Connecting with family history at the McHenry House
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Photos by Gordon Wolf
Theresa Thompson, a Denison native who lives in Schleswig, connected with a piece of her family history while attending the McHenry House Festival of Trees preview night on Saturday. She saw this ship in the attic that connects her great-great-grandfather, Chris Denker. According to the card that sits on the boat, the ship was built by Chris Harrisen, an old sailor, age 87, of Denison. It was purchased by Chris F. Denker and donated by him to the Washington Park Board to be placed in the log cabin located in the park. The log cabin was the second log cabin built in Crawford County. Thompson said she had always heard something about the boat but had never seen it before. See more photos from the preview night below.
Chad Long and Phyllis Lewis chat in the decorated kitchen at the McHenry House during the Festival of Trees preview party on Saturday. Long, from Louisiana, is the interim clinical director at Crawford County Memorial Hospital, working under a contract. Lewis said of all the decorated rooms in the historic house in Denison, the kitchen is her favorite. The Christmas open house dates at the McHenry House are November 25-26, December 2-3 and December 9-10, from 1-4 p.m. each day.
People are invited to put the name of a veteran or someone currently serving in the military on this tree in the attic of the McHenry House.
The “cigar store Indian” watches over two stuffed Christmas bears in the basement of the McHenry House. The cigar store Indian used to sit on the sidewalk in Uptown Denison.
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