Museum Opens This Saturday
This Saturday, April 5, is the season opening date for the Miller’s House Museum at Jordans Point.
The museum, located at 834 Moses Mill Road, will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through Thanksgiving. This will be the 10th season that the Museum has opened to the public to interpret and celebrate the story of the industrial and transportation history of our community.
“Our rich history traces back to the movement of Native Americans as they moved along paths through this area on hunting expeditions,” explained Skip Ravenhorst, president of the Miller’s House Museum Foundation. “In the early years of our nation these trails were used and expanded by the tens of thousands of pioneers, many of German and Scotch-Irish descent, moving from the northeast to southwest seeking new and fertile lands. Their passage had a significant influence on our communities today.” East-West travel was more problematic in this area because of the mountain ranges. “Until the late 19th century transportation by river and canal was an important option, and Jordans Point was right at the crossroads,” said Ravenhorst.
Native American traces evolved into U.S. 11 and then Interstate 81. The North (now Maury) River for many years provided commerce to the Atlantic Ocean ports. Even Daniel Boone was known to travel through here on the Wilderness/ Great Valley Road guiding settlers to the Cumberland Pass and further west, he continued.
Jordans Point once featured a lumber mill, grist mill, forge, foundry, blacksmith shop and merchandise stores. “It was quite a busy place with canal boats coming and going, and later there were two railroads operating at the Point,” said Ravenhorst. The Chesapeake & Ohio came west from Buena Vista and the Baltimore & Ohio south from Harrisonburg with a small branch line serving the industries at the Point.
Because of periodic flooding, today only two buildings from this period remain in the Jordans Point Historic District. The museum is located in a structure that had been the residence of a mill operator in the 19th century.
On the first floor, emphasis is on the canal system that took passengers and freight through Glasgow, Buchanan and Lynchburg down to Richmond. Featured is an operating model of a canal lock, of which there were 14 along the North (Maury) River from Lexington to Glasgow, and a total of 88 lift locks between Lexington and Richmond.
On the second floor is a diorama of Jordans Point in the early 1900s, and a comprehensive and educational display of local railroad history.
Admission is free, although donations are accepted. “Our friendly and knowledgeable docents are there to enhance visitors’ enjoyment of the museum,” said Ravenhorst. Area residents are invited to visit the museum’s Facebook page or website, www. millershousemuseum.com
