The Foyer
Start your tour at the front door. Visitors enter the museum through the beautiful foyer. Please sign the guestbook and take a brochure. We have a few special items available for purchase.FIRST FLOOR: To the left is our Living Room, to the right the Dining Room. If you make a hard right, you will see the Music Room.SECOND FLOOR: The stairs lead to the Military Room, the Children's Room, The Bedroom, the Women's Room and the Museum's Research Library.Down the hallway, you'll find the CELLAR door, across from the office, just before the kitchen. Don't miss the exhibits there, like the mineral collection, giant scale and the two headed calf.And don't forget about the OUT BUILDING. There, you'll see a giant film projector and Gouverneur's first fire truck.
The Living Room
Everything in the Living Room, or "Parlor," was donated by local people, as were all the items in the museum.The dollhouse represents Victorian life in Gouverneur at the turn of the last century. It was donated by Museum Board Member, Marilyn Scozzafava.You'll see a photo of Edward John Noble on the wall. His business success all started with LifeSaver candies. You could hardly miss the giant pack of Pep-O-Mint LifeSavers displayed in the Gouverneur Village Park.Nelson Winters, one of the earliest Curators of the museum, has an honored place in the living room. Also featured is an original Sudds Parlor Organ and hanging above it, an authentic Victorian "Hair Wreath."
The Music Room
Most of the items in this room are musical; even the rare radios and recording players can be considered musical devices. One of the more unique is the Edison home phonograph.The first curator of the museum was Harold Storie. Harold's father and uncle, Arthur and Theodore Storie owned a radio shop on John Street in Gouverneur and Harold was an early adopter and radio specialist. Many radios from his personal collection are now at the museum.
The Dining Room
It is often referred to as the “glass room” because of the number of windows, glass cases, and stained glass. This room honors the Gouverneur community. The walls showcase paintings from a local artist, Nonnie Caswell.Gouverneur souvenirs are displayed beside an elegant library table. The Library table is very special and was made from wood salvaged from the Aldrich house on Barney Street after a fire.You'll see samples of lace in the Dining Room. Gouverneur was once very well known for it's Nottingham Lace.
The Cellar
The museum has one of the best exhibits of rare and unique minerals in the area. The round room off the main room is an exhibit honoring mining and miners. A small adjacent room is a treasure trove of medical instruments and features Kinney Drugs. Kinney Drugs began in Gouverneur and the community is very proud of them. On your way to the medical room, did you spot the 2-headed calf?Featured on the other side of the stairs is the business technology area. From a giant scale for weighing limestone to typewriters and vintage cameras, the cellar has a lot to see.
The Victorian Bedroom
The Victorian Bedroom is set up as it might have been in the late 1800’s. All of the furniture is handmade. A large assortment of personal items that people used to wear and use in earlier times are displayed around the room.When the house was home to the Presbyterian minister and his family, there was no indoor plumbing. Water to wash up came from a pitcher and a basin was the sink.
The Woman's Room
Enter the Women's Room, and you enter a place of beauty, creativity and power. The dresses along the wall were worn in the 18th and 19th centuries. Even the strange item that looks like a torture device was once used in the pursuit of beauty. Throughout the room are examples of "in-home" creative clothing decoration and production. Making clothes by hand was common and some of the examples in the room show the creative flair of the seamstress.The power in this space is represented by Rhoda Fox Graves, the first woman in the New York State Senate.
The Research Library
Welcome to the Nelson Winters Library. Nelson was one of the first museum curators and he was instrumental in developing this library for original photographs, years of newspaper clippings, directories, pamphlets, photographs, posters and anything that might be valuable to someone, someday.Our technology runs the gamut from a card index to the Internet... scrapbooks to microfiche... typewriter to wifi.
The Children's Room
The Children's Room is local history from a child's point of view. The antique, vintage, and retro toys, clothes, books, and dolls were part of childhoods, now long past.The small rocker was donated by a woman who worked for the Kinney family. It had belonged to Harold Kinney, the son of Bert Orrin Kinney, who founded the Kinney Drug Company. It is in very excellent condition, compared to the tricycle from the early 20th century that obviously was so well used, the rubber is almost completely worn off the metal wheels.Take your time in this room. Each item came from a local donation and was either worn, read, or played with, by a real child from Gouverneur, a long time ago.
The Military Room
The upstairs room known as "The Military Room" and is dedicated to those who have served both in our country's wars, and those who serve on a local level, our police officers.You see photographs of those who once wore or used the items. As you read about the people, you get a deeper sense of their quiet sacrifices. The uniform is not the story, the specific war is not the story, it is all about the local person who once wore that uniform.Since the room is dedicated to those who have served, we are proud to house the Gouverneur High School Honor Roll for those who served in World War II. The stars indicate that person was killed in that service.
The Out Building
The "building out back" is set up for display and activities. But look closely at the shelves. There are treasures hidden there. The building was built by students of BOCES: Southwest Tech.The new space for artifacts gave us room to move a lot of household and workshop tools and large items that just couldn’t fit in the Victorian Manse.Household items and tools are everywhere. Don't miss the corn sheller. Another item that outgrew the Manse is the large cash register. In the back corner is Gouverneur Fire Department’s first hand-pulled hose cart.
