Vinton County historical society reopens Alice’s House for visiting season
Alice’s House reopened April 16 at 207 S. Sugar St., offering families a place to trace Vinton County roots through antiques, photos and family history.
Alice’s House reopened for the visiting season on April 16, giving McArthur residents and visitors a place to trace family lines, preserve records and introduce younger generations to Vinton County history in a setting filled with dresses, antique furniture, pictures and other historic materials. The Vinton County Historical and Genealogical Society uses the house as both a museum and a community gathering point, turning local memory into something people can see room by room.
The home at 207 S. Sugar St. dates to the 1860s, a Civil War-era structure with a history of its own. It was donated to the society in 2000 by Barbara Litter, the granddaughter of the house’s namesake, linking the building’s preservation to one family’s effort to keep its story in public view. In a county where identity is closely tied to place, that makes Alice’s House more than an old residence. It is a record of how Vinton County lived, dressed and remembered itself.
That history carries extra weight in Vinton County, which was established in 1850 as Ohio’s 82nd county and is described by the county’s tourism office as the least populous and most rural county in the state. With a population of just over 13,700 and about 82% forest coverage, the county depends heavily on local institutions to anchor its story. At Alice’s House, those stories are interpreted by volunteers who keep the doors open and invite the public in.
Deanna Tribe serves as society president and Joyce Peters as secretary, helping oversee the house as a hands-on heritage stop rather than a distant archive. Current tourism listings say the site is open Wednesday through Friday, with one listing showing hours from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and another listing giving noon to 3:00 p.m., so visitors are advised to call ahead at 740-596-0253 or email vchistoricalsociety@outlook.com before making the trip.
The society has also shown that keeping Alice’s House in shape takes ongoing work. A 2023 donation from Ann Faris helped replace the roofs of the house and its annex, and the group dedicated the Ann Faris dining room that October. That kind of support has kept the property usable as a local history site, and it reinforces why Alice’s House matters: it is a real home in McArthur where Vinton County’s past is still being cared for, explained and passed on.
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