New statue greets Sherman House Museum guests

LANCASTER − Visitors to the Sherman House Museum are now greeted by Gen. Williams Tecumseh Sherman himself. Or at least a seven-foot fiberglass statue of him standing by the staircase near the front entrance.

Urbana resident Mike Majors, who made the Sherman statue at Zane Square downtown in the early 2000s, asked Fairfield County Heritage Association Executive Director Wendy Gregory if the museum would want another statue he made of Sherman around that same time.

Majors was cleaning out his studio and gave the heritage association the first shot at buying it before selling it online.

"He called out of the blue while we were over at the Sherman House getting it ready for the season," Gregory said. "I just happened to be standing by the phone. I picked it up and there he was said, 'Would you like a Sherman statue?'"

Gregory then found donors and raised the $3,000 purchase price in a week for the approximate 20-year-old statue.

"I thought it was very interesting that the people who donated were literally from all over the country who saw that Facebook post and wanted to help us get it," she said. "Then we had a donor from Springfield, Ohio, that has helped us out on a couple things. He's a big Sherman fan, so he did half of it, and then a fundraiser captured the other half of the small donors. It came together in a week."

Gregory said she was somewhat surprised people from across the country donated.

"But there's such an interest in Sherman and Civil War history that I shouldn't have been surprised," she said. "And we get people from all over the country coming on purpose to the Sherman House as part of Civil War travel, that I shouldn't be surprised."

The statue weighs 100 pounds, so Gregory said it can be taken to various events to promote the museum. The original statute downtown weighs 850 pounds in comparison.

"We're trying to see if it will be permitted to go to the statehouse for tourism day in May," Gregory said. "We've been invited to that. You have to submit a proposal and they select the groups they want to come. Visit Fairfield County asked us to go with them. Things like that, where you go out beyond Lancaster to promote the museum and travel and tourism. I think it would be good."

Gregory said museum visitors like the statue and are taking selfies with it.

"And it's so funny, our volunteers, as soon as they come in for their first shifts or they're coming into be trained, they're running over there and getting their picture," she said. "So, it's working. It's fun."

The Sherman House Museum is located at 137 E. Main St.

Museum tours start at noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

jbarron@gannett.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: New statue greets Sherman House Museum guests