I’ve spent more time packing this week than working at the museum, so this update is coming a little later than usual. It will also be a bit of a collection of miscellaneous thoughts—because that’s pretty much what’s going on in my brain right now!

First, congratulations to our friends at Saxon Lutheran Memorial, who broke ground on their new event building this past Tuesday. It’s exciting to see this project moving forward. If you’d like to learn more about what they’re doing, be sure to check out their Facebook page.

Speaking of exciting events, the LCMS Convention wrapped up this past week. Did you know that a piece of Perry County has played a special role in every Synod convention for well over a century?

The gavel used to officially open and close the convention was carved in 1911 from wood taken from the Log Cabin College—the original Concordia Seminary in Altenburg. The oak tree from which the wood came was felled in 1839 and used to construct the historic building, making the gavel a tangible link to the Saxon Lutheran immigration and the founding of the Synod. Today, the original gavel is still used to open and close each convention before being carefully returned to safekeeping, with a replica used for the remainder of the proceedings to protect this priceless artifact. You can read more about the fascinating history of this remarkable piece of Perry County here.

For several years, the bell in the Big School has been silent after the clapper fell and could no longer strike the bell. We added repairing it to the list of projects we’ve been tackling with Marler Construction, and they got it working again this past week. It worked so well, in fact, that when Gerard rang it for me yesterday while I briefly stopped by the museum, three kids walked through the front door within minutes! Maybe we’ve discovered a new way to attract visitors!

The two projects I’ve been working on for months are finally coming together. The “Immigration Hallway” is nearly complete, and yesterday I watched the first draft of our Welcome Video. There’s still some work to do before it’s finished, but we’re getting close. I’m hoping we’ll be able to debut it sometime within the next month or so.

Many, many thanks to my talented daughter, Amanda Berry, who designed the map.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now. Time to get back to packing! Have a great weekend, and thanks for following along with all that’s happening at the Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum.

Until next week! Denise Hellwege, Director