Esperance Historical Museum Season in Review
By Heather Skinner
ESPERANCE — The Esperance Historical Museum’s open season is Memorial Day – Labor Day, but according to Carriage Barn Curator Scott Lavigne, they, “Still have plenty going on!” Lavigne revealed they will be hard at work behind the scenes to transform the Museum into, “A winter wonderland with decorated trees,” for their Christmas in Esperance celebration on Saturday, December 6th at 10 AM where you will be able to enjoy homemade cookies & hot cocoa, shop handcrafted holiday gifts, enter raffles for festive prizes, enjoy Christmas carols on the piano at the Esperance Presbyterian Church, and kids can drop their letters to Santa in their North Pole mailbox for a special reply.
In more sneak peeks behind the scenes, Esperance Historical Society President Ken Jones hinted at a new cookbook in the works and anticipates a next year release of a book he has been writing about Esperance founder, General William North. North was a large focus in this season’s rotating exhibit in the Museum and mentioned during their annual Soup and Stroll event on October 11th.
Lavigne said, “Looking ahead to 2026, our focus will be on the country’s 250th anniversary, with special events and speakers planned around this historic occasion. We’re still putting the finishing touches on our 2026 calendar and look forward to sharing more soon.”
An exciting Museum acquisition this season was donated by Curtis DeVito, who sought out Jones in July through the Museum’s website. DeVito offered a quilt that is likely from the 1800s with connections to Esperance history.
DeVito had purchased the quilt over 20 years ago at a Columbia County antiques fair. DeVito noticed each of its 36 squares had names inscribed in the center, began researching about it around 10 to 5 years ago, and found it’s called a “friendship quilt.” Observing that the surname, Schoonmaker, appears most frequently in the squares, DeVito explained to Jones that the Burtonville Road cemetery has matches to many names on the quilt.
For anyone interested in joining the Esperance Historical Society, Jones said a date is still to be set for their annual membership meeting in the Spring. Each 2nd Monday of the month you can attend Esperance Village meetings at 7PM in the Meeting Room of the Village Hall (located at 113 Church Street). There is a reserved spot in each agenda for representatives from the Historical Society to attend and share updates.
Lavigne shared, “We’re grateful to everyone who visited this year. Along with our exhibits, the Museum library is a wonderful resource for family history research.” Jones explained, “During the off-season, tours or access to our research library can be scheduled by appointment.” They are looking forward to seeing you at Christmas in Esperance, and Lavigne recommends, “Be sure to follow us on Facebook to stay in the loop about our upcoming events.”
Esperance Historical Museum acquisition highlight from this season. The quilt, likely from the 1800s, was donated by Curtis DeVito. Photo supplied by Scott Lavigne, taken by, “Board member, Victoria O’Milne, who was the docent on duty the day the quilt was donated to the museum.”
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