Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

(A small group of photos follows the story below. Photos by Titus Mohler.)

Members of the Southampton County Historical Society (SCHS) gathered at The Hubs Vine on Thursday evening, May 22, to belatedly highlight the 60th anniversary of the society with a celebration dinner.

SCHS President Lynda T. Updike welcomed those in attendance at the dinner, indicating that circumstances in her life did not allow for holding the celebration in November 2024 when the 60th anniversary actually occurred, and May 22 ended up being “the soonest we could pull it together.”

She thanked the staff at The Hubs Vine and donors before calling up Dan Balfour to ask for the blessing for the meal.

In his prayer, Balfour said, “Lord, we thank thee for this opportunity to spend some time to think about and appreciate the health and the history and the customs of our beloved Southampton County and the city of Franklin.”

Following the meal, Updike introduced the head table at the dinner, which included herself, Helen Hill, Dr. Benjamin Franklin as portrayed by Barry Stevens, John Quarstein, Balfour and his wife, Jane Balfour.

Updike then introduced the SCHS Executive Board and the society’s charter members that were present.

She then called forward Waite Rawls, who is co-chair with Cliff Cutchins of the society’s Capital Campaign.

Rawls gave a brief update on the capital project to demolish and rebuild the Museum of Southampton History building at 22541 Linden St. in Courtland.

The long-awaited demolition took place in March.

Updike had announced in late 2023 that the museum would be demolished and rebuilt on nearly the same footprint. She said the society was following through with a plan conceived by architect Gerald Traub, who had been brought in to look at the existing museum building, which had a history that went back to the 1950s.

“In the conversation with the architect, we were told that it was cheaper to tear down and rebuild than to try to fix everything that’s wrong,” Updike said previously.

Crowder & White performed the bulk of the demolition, and C.W. Brinkley Inc. Construction, based out of Suffolk, will be handling the museum rebuild.

In his update on the demolish-and-rebuild project at the May 22 dinner, Rawls said, “As it stands right now, we’ve met our fundraising targets. We will go into the ground either late June or early July and begin construction. … If we make that date, we’re talking about finishing the building next March, March of ’26.”

He said it will take another two months or so to finish the exhibits for the museum.

“So we’re looking at hopefully opening the new museum a year from right now,” he said.

He noted that those driving by 22541 Linden St. might have noticed a big “Coming Soon” sign that the society put up in reference to the rebuilt museum.

“But it is, honest to goodness now, coming soon,” he said.

Next on the program at the May 22 celebration dinner, Updike recognized an outstanding society board member.

“This time it was very close, but the winner was chosen by her peers,” she said, “and I’m going to read the plaque: ‘Southampton County Historical Society – Presented to Helen Hill with gratitude for her outstanding service to the Southampton County Historical Society to preserve our local history.’”

Updike said Hill has made curtains for the Rebecca Vaughan House and helped clean it, she has served as the docent at the Southampton Heritage Village and Agriculture & Forestry Museum’s Heritage Day and special events, and Updike said the list of Hill’s service goes on.

Later in the program at the dinner, Quarstein said, “The final exhibit for the Rebecca Vaughan House will be installed by the end of this month. That means we’ve taken this falling down building, we’ve turned it into truly a museum thanks to many of the people in here.

“But I think we are tying that house to the new museum in a unique fashion that I think will help not only teach people but also draw more people to Southampton County to add to our heritage (and) tourism industry,” he added.

Quarstein then introduced Stevens as Dr. Franklin. BenFranklinPrinter.com notes that it has been since 2005 that Stevens has been presenting Franklin, a founding father of the U.S., scientist, educator, businessman, politician and bon vivant.

In character as Dr. Franklin, Stevens delivered remarks to those in attendance at the dinner, commending the society for its endeavor and underscoring how important it is to know, recognize and be able to discuss the past.

He shared details from Franklin’s life, starting by highlighting two words that shed light on who he was — “providence” and “honesty.”

After a brief history on Dr. Franklin, he answered questions from those in attendance at the dinner.