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Yorktown Museum Celebrates 50 Years

YORKTOWN, N.Y. -- For more than 50 years, the Yorktown Museum has been one of the best kept secrets in town.

Yorktown residents can learn about farming at the Yorktown Museum

Yorktown residents can learn about farming at the Yorktown Museum

Photo Credit: Yorktown Museum

The museum, located at 1974 Commerce Street, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a birthday bash on July 22.

The Yorktown Museum was founded in 1966 by Katherine Lowey, the town's first historian. It moved to its current location at the Yorktown Community Cultural Center in 1976.

The museum, which attracts about 700 visitors a year, features five permanent exhibit rooms showing the history of Yorktown- from its colonial days to its different architecture to when the railroad came through town and to when Native Americans settled in town. The museum also has a genealogical research room and information on Yorktown's cemeteries. 

"They used longhouses," Adele Hobby, a part-time staff member. "They would move them closer to the water in the summer and move them away from the town in the winter.

Hobby said the museum is fortunate to have the support of the town, which allows it to have its space and also changing exhibits. Hobby said she loves learning about the history of her community.

"We learn new facts every day," Hobby, who works at the museum with Nancy Augustowski, said. "It's fascinating to learn how much the town has changed."

The museum is open Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m  and Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. With admission being a suggested donation, Hobby joked that it is the cheapest date in town. 

Hobby said she always gets comments from patrons shocked at how much the museum has to offer.

"We recently had someone come in for the first time who had lived in Yorktown since the 1960s," Hobby said. "She was very surprised. She thought it was only one room."

For more information, visit www.yorktownmuseum.org 

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