Georgetown museum previews two new 2022 exhibits

Boyer train collection, Western Auto display come to Carriage Museum

By Glenn Rolfe
Posted 12/15/21

GEORGETOWN — Already a showcase for area history, the Nutter D. Marvel Carriage Museum is expanding with several exhibits that can rekindle trips down memory lane.

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already a member? Log in to continue.   Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Georgetown museum previews two new 2022 exhibits

Boyer train collection, Western Auto display come to Carriage Museum

Posted

GEORGETOWN — Already a showcase for area history, the Nutter D. Marvel Carriage Museum is expanding with several exhibits that can rekindle trips down memory lane.

Saturday marked “soft” openings for the J.B. Train Museum, displaying the vast model railroad collection of Georgetown resident Jimmy Boyer, and the Western Auto store, featuring the nostalgic wares of Rehoboth Beach’s Maurice Sanger, who owned two of the specialty shops on the Eastern Shore for many years.

“This is a big accomplishment for us out here, to add some new exhibits,” said Jim Bowden, president of the Georgetown Historical Society, which owns and operates the museum on South Bedford Street.

Mr. Sanger agreed.

“We’re so happy to be here,” he said. “We looked around for a lot of places, and this location is perfect. Mr. Bowden has done a great job.”

On hand for the unveiling of the train museum were Chris Black, Kevin Brown and Ron Gillespie, the threesome that combined to bring a portion of Mr. Boyer’s HO-scale collection to life. Their mission began Dec. 7, 2020, and will continue into the new year.

“It’s never really completed. It is something you can keep working on year after year after year,” said Mr. Brown. “It keeps you busy. We’ll keep working on it in 2022. We’ve got a lot of things we want to add to it. We’ll get them done.”

From Mr. Boyer’s collection of more than 1,500 cars and several hundred engines — some in unopened boxes — the trio shared his passion for railroading. That was prioritized, Mr. Bowden said, in speaking with Mr. Boyer, who now resides in a nursing home.

“When I talked with Jimmy about donating this, that is the plan: to make this the Jimmy Boyer train exhibit. We want to show, for the several generations of kids, what it was like growing up in the ’50s and ’60s and playing with trains,” said Mr. Bowden. “A lot of people remember that Mr. Boyer used to do this every Christmastime, on North Bedford Street, at his house. He loved to have kids of all ages to come in and see trains. That was his passion. He was a real railroad fan.”

Mr. Black said Mr. Boyer’s enthusiasm was vast.

“He liked all railroads, not just local,” he said, noting that Mr. Boyer made trips west to experience railroads there.

“We kept some things special to Mr. Boyer. Most things we used to create a new version of his layout,” said Mr. Brown. “His layout is interesting because it is not really geared to one area of the United States. It is geared to the whole United States. It’s pretty neat to see the kids coming ... and see the excitement on their faces.”

At present, the exhibition features two long freight trains, with about 30 cars each. Work continues on scenery and track ballasting, all tied to Mr. Boyer.

Among the plans is a barge element, portraying the link across the bay at Cape Charles, Virginia.

“We’re trying to make it look realistic,” Mr. Black said.

Both new exhibits are in the same building. The backside of the train museum is the entrance to the Western Auto display, which features thousands and thousands of merchandise items, including the famous Western Flyer and brands like Truetone, Realistic and Davis Tires.

“All of their name brands, … just a phenomenal display,” said Mr. Bowden.

Mr. Sanger’s extensive collection dates back to the 1940s.

“It’s got a little bit of everything here — the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, right on up into 2003, when the company went out of business,” said Mr. Sanger, who started working at a Western Auto while in high school and owned two stores after a while. “Eventually, one went to my son, and the other went to a gentleman who had been with me for years. That’s the one on Kent Island (Maryland). They are still active right today. There’s a lot of merchandise we had back then. Now, it’s Western Tire & Auto.”

The sight of the re-created store stirs memories.

“We had one gentleman who was here, who actually worked for a store years ago, when he was in high school,” Mr. Sanger said. “When he walked out this door, he had tears in his eyes. I felt like, ‘This is all worth it, … to bring back memories like that.’”

The exhibit’s inventory continues to grow.

“We have had a lot of community people who are donating things,” said Mr. Bowden, noting that local DJ Sky Brady “donated a truck here the other day that he had in his collection.”

“It is actually a good fit,” he continued. “When I was growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, in many good-sized towns, you had a Western Auto store. And that was your winter toyland when it would come Christmastime. And they did sell trains. So it’s a good transition.”

Mr. Bowden said the decision to hold sneak peeks of the exhibits stemmed from growing community interest lately.

“We’ve decided to do a couple soft openings a couple Saturdays this year. It’s a prelude to what we plan on doing for Christmastime (2022), the whole month of December, and maybe even part of November,” he said.

A grand opening is tentatively set for late spring, with another preview this Saturday from noon-4 p.m.

Meanwhile, the museum’s carriages are being moved out of a storage barn into a building completed this year. Then, the barn will be transformed into a venue for “The World’s Largest Frying Pan” — a longtime attraction during the Delmarva Chicken Festival era.

The pan, made by Selbyville-based Mumford Sheet Metal Works, measures 10 feet in diameter and weighs in at 650 pounds, not counting upward of 800 chicken quarters it can hold.

These exhibits join other Marvel Museum attractions, including the Delaware Telephone Museum, the 1890 Epworth Church, the 1832 one-room Ellis Grove schoolhouse, a rejuvenated blacksmith display and numerous other treasures, including some truly historic carriages.

Members and subscribers make this story possible.
You can help support non-partisan, community journalism.

x
X