Well-attended, even on a rainy blustery Saturday.

Cars line the parking area...

This way in...

Welcome to the house!

Visitors checking the place out.

I was there around 2 pm. By that time the logbook was filling nicely (about 15-20 visitors by that point). The Society was well represented by Pam and Rich Backes and their son Matt, Sue Brooks and Steve Zarbatany. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Update: We understand from Pamela & Rich that more than 50 people visited, including many seniors.  Scott Curzi deposited $90 in contributions that were gathered that day, which is a very nice total.

and you can really see their impact! They’ve scraped, and painted and shoveled and swept—and the place is showing the result of their efforts. We now have doors on, and we expect by Friday, when they leave, that we’ll have our temporary windows in place. We may even have one room painted. All the door and window frames have a coat of primer on them, and it changes the appearance of the house quite dramatically. There’s still too much clutter for visitors yet, but we’re not far from that point.

scraping the ceiling in the livingroom

I probably should not call them “kids,” but anyone 50 years younger than me is definitely a kid. Maybe even 30 years younger.

Zack measured the beam for the lintel very carefully

We are delighted, too, that chaperones Brett and Mike accompanied them—they are so much more than chaperones, as both are accomplished at hanging doors and building staircase railings. They know their Revolutionary War history, too.

an impromptu concert during the lunch break

Ed is a regular, of course, but we hope Terry will be back often. It was a delightful concert!

The clean-up is proceeding, along with a limited amount of stabilization. We’ve shored up the floor joists in the kitchen and pulled down some of the falling ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms. Now we’re doing a few repairs to the ceilings in the main hall and the living room. We’d like to put plywood over the weak flooring in the kitchen and put some thick plastic in a few of the windows, but that costs money, which is in short supply. The Sherwin-Williams store on Memorial Drive has contributed five gallons of the very best paint. Very much appreciated. We can’t use it yet, as we’re waiting for an expert paint analysis to be taken. Then we’ll paint the ceilings that have been repaired and probably put a coat of paint on the living room walls.

If you can contribute, it really would be appreciated. We are now a registered non-profit organization, so all contributions are tax deductible. Send your check to the Phillipsburg Area Historical Society – Roseberry Fund – at the Town Hall, 375 Corliss Avenue, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865. We’ll put the money to good work!

Who says men don’t clean house? Activities from Tuesday, April 28.

Scott Curzi checks out the kitchen fireplace

Randy Piazza sweeps debris.

Randy Piazza, Frank Greenagel & Scott Curzi examine the piano.

Scott answers questions from a passing school group.