The Sussex-Wantage Historical Society Museum will hold its grand opening March 2. (Photo provided)
This week, I would like to introduce Mario Poggi, Sussex Borough historian, who has an important announcement to make.
Sussex-Wantage Historical Society’s museum will hold grand opening at noon March 2
There is a new museum opening in Sussex Borough.
The Sussex-Wantage Historical Society Museum will have its official grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon Saturday, March 2.
March 2 is a significant date because it will mark Sussex Borough’s 122nd anniversary.
The museum is located at 37 Main St. in Sussex Borough. It is in the Sussex Borough Community and Cultural Center, which is owned and operated by Norwescap, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that tries to strengthen communities by creating opportunities for low-income individuals and families.
Mario Poggi, founder and president of the Sussex-Wantage Historical Society, established in March 2015, said, “I could not pass up this amazing opportunity to finally have a home for the society, and what a home it is, right here in Hornbeck Hall on Main Street.”
The idea of a museum developed when Dianna Morrison, FSW, CSW, CEPF, director of Pathways 2 Prosperity and Step Up at Norwescap, approached Poggi with the idea.
The community center has three classrooms, which it uses for various activities, educational programs, children’s programs, local artist gallery presentations and the like. Morrison offered one of those classrooms as a permanent residency for the society.
“I was finally able to take artifacts that were just sitting in drawers and boxes in my house and bring them out for people to see and have conversations about,” Poggi said. “I cannot thank Norwescap enough.”
The museum has been open since Jan. 28.
Currently, the museum has three display cases, the last of which was just donated to the society and was from the original post office in Sparta.
“It’s a small museum, but one that I hope will inspire memories from local folks and inspire younger people to want to learn about their local history and perhaps pursue further education about history and possibly make it a career path,” said Poggi.
“My goal is to fill the display cases with artifacts that will interest everyone and to fill the walls with photographs and signs that show what our Sussex and Wantage community looked like long ago.
“But I will need the help of the community to do that. I am hoping that people will donate or loan artifacts or photographs to the museum. That is what will make it a truly community museum.”
Currently, the museum has things on display such as International Order of Odd Fellow Lodge 103 ribbon pins from Deckertown and Sussex. They had their meetings next door in the Union Block.
There also are Sussex Air Show posters and a die-cast plane, an original 1896 blueprint of the water pipe layout from the Colesville Reservoir to Deckertown, a card table from the 1940s or ‘50s with advertisements from Sussex and Wantage businesses of the time on it, the original time capsule with its contents from the 1904 Sussex Public School, a signed letter to the county protesting the proposed building of a new road with many familiar local names on it from 1888 along with various photographs.
The museum is open from noon to 3 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free, but donations are always gladly accepted.
The grand opening March 2 is from noon to 3 p.m. and will include a ribbon-cutting, light refreshments, a pin-up board where people can bring their snapshots of the area to be hung up and a walking tour of the immediate area near the museum. The walking tour is weather-permitting.
If anyone has old artifacts or photos from the Sussex and Wantage community or if you have any questions, send email to the Sussex-Wantage Historical Society at swhistoric@gmail.com, go online to swhistoric.org or call 973-864-7852.
Contact Bill Truran, Sussex County’s historian, at billt1425@gmail.com