Well Worth the Distance Travelled
Well Worth the Distance Travelled
Germantown Historical Society’s Bast Bell Museum
In recent weeks, the Germantown Historical Society has hosted visitors from France, Cranston, Rhode Island , Gilroy, CA and Dallas, Texas. And it’s documented!!
All visitors to the Bast Bell Museum are asked to continue the tradition of signing the bell shaped guest book, similar to the one that Sila Bast had in her home to commemorate visitors of her collection of 5,000 bells.
Recently we had guests from St Cloud, MN, distant relatives of the original settlers, Phillip Dhein and his family. We learned about carillon church bells from a woman who was in Naperville, Illinois for a Carillon Convention. She and her husband travelled cross country from Dallas, Texas to see us.
Sila Lydia Bast’s collection of bells range from pressed glass, leaded glass, ceramic, wood, brass, bronze, shells and hand rolled clay and everything in between. The word is out and people are coming for visits of the Museum and the entire Dheinsville Settlement. The Bell Museum is the hub of the settlement that sits on 9 acres in the Village of Germantown at the crossroads of Maple/Fon duLac Ave and Holy Hill Rd. The 1800’s settlement is home to the Valentine Wolf Haus and Jeffris Genealogy Research Center and the Christ Church of Local History Museum.
Stop by with a picnic lunch, enjoy it in the pavilion and come in for a tour. You will love what you see…….others have travelled across the globe to see us. Come see what you are missing.
Contact Museum Director and Public Relations Specialist, Jane Riley Best at 262-628-3170 to schedule a tour for 10 or more. Drop in visits of smaller groups are welcomed Wed-Sun (Bell Museum) and Wed & Sun (Wolf Haus, Christ Church) 1pm-4pm.
