New at the Virtual Museum!

It’s been quite a while since the From Time to Thyme Virtual Museum has had any new exhibits. However, as luck would have it, I’ve run across some new artifacts to put on display . . .  so to speak. 

(As you may recall, this is a “virtual” museum because all the objects in it have disappeared from the real world. Maybe. It’s possible they could still be around somewhere, but at this point, the only evidence I have of their existence is in old newspaper stories.)

The Oct. 11, 1879 Noblesville Independent contains a brief reference to a painting owned by merchant Ezra Swain. The “very attractive picture” depicted Swain’s home on Noblesville’s Federal Hill and included a view of his prize-winning shorthorn cattle in the foreground.

Swain’s house was originally built by Judge William Garver in the 1850s or 1860s. According to a description I found years ago, it had 11 rooms, four fireplaces, high ceilings and a spiral staircase in the front hall.

Judge Garver sold the property to Judge Earl Stone in 1865. Swain acquired it in 1875. The house remained in the Swain family for nearly 70 years before being sold to the county and torn down to build the new Hamilton County Hospital (now known as Riverview Hospital.)

I’d LOVE to know what became of that painting. In its day, Swain’s house was one of the fanciest residences in this area, so it would be nice if we had some kind of visual record of it. I’m sure there must be photos around somewhere, but I have yet to run across any.

Moving right along to our next exhibit, we have a tooth from what may have been the last bear in Hamilton County.

According to the Feb. 19, 1931 Noblesville Daily Ledger, Perry Bray, whose family was among the first to settle in the Hinkle Creek area, got the tooth from his father, Henry. Henry Bray was credited with killing the bear.

“As the story goes the bear killed a hog on the George Haworth farm not far from what is now known as No. 1 in Washington Township and, after feasting on the porker to his heart’s content, went off to lay down and sleep. His bearship was routed by some hunters and shot by Mr. Bray.”

(Washington Township’s School No. 1 was at the corner of State Road 38 and Anthony Road, an area that in years past was sometimes called Tile Factory Corner.)

Unfortunately, there’s no indication of the year the bear met his fate, but I’d guess it was probably sometime in the 1840s.

Our final exhibit appeared in the July 12, 1913 Noblesville Daily Ledger.

The Ledger noted that Charles Scott had come to town recently and was showing off an 1840 half dime he’d dug up in his garden. According to Scott, when the coin was minted, “we had no nickel 5 cent coin and half dimes were scarce.”

I’d never heard of a half dime, so I did a little research. Scott was right.

The first half dimes were produced for circulation by the U. S. Mint in 1794. The silver coin, valued at — you guessed it! — five cents, was originally called a “half disme,” but so many Americans struggled to pronounce the French word, “disme,” that the “s” was soon dropped.

The Mint began producing nickels in 1866 and for a while both coins were in circulation. In 1873, the half dime was discontinued because of the high cost of silver and because its small size was inconvenient, leaving the nickel as our only five cent piece.

Today, Scott’s grubby little 1840 coin might fetch around $50. Had it been in pristine condition, this exhibit would have been worth thousands.

Whew. I might have had to hire virtual museum guards!

Paula Dunn’s From Time to Thyme column appears on Wednesdays in The Times. Contact her at younggardenerfriend@gmail.com