Welcome to the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum
Are you interested in history, events, school programs, genealogy? Use the menu above to find what you're looking for.

From May 1 to October 31 annually, the Museum is open from 1:30 to 5 pm, six days a week (closed Mondays).
From mid-June to August 31, the museum is open Tues-Sat, 10 am to 5 pm, and summer Sundays, 12 Noon to 5 pm.
The guided tour starts when you get here and includes the Mansion, the Chapel and three exhibit rooms.
Group tours are possible at other times (including in the winter) by advance arrangement. 
Slide lectures are available off-site for school classrooms and community groups.
Contact office@boalmuseum.com or 814-466-9266

Young and old, join the Boal Mansion family as a volunteer guide (aka "docent.")
Call to schedule your own docent orientation visit. Contact office@boalmuseum.com or 814-466-9266. 
For more details, click on "Volunteer Info" in the menu above.

Boalsburg To Celebrate Birthplace of Memorial Day

(Boalsburg, PA) -- The Village of Boalsburg will celebrate Memorial Day for the 149th time with a festive day of activities and a traditional ceremony of remembrance on Monday, May 27th.
             Boalsburg is widely known as the birthplace of Memorial Day. The first celebration was held in 1864, when three townswomen gathered in the cemetery to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers. The tradition is now carried on by local Girl Scout Troop 1184. 
            Throughout the day, nearly 20,000 visitors will have a chance to spend a day in town, tempting their taste buds with local foods and shopping for wares from artisans from across the Northeast. Three museums – the Boalsburg Heritage Museum, the Boal Mansion and the Pennsylvania Military Museum – will have family oriented activities throughout the day, including encampments and a battle by Civil War re-enactors.
            The day kicks off with... (for more, click here)

Civil War battle at the Boal Mansion Museum at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm on Monday, May 27.

Maypole dance on the square in Boalsburg at 12:30 pm on Monday, May 27.

Upcoming events:

Memorial Day Festival: Monday, May 27, 2013, 9 am to 5 pm. 
Food, music, crafts, hands-on science exhibits and a live Civil War battle! 
Details here.

Plan ahead: 
Garden Party for the Declaration of Independence, 1:30 pm Sunday, June 30, 2013.

October 2013 festivities dates:
Boalsburg Columbus Ball: Saturday, October 5, 2013, 7:30 pm. Public.
Boalsburg Heritage Birthday Festival, Sunday, October 6, 2013, Noon to 4 pm. Free.
Columbus Day Mass, Monday, October 7, 2013, 10 AM (by invitation)

Reroofing the Boal Mansion.
How much? Lots! 
When? As soon as we get "lots!"

     The same architect who sketched out the long-range vision for a new museum building has now given the Museum the estimate for a much more short-term issue –a new roof for the main part of the Boal Mansion building.
      The old, asphalt shingle roof is over thirty-years old and numerous leaks threaten both the integrity of the building and of the collection within.
            Following the recommendation of the Architectural Conservation Plan done by Dale Frens, AIA, of West Chester, the project calls for (for full article, click here)

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Fame: Wall Street Journal
Covers Columbus Chapel

Yes, that's the Columbus Chapel featured in the October 6-7, 2012, Wall Street Journal. For the full article, click here. 

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Central Pennsylvania's New 
Bishop Mark Bartchak
Visits the Columbus Chapel

Altoona-Johnstown Diocese Bishop Mark Bartchak views a bishop's cope from 1700 in the Columbus Chapel with museum CEO Christopher Lee

Central Pennsylvania’s new Bishop Mark Bartchak visited the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum on July 30, 2012, to see what the Pennsylvania Council of the Knights of Columbus has been supporting for the last decade.

The Bishop observed the two pieces of the True Cross of Jesus in the Columbus Chapel as well as priests’ vestments dating back to the 14th century and the Admiral’s Desk of Christopher Columbus.

The visit ended with a look at the Knights of Columbus plaza and the lamppost dedicated to the late Joe Yourish whose vision and effectiveness brought together the Columbus Chapel and the Knights of Columbus.

