Depreciation Lands Museum in Allison Park to host volunteer orientation, preparing for new season

Depreciation Lands Museum, a Colonial era living history settlement in Allison Park, is gearing up for a new season and welcoming new volunteers.

Volunteers, also called interpreters, dress in 18th century garb and demonstrate what life was like during that time period.

There are some hands-on activities such as spinning and weaving linen and an active blacksmith shop.

“We are definitely excited about it and hoping that people come out and see us,” said Dennis Raible, volunteer coordinator and museum board member. “We have some pretty amazing legitimate historical stuff here. We’ve got stuff that’s 200-plus years old on display.”

An orientation for new interpreters is set for 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 21 at 4743 South Pioneer Road, across from the Hampton Shopping Plaza along Route 8.

Registration is required. Volunteers can be anyone age 14 and older. Those younger than 14 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.

The nonprofit museum first opened in 1973.

It hosts events from 1-4 p.m. Sundays in May through October.

No registration is required for those visits. Opening day this year is Sunday, May 2.

A suggested donation for adults is $5 and $3 for children.

Last season was cut short due to the covid pandemic.

Museum coordinator Karen Parsons said they did not open until mid-August due to rising cases and incorporating various Allegheny County Health Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protocols.

“Our season was less than half-length,” Parsons said. “We couldn’t have a major event, which brings in a significant number of people. Just on the two-and-a-half month Sundays that we had there were 257 people who came.

“That’s a really good number. Everyone who came said, ‘We’re just so glad that you’re here and that you’re able to be open.’

“They were the most interested people. They weren’t in a hurry to go any place else because there wasn’t any place else to go. They stayed. They asked wonderful questions. As far was I was concerned, as an interpreter, it was a fantastic season.”

Raible said patrons were limited to their own family group, and they had to schedule times to visit.

The museum usually gets about 200 visitors in a full season, excluding its Halloween lantern-lighted ghost tours.

Some of the safety protocols that were added last year, and will be in place this year, include masks and hand sanitizing stations, roped-off sections for social distancing and limited interactive stations.

“We’re hoping if things get better later on in the year when the vaccination numbers get higher we’ll be able to revert back to that hands-on experience,” Raible said. “We want people to experience what life was like in Colonial America.

“If we can get enough people who are comfortable with that, and if the state removes the restrictions and the CDC doesn’t have a problem with the regulations then we can go back to business as usual.”

More information is available at dlmuseum.org or call 412-486-0563.