We Collect and Exhibit

Start off with a walk through the Four Seasons of Vermont portrayed by time-honored activities – Hunting, Winter Sports, Sugaring and the concerts of the Grafton Cornet Band.








Continue to the Phelps Hotel, experiencing its elegance.  “The hotel was purchased in 1865 and run for the next 48 years by brothers Francis and Harlan Phelps.  After spending eight years in California searching for gold, Harlan applied his entire Gold Rush fortune toward the purchase and enlargement of the Phelps Hotel with porches and a third story. Guests had commodes in their rooms, and there were ladies’ and men’s privies on the main floor, accessed through a catwalk off the second floor.  The hotel kept its own dairy cow, while a pig in the basement made the kitchen scraps disappear.”
(Five Dollars and a Jug of Rum,
The History of Grafton, Vermont 1754-2000, pg. 56)




A stop in the PETTENGILL ROOM is a must for any craft person. You will enjoy the beautiful embroidered samplers created by young girls learning how to write, quilts that record a town’s history and furniture crafted
by carpenters using only hand tools.










The MAIN ROOM is alive with stories that can be imagined as you view the variety of objects on display. Compare the items in the Household Case with the ones you use today, be amazed at the number of everyday items that were made from soapstone, and learn the importance of the Axtell Pocket to an early family of settlers in Grafton.




Be sure to stop by the SCHOOL DAYS ROOM and get a glimpse of what play, school and bath time was like for children of the 1800’s. For instance, Saturday night bath time was a complicated process for Mother.  Water had to be heated, perhaps in the fireplace, and don't forget she made her own soap from potash and fat!  Girls bathed first (they were said to be cleaner) then more water was added, and the boys had a turn.  Usually there was little privacy... “Who's Next?”  You will also see a variety of toys, desks, inkwells, and calligraphy samplers.








Don’t miss the PHOTO ROOM.  Our museum has collected well over 4,000 photographs of buildings, people and activities of days gone by.  You will find this room a fascinating trip back in time.







The BARN and its fine collection of farm and household tools and fire station equipment tell stories of lives that were simpler, yet much more physically demanding. Compare living and working today with what it was like back in the 1800’s.