Mifflinburg Buggy Museum focuses on gossip of yesteryear for pair of events

Justin Strawser, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·2 min read

May 2—LEWISBURG — The Mifflinburg Buggy Museum plans to spill the tea this month.

The Mifflinburg Buggy Museum will host Scandals and Scoundrels at 1 p.m. Sunday and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly at 1 p.m. May 19. Both walking tours will focus on the silly, shocking, humorous and somewhat spicy parts of the borough's history.

"You know the history of these very influential people, but these are the things that maybe they shouldn't have done; it's their dirty laundry," said tour guide Mary Sullivan. "It's really fun tours. It presents people as they really are. These people had the same amount of flaws we do."

Sullivan purchased dozens of old copies of the defunct Mifflinburg Telegraph from an antique dealer in Mifflinburg and from the auction when the former Packwood House Museum closed down. She has been paging through the old newspapers for juicy bits of gossip.

"It's not your everyday history tour," she said. "You will be amazed at how much history you do come away with. You get history in a very painless, palpable way."

Scandals and Scoundrels is a repeat of the 2021 tour. It will discuss some of the most prominent citizens of Mifflinburg's past, including buggy maker and legislator James Ritter; buggy maker Harry Blair; photographer James Haus; and Doctors Oliver Pellman and James Kleckner.

"James Ritter was a very wealthy man," said Sullivan. "There's so much dirt on this guy."

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is a repeat of the 2023 tour. It will cover stories from the 1880s to the 1940s, highlighting humorous and sometimes shocking tales of the unsung heroes, crafty criminals and tragic victims that helped shape the area's past.

Participants will learn about a citizen with ties to Abraham Lincoln and a World War II hero who earned a place in the borough's history, hearts and Wikipedia. They will also play judge and jury to some unsavory criminals to see if their verdicts match those of yesteryear.

"Some of these stories were lost," said Sullivan. "This resurrects the good things that people did that got left behind."

Scandals and Scoundrels is sold out, but The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly still has tickets available. Prices are $10 each.

Tours leave from the museum's visitors center at 1 p.m. (rain or shine) and are approx 90 minutes in length covering a 1.25-mile loop. Tour size is limited and tickets must be purchased in advance. All sales are final.

The Mifflinburg Buggy Museum is located at 598 Green St., Mifflinburg. Tickets can be purchased from the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum's Facebook page.