Museum

rks_rec/citypark.asp"> www.hagerstownmd.org/parks_rec/citypark.asp  A brief biography of George Burnap is available at the Cultural Landscape Foundation website: http://tclf.org/content/george-burnap

Kelly Hancock, museum educator for the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va., will present a collection of wartime love letters, valentines and home-made items of affection during a presentation Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.  The program, titled “Hearts at War: Civil War Valentines and Love Letters from the Collection of the Museum of the Confederacy,” is offered in conjunction with the museum's headline exhibition, “Valley of the Shadow,” commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Participants will learn about the history of St. Valentine's Day, as well as homemade and commercially produced valentines.  Tickets cost $5 for nonmembers and are free to museum members.

The Washington County Rural Heritage Museum Board received the 2005 John Frye Historic Preservation Award at Tuesday's County Commissioners meeting. The Museum Board was recognized for its efforts to promote historic preservation in Washington County.

Eight years in the making, Martinsburg's new social studies and history-focused children's museum at the city's downtown train station is set to open to the public Saturday with a dedication ceremony. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. Tickets, which include brunch, a walking tour of the museum and one free admission (for a return visit) are $15 for adults, $7.50 for children age 6-17 and $1 for those 5 and under. Tickets are $7 without brunch. A dedication program, which is part of Martinsburg Heritage Day festivities, is set to begin at 10 a.m. at the train station.

On Thursday, Hagerstown resident Kathy Shipley stood in the middle of a full-size replica of a third-class cabin from the H.M.S. Titanic at the Discovery Station museum. "It feels like we're in the Titanic," she said. "The rooms are a lot smaller than I would have thought. " The Titanic was on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City when she struck an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, claiming 1,517 lives. The cabin replica was unveiled Thursday morning as the newest addition to the Titanic exhibit on the first floor of the museum on Washington Street in Hagerstown.

The Hagerstown Aviation Museum is hosting a reception March 18 for museum members and donors who helped secure the return of the Fairchild C-82 Flying Boxcar to Hagerstown. Other aviation enthusiasts are invited to attend. Tours of the C-82 will be available, weather permitting, and other museum aircraft will be on display in the hangar. The reception will be from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Hagerstown Aircraft Services facility near the airport off U.S. 11 North. Light refreshments will be served.

HAGERSTOWN - The board president of a downtown Hagerstown interactive museum on Tuesday again asked the Washington County Commissioners for money. B. Marie Byers, board president of Discovery Station at Hagerstown Inc., said a $20,000 contribution from the commissioners would help pay for a business administrator and an exhibit that would be locally built and marketed to other museums. The commissioners did not discuss at the meeting whether they supported giving Discovery Station another contribution.

The Discovery Station, a museum and more, opened at 101 W. Washington St. in Hagerstown in May 2005. It contains exhibits, interactive displays and hosts events, including demonstration-learning lectures on designated Saturdays. Discovery Station is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. It is closed on Mondays, certain holidays and Sundays during July and August. Admission is $6 for those ages 2 to 17; $7 for adults; and $5 for seniors over age 55 and members of the military.

HAGERSTOWN -- People who want to learn more about a fundraiser to help acquire a site for The Doleman Black Heritage Museum can learn more by visiting www.dolemanbhm.vpweb.com . Organizers of the museum are trying procure a building to house African-American artifacts that were acquired over the course of several decades by former Hagerstown resident Marguerite Doleman. The fundraiser will be Oct. 19, from 5 to 8 p.m., at the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown.

The Friends of Washington County Rural Heritage Museum will hold the second annual Spud Fest on Saturday, Aug. 28, beginning at 10 a.m. Potatoes planted this past spring will be harvested after the ground is turned by a horse-drawn plow. All are invited to the event to help pick up the potatoes. Prizes will be awarded to children for the largest, smallest, most unusually-shaped, and most potatoes picked up. Other children's activities include face painting and balloon sculpting.

