Laurel Museum--Poe Death Exhibit and 150 Years of Laurel

Our local historical museum, the Laurel Museum, is not very big but does do a good job at rotating exhibits. The building was originally apartments for workers at the Laurel Mill, which used to be across the street. Now, the town pool is there.

Laurel Museum

An exhibit we saw over Thanksgiving weekend is the Poe Baltimore Art Installation Edgar Allen Poe "Body" and Casket. It's a small exhibit that examines the mysterious circumstances around Poe's death in Baltimore in 1849. It includes a recreation of the man and his last resting place.

Recreation of Poe's casket and the man

Votive candles

Poe was discovered passed out on the streets of Baltimore on October 3, 1849, dressed in ragged clothing that did not fit him well, as if he had pulled them from a trash can. Poe usually dressed quite properly. The exhibit shows an example of the typical outfit of a gentleman in the late 1840s. Poe was not fabulously wealthy but he could afford then current styles.

How the times have changed

Poe was taken by a friend to Washington College Hospital where his delirium continued until his death on October 7. He was unable to explain what had happened to him. A set of large panels dramatizes the events.

Poe's fate, much like one of his stories

The exhibit was quite small but very interesting. It was in the museum's basement, right next to the gift shop. Upstairs was an exhibit meant for last year though the museum was closed because of Covid. The exhibit celebrates 150 years of Laurel. Laurel was incorporated as a city in 1870, though it obviously existed as a community long before that. 

The community

In the 1980s, during the Trivial Pursuit craze, the local Jaycees created a Laurel-based trivia game.

At least it wasn't Monopoly

The museum has a View-Master on display which the kids enjoyed looking through. I remember it from my own childhood. 

View-Master and earlier version

Laurel has plenty of entertainment venues, some still around (the horserace track) and some gone (the bowling alley).

Entertainment in Laurel

Technology in Laurel has advanced through time. The computer below had a catalog of images on 5 1/4 floppy disks! The instructions for a rotary phone fascinated me too.

Old tech

The museum also has housewares from the last 150 years.

"Teapots and Things" would be a good name for a store

Another display has pages from a World War II war ration book.

War rationing

Civic organizations are represented in another display. The Knights of Columbus have been very active (though they have only been around for a hundred years). The sword, scabbard, and baldric are from George Jones, the second Grand Knight in the 1920s.

Knights of Columbus regalia

We are always excited to see new exhibits at our local museum. The kids like it because the museum is close by and not very big, so it isn't a long visit that can get boring. They don't know what they are missing!

Another Visit to the Laurel Museum, Maryland

See our previous visit here...

We visited The Laurel Museum and enjoyed some of the new exhibits.

The Laurel Museum

In the 1990s, DC American football team Washington Redskins considered moving to Laurel, Maryland, to avoid DC bureaucracy. The attempt failed because some locals were convinced it would bring a lot of negatives to the community (air pollution, vandalism, tax increases, etc.) and successfully shot down the attempt.

Redskins in Laurel--didn't happen

School integration by enforced busing began in 1973 for Laurel residents. Both sides of the community struggled with the issue, since young children were often taken far from their home. The scheme lasted until 1998.

Integration--did happen

After several incidents of alleged racial profiling, the Laurel police department started using body cameras in 2013, which did reduce the number of complaints. One such camera is on loan at the museum.

Body Cam display

Just as the Laurel branch of the Prince George's County Library was about to be reopened, a controversy arose over its name. The library was named after Charles H. Stanley (1842-1913), a former mayor of Laurel and state comptroller whose family donated the land in 1963 for a library to be named in his honor. The controversy arose because he was also a Confederate soldier. Debate raged for a while but the Library's Board of Trustees voted to keep the name.

Laurel Library display

A nearby exhibit talks about Civic Engagement and how local citizens can have an impact on local decisions.

Ways to engage civically (and hopefully civilly too!)

Old time ballot box

Next to the Civic Engagement exhibit is one focusing on local organizations that strive to improve the community through a variety of ways--raising money and awareness for the poor, the hungry, the old, the artistic, and on and on...

Some of the local civic organizations

More displays

And even more displays

The children's area of the museum is located in the basement, which is accessible down a rickety staircase or through a side door.

Guess which door gives access to the basement!

The museum sometimes has summer programs for children. Items from previous programs are still available for visitors to enjoy.

The mechanical advantage

Marble tracks

The basement also has information and items about the history of the building. It was a home for mill workers built by the Patuxent Manufacturing Company in the 1840s. This building housed four families, each of which had separate kitchens in the basement. The families on the main floor had indoor staircases down to their kitchens; those on the second story had to walk down an external staircase. This inconvenience was offset by the upstairs families having access to the attic for storage or extra bedrooms. The display of kitchen wares was fun for our kids to see and play with.

Kitchen table and washing bin

The washing bin in the above picture served both as a bathtub for the family and as a clothes washer. Below is a butter churn that mixed the butter with a crank on the side, rather than the classic "pole in the top" that's often depicted in movies and television.

Butter churn

View of the back of the building

If we follow the same schedule of visiting, we'll come again in two years, just in time to see the time-capsule opening!

2020 can't be that close, can it?

We may try to visit again sooner. Only time (and the blog) will tell.

Laurel Museum, Maryland

The Laurel Museum is the headquarters of the Laurel Historical Society. The museum features displays about major events that have happened in Laurel, Maryland, over the past 300 years.

Laurel Museum

They are undergoing renovations (see the swanky new staircase on the left in the picture above), so we weren't able to see the basement displays, where the interactive children's exhibits are located. We'll have to visit again in the future.

The main floor has plenty of information about Laurel's history. J was naturally drawn to the disaster displays since he has been fascinated by tornadoes recently.

J studies some alarming history

L liked the fire-fighting display; I thought the "fires in Laurel history" timeline was appropriately hung directly over the fireplace.

L by the fire fighting gear

History of fire, Laurel edition

One of the fires wiped out the Laurel Mill, where canvas was made for sails in the early 1800s, then for military tents in the mid-1800s (i.e. during the American Civil War). The docent told us that the recently built St. Mary's Parish Center was modeled after the mill, which explains the old-style look of the building.

St. Mary of the Mills Parish Center

Side view

The next room in the museum had a large display devoted to the most famous incident in Laurel--the Wallace Shooting. Alabama governor and presidential hopeful George Wallace was shot on May 15, 1972, during a campaign rally at the Laurel Shopping Center. He was not killed but his bid to be the Democratic candidate ended.

Not the best reason to be famous

Other, less famous crimes are also noted in the museum in the Crime Beat section.

J considers a life of crime

The museum has a computer with all the back issues of the Laurel Leader, the local newspaper. The desk for the computer was the one used by long-time Laurel Leader editor Gertrude Poe. The nearby wall has some moveable type from the old printing press days.

Gertrude Poe's desk

No longer needed publishing supplies

L had a chance to make her own headlines, but that's a story for another post.

Not really a "longtime" resident