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Don’t Miss the Fun on Opening Day: Saturday, April 13

Are you ready?! Our 2024 season opens Saturday, April 13, with a special theme: Full STEAM Ahead! Join the fun from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and experience science, technology, engineering, art and math (“STEAM”) projects alongside skilled tradesmen and period-dressed docents. Artist Tracy Bettencourt and geologist Lennie Fottrell will be on-hand with unique displays and presentations. All activities are included with special event admission: $14 per adult, $8 per child ages 3-12, children under 3 free with a paying adult. We hope to see you there!

New This Year: Weakley House Museum

 

Opening for the first time this year, the Weakley House Museum was the home of Historic Collinsville founders Glenn and JoAnn Weakley. The home’s humble beginnings date back to 1905 as a tenant house on a family farm. The Weakleys moved into the home in 1960 and began renovations that continued until the 1980s. The unique home contains the couple’s many collections and the stories that accompany them. Inside guests will find items that reflect the couple’s passion for antiques, hunting, quilts and more. Included with general admission. Be sure to make time for a guided tour on your next visit!

Check out some of the special items below, which you’ll see when visiting the Weakley House Museum, plus much more!

Victorian Furniture
View a Victorian Renaissance Revival Hunt Board that once belonged to a very renowned governor of Tennessee.

Musket Rifle
See a Kentucky Long Rifle up close that would have been carried by Daniel Boone as he crossed over the Appalachian Mountains into Tennessee with a group of long-hunters.

Quilts
Quilts are truly Americana and can be works of art. This one is possibly pre-Civil War, and our collection is vast, ranging from the mid-1800s to 1990s.

Second Saturdays
Also new in 2024, make plans to enjoy special activities on Second Saturdays at Historic Collinsville every month throughout the season! Each event features a unique theme, from gardening and quilting to history and art. Don’t miss the fun!

Tentative schedule (subject to change):

April 13: Full STEAM Ahead
May 11: Planting Day
June 8: Montgomery County Heritage Day
July 13: Family Field Day and Picnic
Aug. 10: Quilt Show and Tell
Sept. 14: Storytelling by Day and by Night
Oct. 12: Create at Collinsville
Nov. 9: Let’s Talk Turkey
Dec. 14: An 1860s Christmas

 

Scroll down to read this month’s articles!

Collinsville Characters’ Halloween

By Kristy Proctor

I look outside and there’s something there
Gives me goosebumps and raises my hair
It’s time for Halloween

John Montgomery’s ghost goes riding by
With sights of the past in each eye
Ghosts ride on Halloween

John McAlister’s bones, oh so old
Shine at night like 1800’s gold
Bones glow on Halloween

Peyton Lewis- his eyes wet and red
Memories of war stirring in his head
Soldier’s weep on Halloween

Samuel Roberts is on the prowl
He’s hurt once again and howls a howl
Victims yell on Halloween

Kitty Roberts moans for her sweet spouse
Crying in her centuries-old house
Widows mourn on Halloween

Roselie Cline scratches the chalkboard
Showing 19th Century skills explored
Teachers teach on Halloween

The teacher’s house is empty tonight
Everyone left while screaming in fright
People run on Halloween

The Weakley children not gone away
protect their old homeplace to this day
spirits watch on Halloween

The guests at Historic Collinsville-
Oh, some have passed on and some are real
People visit on Halloween

So, come see the site in your own way
come in the night or come in the day
Not just on Halloween

 

A Butter Churning Tall Tale

By Kristy Proctor

The Weakley Boys and a Butter-Churning Frog…

This story is about two boys, a frog, and a butter churn. In a small house in a rural 1800’s settlement, there lived two very active, very clever boys. It was the family rule in the 1800’s home that the two youngest boys had the chore of churning butter. But, since this was considered real work and not much fun, the boys came up with a “butter” idea- “butter” than any idea they had ever thought. They would fill the churn with cream and wait until their mother left the kitchen. Then, they would lift the lid of the churn and toss in a big ol’ bullfrog. The boys would then run off and go swimming in the pond for a couple hours. While they were gone, that big frog would be jumping up and down trying to get out of the churn. Of course, all the time he was jumping he was sloshing that cream around something fierce.

When the boys returned, they lifted the lid to find that bullfrog sitting right on top of a big chunk of freshly churned butter. They carefully lifted the frog out and let him hop away to live in fear of the next day of butter churning. The family leaped at the chance to butter their bread with fresh butter and never knew why the young boys had such a hoppin’ good time making it!

Deep, Surprising Histories in Clarksville, Tennessee

By Marni Patterson

Read the article in GoNOMAD>