To have history all around you, but to be completely immersed in the 18th century, is a completely different experience.

Colonel Zebulon Butler, I consider him to be one of the founders of Wilkes-Barre, and he comes here in 1770 and 1773 from Connecticut with the Susquehanna Company, essentially a land development company to settle the Wyoming region, which is all of present-day northeastern Pennsylvania.

In 1773, Zebulon Butler builds a log cabin.

In 1793, he and his son, Lord Butler, used parts of the log cabin to create the house that we're in today, which is a very standard Connecticut Yankee wood frame house.

Matter of fact, all the houses in Wilkes - Barre at one time used to look exactly like this, let's say up to the Civil War.

Zebulon Butler gives us the political leadership and the military leadership.

He had a long career in the military.

He starts off in the French and Indian War.

He was actually at the Battle of Havana.

He had a great relationship with George Washington.

He had leave from the Continental Army to come here to the Wyoming Valley.

He's probably most famous for being the commanding officer at the Battle of Wyoming.

There's local history, and then there's the national context with that local history moment takes place.

Our own Revolutionary War battle, while we might think of as an isolated incident, it was connected to the larger war that is going on in America at the time.

We all know that the troops were freezing in Valley Forge, but where did their food come from?

Well, their grain came from the Wyoming Valley to feed Washington's men at Valley Forge.

That's why the British and the Indians wanted to wipe out the food supply to Washington's army.

Zambian Butler organizes a ragtag bunch of older men and young boys that march out of the Forty Fort through the fields of what we call present-day Exeter today in a resounding defeat for our side.

But a battle that really changed the public opinion back in Britain in 1778.

After this battle and massacre was written in the British newspapers, the British public started to ask questions of Parliament and the King themselves saying, whoa, what are we doing to our own brothers and sisters, our own American cousins, and why would we slaughter them?

Four generations of the Butler family lived here, and they decide in 1867 and 1868 to move the house down two blocks to its present location at 313 South River Street.

The last people to live in the house was in 2012, and the house was empty for about five to six years when we purchased it in 2018.

One of the librarians of the Hooster Outfree Library called me up one day and said, Tony, there are demolition trucks on site at the Butler house.

Oh my gosh, what are we going to do?

I told him, hey, please, you know, this is the oldest house in Wilkes-Barre.

It is culturally meaningful.

And I said, make me an offer.

He came back with $10,000, and so we purchased it for $10,000.

Now, here's the good news.

We raised the money from the neighborhood.

Downtown Wilkes-Barre has a very active residence association, and basically we raised $16,000 in a weekend, called the guy back up the following week and said, I have the money, and he sold it to us.

This will be an early history museum to Wilkes-Barre.

We want some people to reminisce about what it was like for Wilkes-Barre and their personal history, but at the same time, we want to educate people on the very early history of Wilkes-Barre because it's just not shown.

We're really excited about our most recent gift, which is the Theodore Roosevelt clock gift to Father John Curran, who at the time was the rector of Holy Savior Church in the east end of Wilkes-Barre.

Father Curran and Theodore Roosevelt became close friends out of the result of the 1902 coal strike.

And then Roosevelt came to Wilkes-Barre five times.

When he comes in 1912 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Father Curran's ordination to the priesthood, he brought this grand Gothic clock as a gift.

It sat in the rectory of St.

Mary's Church for 102 years, until recently when it was moved from St.

Mary's to the living room of the Zebulon Brotherhouse.

I don't care where you live in America, but if you connect to your local history, I think it makes you feel much more comfortable about the town where you live.

It gives you a deep psychological emotional connection to the town.

I find it very interesting, but I really believe it makes you be more proud of the town and place you call home.