LOCK HAVEN - The weather promises partly cloudy skies, with perhaps a cooling shower, for Sunday afternoon. It should be a fine day to spend in the garden.
Why not spend it in several? Take the Afternoon Garden and Kitchen Tour and enjoy the fruits of other gardeners' labor of love.
The Clinton County Historical Society sponsors the fundraising tour from noon to 6 p.m., and tickets will be available that day at the Heisey Museum, 362 E. Main St.
The Heisey, a Victorian home that had been a tavern, is the tour headquarters.
The Clinton County Herb Guild will highlight its herb garden there, featuring plants that would have been used daily in a Victorian tavern kitchen, and will serve homemade herbal tea and cookies on the lawn.
Also at the museum, the Dogwood Circle Garden Club will present floral arrangements for all the major holidays, and the Forget-Me-Not Garden Club will present "A Tribute to Flowers," a celebration of floral beauty in everyday life.
A total of eight locations are on the tour, in the greater Lock Haven area. Each of the selected gardens and kitchens has a different focus, so tour participants can see a variety of designs.
Tickets may be bought ahead of time at the Downtown Lock Haven Inc. office, 205 E. Main St.; Sweeney's Floral Shop, 126 Bellefonte Avenue; and Lynda's Upscale Resale, 17 E. Main St.
Historical society volunteers also will have tickets available during the Best of Clinton County Summer Festival downtown on Saturday.
The Heisey is open to the public again and will remain open throughout the summer for tours and research, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Wednesday and Thursday.
Tours also can be arranged by appointment (with several days' notice) by calling the museum at 748-7254.
The museum had been closed for a few weeks in May, following the retirement of historical society executive director Anne McCloskey and secretary Jane Cryder. It is now entirely staffed by historical society board members and other volunteers who have given more than 300 hours since June 1.
"We've got some great new volunteers who are pitching in," historical society president JoAnn Bowes said. She also credited longtime museum supporters who are faithfully staffing the house on East Water Street.
The board even plans to expand the museum's hours this fall.
"This is an important resource for the community, especially for people who are researching their family genealogy," board member Bonnie Hannis said, noting that volunteers received calls from Texas and New York for genealogical information just this week alone.
"Our full intention is to keep the Heisey open," she said. "We need the support of the community."
