GRAVETTE — The Butterfield Trails Questers Chapter #949, of Bella Vista, recently made a donation of a parlor stove to the Gravette Historical Museum. The stove was installed in the museum's historic Kindley home, where a parlor stove had originally stood in the house, and is true to the period of the home.
Six members of the Butterfield Trails Questers were on hand at the Kindley home for a formal presentation of the stove on Sunday, Dec. 11, following a meeting of the Benton County Historical Society in the museum annex.
The parlor stove is only the most recent of several donations the Butterfield Trails Questers chapter has made to the Kindley home. Most Arkansas Questers chapters have a specific preservation or restoration project chosen by their members. The Kindley home is the project chosen by Chapter #949. Its members have donated items to the home for more than 10 years, including furnishings and other period antiques. In addition to material donations, the Questers members support the museum in volunteer hours for museum activities.
"We are very happy to have a relationship with the Gravette museum and Kindley home," said Connie Fetters, president of Butterfield Trails Questers. "It is our pleasure to support the efforts of this group."
Questers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study, preservation and restoration of significant historical sites. It began in 1944 as a lunch discussion group on antiques and has grown into an international organization in Canada and the U.S., with more than 13,000 members and 700 chapters.
Questers chapters first formed in Arkansas in 1970. Today there are 13 chapters in the state.
Admission to the museum and Kindley home is free and tours are available Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The museum also offers private tours during off hours. Steve Mitchael, museum commission chairman, encourages all in the area to visit the museum soon.
General News on 01/11/2017