Fort Mason Historical Society permanently closes
The Fort Mason Historical Society in Masontown permanently closed its doors this month due to a lack of local interest and members.
The historical society, located at 548 N. Main St., began around 1986 and the museum started in the 1990s, said Kay Rendina, director and founder. She said she noticed there were historical items in Masontown that needed a place where people could come and see them, so she helped form the museum and accepted artifact donations from all over town.
Now, Rendina, of Masontown, said it saddens her that she, the same person who started the historical society, must bring it to an end.
“It’s unfortunate, because we really had a lot of nice things,” she said. “It breaks my heart that this is happening.”
Rendina said this year, only two members of the historical society remained, including herself. In addition, they rarely had any visitors anymore. Those who did visit were from out of the area. Without any assistance or interest from the community, she and Kris Kelly, treasurer, made the difficult decision last month to close the museum and end the historical society.
Rendina said the items that were housed in the museum are being returned to those who loaned them. All other items and those not picked up by Friday will be auctioned, as well as the house itself. The date of the auction has not been determined.
Many of the artifacts at the museum were used to furnish the house the way certain rooms would have looked in the 1700s and 1800s, Rendina said. The house had a kitchen, dining room, miscellaneous room, sewing room, bedroom, industries room, doctor’s office and examining room, a schoolhouse room and a library room, as well as a gift shop.
The money earned from auctioning the items will be divided among three nonprofit organizations, Rendina said. They will donate the money to Masontown Helping Hands Ministry, German-Masontown Public Library and Masontown Matters.
Anyone who has artifacts on loan at the Fort Mason Historical Society Museum can call Kay Rendina at 724-583-2349 or 724-557-3882 to pick up their items by 4 p.m. Friday.