Antique Tool Museum accepts two additions

The Columbus Historic Preservation Trust accepted a historic wheelbarrow and ice tongs from Mrs. Leah Wilson King and Dr. Ray Fitzgerald as additions to its Antique Tool Museum last week. Both items were found on family land.

Wi l l iam W. “Uncle Bi l ly” Alley (1849–1944), son of Abraham “Abram” Alley and Nancy Millar, grew up in the Alley Log Cabin and spent much of his life on the family property in Alleyton. His father, Abram, was one of the five Alley brothers among Stephen F. Austin’s “Old Three Hundred” and built the cabin that is now preserved by CHPT. Uncle Billy also spent time with the Wilson family on Wilson Hill and with the Fitzgerald family on their ranch, where family recollections suggest he continued his lifelong habit of building and creating.

A number of pieces still treasured by his descendants are believed to have been made during those visits. This handcrafted wheelbarrow, built by Uncle Billy more than a century ago, offers a connection between the objects CHPT preserves, the families who cared for them and the hands that once put them to use.

Visit the Antique Tool Museum and 1836 Alley Log Cabin at the CHPT historical complex at the corner of Bowie Street and Washington Street in Columbus. The 1858 Dilue Rose Harris House on site is open by appointment.