Holmes County museum hosts Clue night to support preservation work

A murder mystery at the Victorian House Museum gave Holmes County Historical Society another way to raise preservation dollars, with CLUE at the Mansion using game-night entertainment to bring people inside one of Millersburg’s best-known landmarks.

The April 18 fundraiser offered two sessions, 4 to 6 p.m. and 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., at 434 N. Washington Street in Millersburg. Guests were invited to shake off the rainy April weather, meet historic figures from Berlin, and search the museum for clues to solve a fictional murder, turning the 28-room house itself into part of the experience.

That approach matters for the historical society’s bottom line. The organization is also running a Victorian House painting fundraiser and says it is seeking $75,000 to repaint the exterior, a project that underscores how event revenue can help maintain the 7,000-square-foot Queen Anne-style mansion for future visitors. For the society, a night of play becomes a direct investment in preservation work that is expensive, visible and ongoing.

The Holmes County Historical Society says its mission is to preserve, collect, archive, discover and present Holmes County history. Its base is at 484 Wooster Rd. in historic Millersburg, and the Victorian House Museum serves as its museum of Victoriana and Holmes County history. The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and sits in the heart of Ohio’s largest Amish settlement, giving the building a place in both county history and the wider tourism economy.

The society has long framed the Victorian House as more than a static display. It describes the mansion as a national tourist attraction that has been featured on HGTV, in magazines and in films, a profile that helps make special programming like CLUE at the Mansion useful for drawing first-time visitors. Once inside, guests are exposed to the museum as an active community space, not just a backdrop for exhibits.

Berlin’s role in the event adds another layer of local history. The historical society says the village grew after the National Road and Zane’s Trace improved wagon traffic, and that the first real factory in Holmes County was built there in 1847. That factory produced the first threshers manufactured in Ohio, a reminder that the county’s past is tied to industry as well as settlement.

By tying a popular game format to Berlin stories and a historic house in Millersburg, the historical society gave residents a reason to show up and a preservation project worth supporting.