This room was originally the master bedroom. We now use this room to highlight the various industries that were in town and if you look at the panoramic photo hanging on the wall, you’ll see Winchester and Ashuelot’s history in brief. The surrounding hills were denuded of trees for the sheep and also contributed in the production of wooden boxes and other products. We had a number of tanneries and woolen mills for the sheep products. The paper industry used by-products of the woolen mills and timber mills. The railroad shipped the products to the wider world. Note the wool drying on the huge, bleacher type dryers (to the left in the picture) from the Ashuelot Manufacturing Company.
Note Bert Woods’ clock-making tools in the hanging case (he made the banjo clock hanging downstairs); business advertisements; railroad broadsides, sheepskin items from Granite State Toy and Lawrence Leathers; the owl preserved by well-known Winchester taxidermist, Luman Nelson; and the Pisgah State Park exhibit.
The Closet
When you open the door, the light will come on. Please make sure to close this door on your way out.
This closet houses vintage adult clothing and personal items from our collections. The mink is a true mink coat. The northeast had been depleted of pelt animals early on and the woolen industry stepped up to say that they could make a product that mimicked animal fur. It was called “beaver cloth” and it was a long nap, worsted fiber made out of wool. You can see such “cloth” in pictures of some Union Army officers’ overcoats. These were called “Union beavers” or “Moscow beavers.”
Return to the Sheridan House Tour.
