GREEN BAY, Wis. — The rooms and artifacts in the Historic Hazelwood House paint a picture of a past life in Green Bay in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Christine Dunbar knows the ins and outs of the building. She’s the executive director of the Brown County Historical Society.
“It was built in 1837 and 1838, so it’s great to go through the house and learn about what life was like through several different time periods," she said.
Once owned by the Martin family, the home traces the growth of the city and county. It is also the headquarters of the Brown County Historical Society, which operates and maintains the home as a museum.
“When the historical society started its role was preservation and we’ve kept that role. We are no longer able to help restore buildings because there are other organizations that do that,” Dunbar said. “But we work with organizations. We get a lot of calls from people about what to do with windows and where they can get help on their historic house, research on their historic house.”
The society was recently recognized by the county for its 125th anniversary.
The organization has been a key player in preserving historic buildings and artifacts while offering educational events to the community. It was also an important link in the formation of Heritage Hill State Park.
The society offers events that range from historic walking tours to educational and music events at the historic home.
Board member Kristine Gutierrez said the organization continues to play a role in the community.
“We’re trying to get more community involvement,” she said. “We want more younger people to get interested in history. That’s what most of our programs and events are about.”
“One of my favorites is the cemetery walks,” Gutierrez added. “We research people who are buried in the cemeteries. Then we give scripts to other people who portray that person. People get to walk around the cemetery and hear their stories.”
Dunbar said she has a pretty unique job within an organization that remains important to many people.
“People call and want information about a great grandparent and it’s really fun to bring children though here and talk about calling cards; they don’t even know what that is,” she said. “We did an exhibit with a phone and people didn’t even know how to use a dial phone.”