The CH Moore Homestead and DeWitt County Museum in Clinton will open this week. 

 

Homestead officials announced via a release, they will open up for the season on April 3rd.  

 

Museum tours include the restored Victorian mansion which was the home of Clifton H. Moore, one of Clinton’s earliest and DeWitt County’s most prominent citizens as well as a long-time friend of Abraham Lincoln; the original carriage barn; the Kent Collection Room; Telephone Museum; and the Farm Museum.   

 

This spring, house has undergone a transition as the period furnishings have been rearranged and rotated from storage to display.   

 

Recently donated pieces have been added as well.  

 

These include a chair believed to have once belonged to the Moore family and often used by Moore’s friend, Abraham Lincoln, when he visited the family.  The “Moore-Lincoln Chair” was given to the museum by a gentleman in Michigan.  

 

Also, through the generosity of C.H. Moore’s descendants, Mr. Moore’s spindle-post, walnut bed has returned to the place he once called “home.”  An heirloom passed down through the family for generations, the bed was recently bequeathed to the museum.  Although more research is required to verify the facts, the bed has now returned to the master bedroom – the very room where Moore spent his restful nights and took his final breath.  The DeWitt County Museum Association is very appreciative to have the bed returned to what is believed to be its former abode.

 

Visitors will also have the opportunity to view the most recently installed exhibit, Cornerstone, which features the contents of the 1893 DeWitt County Courthouse cornerstone time capsule.  The artifacts, numbering more than 50, were loaned to the museum for display by the DeWitt County Board of Directors.  

 

When unveiled last December, it was the first time these items were collectively displayed to be viewed by the public.  Other current but temporary exhibits include DeWitt County and the War to End All Wars and The Railroad and DeWitt County.  

 

In addition to regular daily tours, the museum will be offering a variety of events throughout the upcoming season.  Among these will be the annual Quilted Keepsakes Quilt Show (June 1-30), DeWitt County Museum Tractor Show & Ice Cream Social, the 50th Annual Apple ‘n Pork Festival (September 29 & 30), Illinois Bicentennial History Lecture presented by Illinois State Historian, Samuel Wheeler, Ph.D., (October 14), Holiday Candlelight Tours (November 23 & each Friday evening in December).

 

Regular hours of operation for the museum and gift shop are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm and 1pm-5pm on Sundays.  Groups are encouraged but not required to make advanced reservations.  

 

For more information, contact the C.H. Moore Homestead DeWitt County Museum at 217-935-6066 or visit www.chmoorehomestead.org.