Dr. Huston’s Surgery Room Exhibit is NOW OPEN!!!

On June 22, 2017 we officially opened our new surgery room exhibit. The grand opening ribbon cutting of Dr. Huston’s Surgery Room was a great success. We had over 50 people attend in conjunction with the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce. In attendance, several elected officials came representing, city, county, state, and Federal offices including: Jack Heath, Salisbury City Council President, Jim Ireton, Salisbury City Councilman, John Cannon, Wicomico County Council President, Delegate Mary Beth Carozza, Maryland House of Representatives, and Shawn Jester (representing Congressman Andy Harris). WMDT also came the day of the opening to do a feature piece on the exhibit which aired that night on their news broadcast. We want to thank everyone who made the exhibit possible including our Staff; our Board of Directors; Wirt Wolfe who donated many of the medical instruments; the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum, who loaned us many instruments; The Union Drummer Boy in Gettysburg, PA, who helped in finding period imstuments; Design Floorcloths Limited, who hand painted the new floorcloth in the room; Jodi Shearer, who handmade authentic reproduction menswear; The Gentleman’s Historical Emporium, for men’s accessories (boots, hats, and cane); H & H Furniture in Pocomoke for the Windsor Chairs; and last, but never least, all of our wonderful supporters and contributors – – – this exhibit would not be possible with the contributions to the Bertha Lewis/Bobbi Biron Endowment Fund through the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore.

To see the exhibit of Salisbury’s first surgeon, please visit us any Sunday for free tours between 1:00-4:00 or by appointment.

WMDT Article

Salisbury Ghost Walks

PHM is happy to be joining Chesapeake Ghost Tours/ Haunted Eastern Shore’s schedule of Ghost Walks. Mindie Burgoyne leads the haunted tours of some of the Eastern Shore’s most haunted places. She has been doing haunted tours of area towns as well as writing about experiences in several books. She has added Salisbury to her itinerary and includes PHM as well as sites in Downtown and Holloway Hall at Salisbury University. When guests sign up for these tours, they get to hear about the local lore, legends, and spirit activity at several locations. PHM welcomes guests into the house to hear the stories of the many spirits, but are also allowed to wander the rooms and see if they can sense another worldly presence. For more information about upcoming tours, visit www.chesapeakeghostwalks.com.

Holiday Events 2016

We had our best attendance for our Yuletide Open House and Tea with Santa ever this year! We want to thank everyone who came out for our Yuletide Open House on Dec 4th. This year it was in conjunction with the Newtown Holiday House Tour. We welcomed over 200 people through Poplar Hill Mansion to see all the beautiful table arrangements from the Four Season’s Garden Club. We also got a special treat this year with the talented harpist Kara Russell-Dahl as she played favorite holiday tunes on her harp all afternoon. We even had a special spread in the Salisbury Independent showcasing some of the decorations on the second floor. Our Tea with Santa was also a big success as more families than ever came to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus, enjoy peppermint tea and hot chocolate, and of course eat some cookies!

HALLOWEEN 2016

Thank you to everyone who came out for our Halloween Party on October 28! We had a great turnout with a lot of interesting costumes for our costume contest. Our Palm Reader, Madame Helen, was kept busy all night by those eager to learn their future or spiritual connections. Local paranormal author and storyteller, Andy Nunez was also on hand to talk to visitors about the haunted history of Poplar Hill and Salisbury.

 

SURGERY

The Friends of Poplar Hill Mansion are excited to announce that we will be constructing a new surgery exhibit! Dr. Huston’s Surgery Room will be opening in 2017 and will showcase furnishings and instruments pertaining to surgical practices in the early 1800s. Dr. Huston practiced surgery in the rear room of the house and in keeping with our mission to interpret history of the Federal Period, we are transforming this space into a typical surgeon’s room. We are collaborating with other museums to acquire instruments of the period. We hopefully will also be getting an expert speaker to give a lecture about medical practices in the early Republic or during the War of 1812. Come check out the progress any Sunday during tours from 1-4.