Press Release
November 3, 2022
Contact: Diana Simon
Cherokee Strip Museum and Rose Hill School, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 580-336-2405
csmuseum@history.ok.gov
www.cherokee-strip-museum.org
Blacksmithing Demonstration Scheduled for Cherokee Strip Museum
PERRY, Okla. — A blacksmith will demonstrate the centuries-old metalcraft during an event on November 5 at the Cherokee Strip Museum and Rose Hill School in Perry.
Weather permitting, a wheel-setting demonstration will take place at 10:30 a.m. with the museum’s resident blacksmith, Tom Nelson. The wheelwright’s craft goes back thousands of years, and was essential in an age of wagon use. They were skilled in the art of building and repairing wooden wheels.
Other activities in the blacksmith shop will take place from 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
The demonstration is free to attend but donations are appreciated. Paid admission is required to tour the main museum. For more information please call 580-336-2405 or email csmuseum@history.ok.gov.
Prior to the demonstration, the Cherokee Strip Historical Society will host the Saltfork Craftsmen Artist-Blacksmith Association for its monthly meeting.
The museum complex sits on five acres and consists of four buildings: the main museum building, the blacksmith shop, a large implement building and Rose Hill School, an original one-room schoolhouse. Other outdoor exhibits include an old jailhouse, an antique threshing machine, an antique sorghum mill and a flying jenny merry-go-round for the kids. All exhibits are intended to portray life from the 1893 Cherokee Outlet Land Run through the 1930s.
The Cherokee Strip Museum and Rose Hill School is an affiliate of the Oklahoma Historical Society, operated in partnership with the Cherokee Strip Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit okhistory.org.
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