< Explore the Rooms>
— Cellar —
Mining, Medicine & Business
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Of all the rooms in the Museum, the Cellar is the most diverse. A glance around the central staircase and you will see rocks, rocks and more rocks. The museum has one of the best collections of rare and unique minerals in the area. The cellar devotes a lot of space to the mining industry in and around Gouverneur. Although the mines are now closed, they were a productive engine for the area for many years.
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Click here to read more about the Museum's minerals.
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Other items of interest in the cellar exhibits are scale models of area mining operations. In full-scale, though is a rock moving machine (I don't know how they got it in there.) and a gigantic oak chair, a gift from the Odd Fellows. An uncomfortable looking dentist chair makes a good companion for the scary looking medical examination table. There is even a stuffed two-headed calf. School children who visit the museum, think it is the "coolest" item in the entire collection.
Move over Ripley's...
The museum displays an extensive collection of local minerals.
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Kinney Drugs began in Gouverneur and the community is very proud of them. B.O Kinney was well known in town and the proprietor of the first Kinney's store.
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The wide array of medical and dental devices is sure to make the strongest constitution squirm. Click the photos to examine the collection up close.
A vintage dentist chair and a wooden wheelchair are part of the medical exhibits.
Taxidermy specimen used by S.W. Payne to promote the sale of "Calf Saver," which he manufactured, about 1900.
Another unusual item is the map of the world, made up of minerals.
This scale was donated by Karen Balducci Gleason. Her father, John Balducci owned Balducci Crushed Stone, Inc.
The cellar is also a place of business and technology exhibits. A visitor will see many business machines, vintage cameras, and you can't miss the model train.