout project cleaned all the pictures and artifacts of the mildew inside the buildings. Other lands adjoining the complex were bought by the Historical Society and many more carriages have been gifted over the years.
We now are a true historical village with two barns, an 1890 Methodist church, 1832 one room schoolhouse, 1880 blacksmith shop, Delmarva Telephone Museum,Sanger Western Auto Museum and Boyer Model Train Museum.
The Georgetown Historical Society has since bought all the land surrounding the complex which includes the West, South and North pastures as well as the Gift shop at the entrance. The original gift of the Marvel family which had been landlocked now was joined with the surrounding properties creating the much larger complex we have today.
The Ellis School, a one-room school house, was built in 1833 and brought to the property as was the Epworth M. E. Church that was built in Laurel in 1890 and moved in 1983. The Lynch Building, often rented for meetings and dinners, consists of two Pennsylvania Railroad Stations from Selbysville and Frankford. Our Blacksmith Shop hailed from Harbeson. The Service Station complete with Gas Pump was restored in 2001.
The large Barrel Barn, a favorite for weddings and parties, was brought from the Henry Kostner Farm near Laurel. There are many other buildings to investigate here at The Museum each with their own story.
While we have added many wonderful carriages of all shapes and sizes to the original collection and they are all housed in the new carriage house on the North field part of the complex,
The Museum houses Victrolas, musical instruments, riding paraphernalia, and a myriad of pictures and antiques.
There is the Bowden Delaware Telephone museum, The Sanger Western Auto Museum and the Jim Boyer model train museum on site as well.
Our group of volunteer docents will be pleased to show you around! The tours are free. We look forward to seeing you soon.
