MANSFIELD — The Oak Hill Cottage Museum has opened for another season.
The Mansfield historical landmark is open for guided tours Sundays, April through December from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum will do group tours throughout the week and also has special attic tours. General tours are $5.
The Gothic-style home was built by John Riley Robinson in 1846, but he moved in the home with his family of 12 a year earlier, said Jeff Mandeville, a tour guide at the museum for eight years.
After his finances were lost, the house sat empty until Dr. Johannes Jones and his wife moved into the home in 1864.
“The Joneses completely modernized the home adding running water and gas lights to the home,” Mandeville said. “They added all the modern conveniences.”
The Jones family lived in the home for 101 years until 1965, when the historical society was given the home.
“All of the furniture comes from the Jones family,” Mandeville said. “We have photographic evidence and put everything back to where it was. Everything is back. So you’re not just walking into a museum with a bunch of old furniture. This is how they had it.
“I think we are so used to T.V. versions of what homes looked like. The thing I try to tell pepople is that it’s not all matchy-matchy like a T.V. set. They have a floral carpet and then a patterned rug on top of that. You have formal furniture that doesn’t mach any of that…
“But this was their furniture. It was a very Victorian thing to do.”
