Chronicles of the county at Archives & Museum
Real history is not the story of "mankind" but the numberless stories of different aspects of human life, and the real historian is a reporter, looking backwards. At the Williamson County Archives and Museum, visitors can find a genuine history of the region, detailed in documents and displays, photographs and books, and brought to life by a presiding spirit, an historian passionate about the stories in the background of the textbook history.
Louise G. Lynch is the founding director of the Archives and Museum. The beautiful new building, on the square in Franklin, houses on one side the official records of the county - marriage licenses, bonds, wills, probates, deeds, tax records, court minutes, naturalization papers, depositions, coroner reports, inquests, and a million-and-one items of interest to the genealogist - many of them indexed and on microfilm; and a large and priceless collection of books documenting the past. On the other side, the Museum is home to a superb collection of artifacts illuminating the collective memory of men and women who populated the area.
The enterprise was established in 1993 in the basement of the old post office; it moved into its new digs last year. Lynch, a lifelong resident of the county (her first ancestor came to the county in 1812; her father ran a peddling route, and then started a grocery; her family's 132-acre farm was on the site of the current Sam's Club and Lowe's), had always done historical research, for herself and for others, and she wanted to create a place for everyone to be able to do the same. She oversees a staff of cheerful volunteers. All items in the Museum have been donated.
A timeline of the county's history, from the 1700s (Williamson County was officially formed in 1799, but settlers had been uprooting the Indians for fourscore years before that) to the present, is one large exhibit, enhanced by audio accompaniment. Arrowheads are displayed alongside miniature log cabins and early farming equipment. There are displays of dolls, handmade chairs (some made by slaves), a drum from the War of 1812, Civil War guns, coverlets and a loom they might have been woven on, and a mini-chronicle of the 10 Famous Men of the County.
The Museum's Main Street, with artwork by Skip Decker, recreates bygone business storefronts - Lou's Dress Shop, Dr. Get Well's (medical equipment), Brown's General Store, where Louise Lynch's husband sits in a corner (ha, ha), Bennett's Hardware (it was on the site of Sandy's Downtown Grille). Various historical rooms and alcoves present a tableau of the times from pre-colonial to Depression-era. The Log Room, built from logs from an old smokehouse, includes fireplace, rocking chair, dinner table and various implements. The Quilt Room depicts the old-fashioned quilting circle. The School Room has wee and well-worn desks and a picture of George Washington on the wall. There's a Country Kitchen (with lye soap), a Washday alcove, a Tobacco Crop room (and a panorama of a tobacco field), and a Mourners Booth (mannequins of soldiers' widows dressed in black).
Franklin's first taxi, with a picture of Uncle Harry Marsh, its driver, is here. So is a postman's buggy, with the top torn off (its driver, drunk on white lightning, turned it over). And so is a moonshine still, with its chicken waterer.
By far the most moving exhibits are in the Museum's Military Room, where there are photographs, uniforms and profiles of the county's fallen soldiers from the 20th century's wars. Louise Lynch worked long and hard to find the photographs, and interviewed some 125 veterans of World War II, whose recollections are on tape. There are uniforms displayed from the various branches of service, and exhibits of medals and newspaper accounts. It is here that history turns from the dry recitation of facts to the vividness of a living and pulsating thing, where we can imagine the young man smiling out of the photograph going jauntily off to war...
The Williamson County Archives and Museum is in downtown Franklin at Five Points, at 611 West Main St. Hours of operation are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Call 615-790-5462.