Following a standard seasonal closure that was preceded by being closed nearly three months after the March 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, the Gilmer Historical Society’s Tabor House Museum will reopen for a new season beginning Thursday, March 18.
Its hours of operation will be 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and the first Saturday of each month.
Among the museum’s newly displayed items is an 1880s-era parlor pump organ recently donated by a Florida woman with roots in Gilmer County.
Karen Vitelli, historical society member, said Joyce Malone, of Melbourne, Fla., wanted to return the elaborate wooden instrument to Ellijay, where it once belonged to her great-grandparents, Horace and Macy Victoria Harper, who got the organ shortly after they were married.
The over 100-year-old organ was passed down through subsequent generations of the Harper family, which is related by marriage to the Tabor family, for whom the house is named, noted Thomas.
The Tabor House was built in 1870 and the organ in the 1880s, making them almost the same age. Now on display just past the museum’s front entrance, the heavy instrument will likely be moved, at some point, to the house’s parlor area, where an exhibit of Victorian furniture and other vintage home trimmings is now displayed.
An assessment that was done prior to the pump organ being donated showed it to be in amazing shape for it’s age, Vitelli noted.
“It was surprising to know that pianos (cost) more money than organs in the day, so it was not unusual for many people to own one,” she added.
This will be the 14th year in which the Gilmer Historical Society has been in the Tabor House, where its museum continues to grow.
The society also recently received donations of a full flight suit and a collection of World War II medals for its veterans room and a Union rifle for its Civil War room, both located on the house’s upper floor.
The Tabor House Museum, 138 Spring Street, welcomes tours and field trips. It’s open to visits from the public during designated operating hours and group tours can be arranged with advance notice.
More volunteers are always welcome to help greet visitors, Thomas noted.
“We’re looking forward to opening. If (we) can find more volunteers, we can open on Wednesdays, too,” she added.