The Babbie Rural & Farm Learning Museum will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays following the June 12-13 grand opening (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days). Additional hours, including large group visits, will also be available by appointment. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.
to join
Annual memberships for the Babbie Rural & Farm Learning Museum are:
Business sponsorships:
Checks can be made payable and sent to: Babbie Rural & Farm Learning Museum, 250 River Road, Peru, NY 12972.
PERU — A new museum dedicated to agriculture and the rural lifestyle of the North Country will soon be opening.
Leeward Babbie and his nephew Rick Laurin have been working for well over a year on the idea of presenting a historical perspective of farming life through artifacts they have collected over a lifetime.
That dream will come true June 12 and 13 when the Babbie Rural & Farm Learning Museum on River Road in Peru officially gets under way with a weekend-long grand opening.
MUSEUM SETUP
"We're really excited about this," Laurin said recently from the building that will house a wide variety of farming tools and machines dating back to the mid-1800s.
"No matter what, we'll be ready, even if we have to work 24 hours a day" leading up to the opening.
The museum will feature two post-and-beam barns, circa 1850, as well as an antique chicken coop and milk house. The main building will include classic farm tools and domestic devices used by rural families, including a gas-powered Maytag washing machine.
The display areas will also feature hands-on activities, including an opportunity to feed the museum's farm animals, such as the resident horse and donkey.
Demonstrations of horse-drawn equipment, corn shucking and shingle making will also be highlights.
STATE CHARTER
The museum recently received its charter as a nonprofit organization from the New York State Department of Education, paving the way for Babbie and Laurin to move forward with their goals.
"That (charter) allows us to raise money as a nonprofit and allows people to use us as a tax deduction," Laurin said. "It gives us tons of advantages."
Laurin has already hit the road in search of financial support from the community and is hoping for support from both area businesses, families and individuals.
"Funds are very important for us right now," he said. "We have a lot of artifacts to put on display, so we don't really need to acquire anything new. But we had to borrow money to remodel the physical facility."
The museum has received a grant for $625 from the Upstate History Alliance to help Laurin attend a three-day conference in Albany that focuses on museum operations and fundraising during tough economic times.
"When we started this, I didn't have any experience in running a museum, but I'm learning," he said.
The grand opening will also feature a book signing by Dr. Joseph Burke, who recently published a book on the life of Chazy's William H. Miner.
"Everyone thinks of Chazy school and the Miner Farm when they think of Mr. Miner, but he did so much more for the county," Laurin said.
"He was so involved in the (Physicians) hospital and the Kent-Delord house. People don't always remember that."
Burke will be signing his book on a table that was actually used at Chazy School, Laurin added.
PREVIEW OPENING
Laurin and Babbie will go through a trial run when the museum opens June 5 as part of the Clinton County Museum Day.
The project has been a family effort, as relatives have helped kick time and energy into transforming Babbie's former working farm land into a display that will show the public what it means to be a farmer in upstate New York.
E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com
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