The Greene County Museum is getting a facelift outside, people can still venture inside to see a lot of local history.

Greene County Historical Society Co-Director Mike Piepel says one of the first displays people will see when they enter the museum are lots of Barbie dolls, and he points out that this was based on the success of last year’s Barbie By the Bell promotion when over 500 Barbie dolls were on display as a fundraiser for them.

“We brought out all of the original Barbies this time. These are the very first Barbies that were made. We have them on display in five different cases, lit up. We also have original Barbies in their boxes on display, plus we have the main Barbie booth which is extremely popular to youngsters nowadays. We have clothes they can dress up in, they can come in and take photo opportunities in the Barbie booth.”

Piepel invites children to be interactive with some of their exhibits to get them more engaged with the history of the county, and those collections are designated with a green dot. 

“It’s important for children to first hand, take a look, touch, feel, see what these actual artifacts are about, and we encourage that too. In fact, as soon as you walk in the door at the museum we have a wonderful children’s display and they’re free to play with all the toys out here and that’s tied in with all the Barbie display in the doorway, as soon as you walk in too. So yes, we absolutely encourage children to come to the museum.

Piepel adds the other highlights of the exhibits includes farming tools and operations, along with the coal mines that the county once had. There is no admission charge to attend the museum and it is open on Wednesdays from 1-4pm and Saturdays from 9am-noon.