Kids couldn't get enough Sunday of a 59-foot-long inflatable train at Railroad Heritage Days. Going through the bouncy train time after time, kids were smiling whether they were stepping, crawling or falling out of the opening in the locomotive's face. “He loves trains,” said Hagerstown resident Eddie Oliver, 31, of his son, Zac, 5. Zac said his favorite part of the inflatable train was the slide. After going through the train nine times, Zac was raring to go for another trip, or two, or three.

Automobiles manufactured in Hagerstown between the turn of the century and the Great Depression have made their way to the new Rural Heritage Transportation Museum at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center. The museum, which features buggies, carriages and automobiles that were used in Washington County mostly from the late 19th century up to World War II, has two Pope Tribunes, produced in 1903 and 1904; two Dagmar automobiles, manufactured in 1922 and 1925; and an Astor taxicab.

Boonsboro Town Council members on Monday night agreed set aside $45,000 over the next three years for further development of a proposed museum to celebrate the history of the National Road that passes through town. An organization known as the National Road Heritage Foundation hopes to establish the museum in the Warrenfeltz building along Main Street, and the organization has been raising money to renovate the structure. The organization has already raised some money, which was used to make roof and window improvements on the building next to the Boonsboro Trolley Museum near the entrance to Shafer Memorial Park, said Boonsboro Council member Barbara Wetzel.

More than 500 people wandered past the artworks of hundreds of Washington County middle and high school students during a reception Sunday at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, taking in works such as “Golden Eyes” and “This is Not the Death Star.” Those were two of the three first-place winners in the exhibit, which featured more than 1,100 works by county secondary students. A clay and acrylic bust, “Golden Eyes” was submitted by Nahja Collins and the orb-like clay “Death Star” by Jenna Baker, both students at the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts.

Three buildings on two sites were dedicated as one museum Saturday, honoring the historical and cultural legacy of South Mountain State Park. South Mountain Recreation Area Superintendent Dan Spedden said Washington Monument and Gathland state parks roughly frame a 12-mile span of ridgetop that forms the battlefield for the Battle of South Mountain that occurred during the Civil War. But that battle is not all that the area has to offer in terms of...

Eight years in the making, Martinsburg's new social studies and history-focused children's museum at the city's downtown train station is set to open to the public Saturday with a dedication ceremony. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. Tickets, which include brunch, a walking tour of the museum and one free admission (for a return visit) are $15 for adults, $7.50 for children age 6-17 and $1 for those 5 and under. Tickets are $7 without brunch. A dedication program, which is part of Martinsburg Heritage Day festivities, is set to begin at 10 a.m. at the train station.

The Craver family won a $5,000 shopping spree at R. Bruce Carson Jewelers in the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts' annual raffle on March 21.

The Museum Ramble, a self-guided tour including 24 museums and historic sites from Clear Spring to Smithsburg, will be Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5. Some museums will be open only one day. A printed guide and map to participating sites are available at the Visitor Welcome Center in downtown Hagerstown. Most of the participating museums are open free of charge, and many have special events planned for the weekend. For a complete guide and map, go to museumramble.marylandmemories.org . • Antietam National Battlefield (301-432-5124)

The Hagerstown Aviation Museum will present Open Airplane Afternoon on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at Washington County Regional Airport as part of the 10th annual Museum Ramble. Museum aircraft will be open to the public. Attendees will be able to board and sit in the cockpit of the Fairchild C-82 and C-119 Flying Boxcar and see other museum aircraft, such as the 1943 Fairchild PT-19 World War II Trainer and the 1928 Kreider Reisner KR-31 biplane, all built in Hagerstown. The museum owns 19 historic aircraft, 14 of which were built in Hagerstown.

On March 21, during the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts' annual membership meeting, the museum held its annual raffle drawing, selecting 12 winners from more than 2,400 ticket entries. The museum raised more than $19,000 through the raffle to support its annual   programs. A special thank you goes to Dale Stein, this year's chairperson, for coordinating and organizing the raffle.  Teresa Barr sold the most raffle tickets.  The museum wants to thank everyone who bought and sold tickets, and the prize sponsors who made this year's raffle a success.