Built in 1904 as a summer home for Irish immigrant and wealthy businessman, Dennis McLaughlin, The Columns now houses the Pike County Historical Society and a plethora of Pike County artifacts and archives.
The Pike County Historical Society (PCHS) “has been a repository for Pike County’s artifacts and archives since 1930. Their collection vastly expanded in the 1980s when the Society purchased the stately manse on Broad Street known as ‘The Columns’. The house was built in 1904 as a summer home for Irish immigrant and wealthy businessman Dennis McLaughlin from Jersey City, NJ. The Society is happy to accept donations of items which are pertinent to the history of Pike County. Our exhibits center around the people, places, and happenings that have made Pike County’s history so colorful and interesting.” Source: Pike County Historical Society
The Columns Museum’s highlights include:
The Schocopee Schoolhouse, a one-room schoolhouse from the 1800s,
The Lincoln Flag, which was at Lincoln’s assassination and still bears his bloodstains,
A Girder from the World Trade Center, which was collected from Ground Zero after the tragedy,
Exhibitions on Gifford Pinoch & Family, who was integral to the legacy of forestry, preservation & conservation that started right in Pike County, and
Hiawatha Stage Coach, an original 19th-century stagecoach, built during the late 1840s or early 1850s.
