BEVERLY - Twelve-year-old Danielle Quimby never knew there was so much history in her community until a weekend school assignment taught the girl to look at Beverly and Waterford in a new light.
The sixth-grader at Waterford Elementary School and her classmates went on a "treasure hunt" over the weekend, attempting to locate and learn about local historical places or artifacts.
"I never knew any of this was here," Quimby said, while on a tour of the Oliver Tucker Museum.
The museum, on Ohio 60 at Park Street, can easily be missed going from here to there in Beverly. It sits back off the road a bit, and is chock-full of local history.
The museum is generally open only summer months, but was open over the weekend in conjunction with the Patriots and Pioneers of Washington County events going on through Tuesday in Marietta.
Quimby said the museum and the old Round Bottom School house were among her favorite stops.
"I liked the school house because of how it was just one room for all the students," she said.
Still, she didn't seem to relish the thought of other classes invading her homeroom at Waterford Elementary.
"No, thanks." she said.
At the museum, Quimby said her favorite artifact was an old sword on display.
Sue Trotter, president of the museum, said the sword was aboard the U.S.S. West Virginia during the attack at Pearl Harbor. It was brought home by a local soldier, she said.
The sword is just one of a thousand or so items on display at the Tucker museum.
"We have a little bit of everything," she said.
Artifacts range from Buffalo Bill memorabilia - he was from the area - to office chairs and equipment from doctors and dentists who once worked in the region. There's also plenty of pictures, too.
"There's a camera that is responsible for many of the photos we have," Trotter said, pointing to an antique.
Trotter said four of the upstairs rooms in the home were remodeled last year. Work is under way to restore five downstairs rooms.
Oliver Tucker owned the first hardware store in Beverly and donated the house to the Lower Muskingum Historial Society, which maintains it. It was actually built by John Dodge, who settled the town.
Trotter said dozens of local residents and a handful of students all passed through the museum over the weekend.
