CTHS volunteer-director, Sandy Wilmot, (top) stands ready to greet customers at the new and fully stocked General Store in the Museum of Local History, located in Clifford’s Community Center on Cemetery Street. Clifford Township’s Civil War hero, Owen Phillips, is represented in the hallway (above) of the Museum.
Among the newest displays at the Clifford Township Historical Society Museum of Local History is a mannequin in memory of local Civil War hero, Owen Phillips. “Phillips was a private in Company B, 143rd regiment during the Civil War,” Clifford Township Historical Society (CTHS) president Sandy Wilmot explained. “He was one of our own from Clifford Township, and his fully dressed mannequin stands in a place of honor in the museum hallway. Phillips was promoted to Color Sergeant after saving his regiment’s colors at Gettysburg.”
As history relates regarding the battlefields of the American Civil War, perhaps no other symbol matched the influence of ‘the colors.’ Often, the colors were the only indication of the success or failure of a battlefield movement visible to a soldier. Contemporary letters and official reports tell us that every man in the ranks kept a close watch on those magnificent banners that were carried by a special few. Phillips went on to carry his colors and proudly represented his regiment until he was killed by a sniper in the Battle of the Wilderness.
The Museum will be open again on Sunday, April 17, from 1 to 4 pm. “The new General Store is open and is fully stocked with lots of items for sale,” Wilmot noted. “We’re selling homemade jams, jellies, and apple butter that society members make from local area fruits. We’re also selling CTHS memorabilia to help benefit our many projects.” The General Store will also be open during the upcoming primary elections on Tuesday, April 26 from 8 am to 7 pm. The museum is open monthly on the third Sunday of each month.
The CTHS continually benefits from local area residents and its dedicated volunteers who share their time, countless talents and skills, as well as their own ancestral memorabilia to help further the group’s works and enhance the community’s education of area history. Anyone who has any historical items that they would like to donate to or lend to the museum is invited to contact them at 570-679-2723 or www.cliffordtownshiphistoricalsociety.org.
There is a new way to help the CTHS, Wilmot discovered. People who shop online are learning how to make charitable donations with every purpose without spending another cent.
Wilmot had no idea there was such a program “until I received a letter asking me to register a CTHS account with AmazonSmile.com and verify our 501(c)(3) status. That’s how we became aware of this painless fundraising opportunity. It’s so easy, and it can help raise money for all of our projects while you shop. Apparently, someone had done just that and initiated a new fundraising opportunity for us,” Wilmot remarked, gratefully.
Wilmot looked into the matter and found that, while AmazonSmile.com is a website operated by Amazon that lets shoppers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as found on Amazon.com. The difference, she related, is that when you shop on Smile.Amazon.com, the AmazonSmile Foundation will automatically donate 0.5% of the purchase price to the eligible charitable organization of your choice.
“It’s simple and so easy,” said Wilmot. “We’re now officially registered with this program. So, the first time you visit Smile.Amazon.com, just select CTHS and then proceed with your shopping. Every eligible purchase made through this site results in a donation back to CTHS. You shop, and Amazon gives back to CTHS, with all donations electronically paid quarterly.
“Every little bit helps,” Wilmot added, relating that funds acquired in this new manner can be used by the CTHS to enhance and create new exhibits.
Edited from a piece written by Uniondale freelance feature writer Karen Bernhardt Toolan for the Clifford Township Historical Society, with thanks to the Susquehanna County Room Tax Grant Fund through the Endless Mountains Visitors Bureau.