Joe Yourish organized the funding appeal to improve the condition of the Columbus Chapel currently under consideration by the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Connecticut.

Christopher Lee shows Bishop Mark Bartchak the 15th and 16th century statues of saints slated for conservation when funding becomes available.

The Interactive Learning Tour (below):
Students take the lead in learning. Details here

Boal Awards Presented to 
Nancy Crane and Aaron Allgyer

At the annual Memorial Day celebration at the Boal Mansion Museum, Christopher Lee (upper left) presented the Colonel Theodore Davis Boal for Community Service Award to Nancy Crane (center) of State College “for her enthusiastic, positive-minded support of programs at the Boal Mansion Museum, including serving on the Centre County Columbus Celebration board and providing refreshments for hundreds of young volunteers.”

Lee presented the Ambassador Pierre de Lagarde Boal Historic Preservation Award to Aaron Allgyer (upper right) and family “for their hard work and careful attention to detail and their unflagging devotion to fixing unforeseen problems wherever they find them – and they find them everywhere in what they call their ‘hundred year project’ at the Boal Mansion Museum.”

"You've Got To have a Dream" 
A Vision for a Future Building

“You’ve got to have a dream, if you want to have a dream come true” is a lyric from the musical South Pacific. The dream for – the grand vision, really – for the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum was first developed during the Columbus 500th in the 1990’s, when we had Joe Paterno, Supreme Court Justice Roy Wilkinson and other luminaries on our 500th board.

What if…we had a new building nestled into the hillside between the Columbus Chapel and the carriage house. That building could serve (click here for rest of story). 

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Weddings at the Boal Estate

A Wedding on the Boal Mansion grounds is an event to remember for any fortunate bride.  Many beautiful and moving ceremonies have been performed here, as well as lovely receptions.  

Large lawn spaces can accommodate the ceremony, the reception, or both.  Many beautiful backgrounds provide excellent photo opportunities as well.

Parking, rest rooms and electrical hook-up are conveniently located at the adjacent Boal Barn Playhouse and tents, tables and chairs from a vendor of your choosing can be set up in the large green lawn between the Boal Mansion and the Boal Barn..

For more information, contact the Museum at office@boalmuseum.com or telephone 814-466-9266.

For details, click here.

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Photos: Penn State’s annual Fresh Start volunteer day in the community produced a burst of energy at the Boal Mansion Museum on a rainy Saturday in September 2012. Nineteen volunteers led by Kelsea Shanley and David Stoltzfus swept through the Mansion but cleaned gingerly in the centuries-old Columbus Chapel. They also scraped flaking paint off an exterior porch wall of the Mansion and in an interior room.  

If you would like to help us accomplish our mission of Historic Preservation, Heritage Education and Community Service, you can donate by sending a check to "Boal Mansion Museum" PO Box 116, Boalsburg PA 16827, or by clicking on the "Donate" button below to use PayPal.

Spielberg’s “Lincoln” Movie Includes 
Boal Ancestor Francis Preston Blair

Steven Spielberg’s new film “Lincoln” will have special meaning to a local man whose ancestor will be portrayed in the blockbuster film opening locally on Friday. 

Francis Preston Blair, portrayed in the film by actor Hal Holbrook (right), founded the new Republican Party and was an important advisor to Lincoln during the negotiations to end slavery.

 Blair’s local descendant is Christopher Gist Lee, CEO of Boal Mansion Museum in Boalsburg. The Museum displays oil portraits of Blair and his wife Eliza Gist in the dining room. The same portraits are hung in the Blair House in Washington DC, guest house for heads of state visiting the U.S. president. Lee's grandfather was born in the Blair House.

The Boal Mansion Museum collection includes the original signatures of four US Presidents associated with the Boal family, the Admiral’s Desk of Christopher Columbus, a lock of hair of Napoleon and two pieces of the True Cross of Jesus. The Wall Street Journal published an article about the Museum on October 6 with a photograph of the two pieces of the True Cross.

Actor Hal Holbrook portrays Boal ancestor Frank Blair in Spielberg's "Lincoln."

Group and school tours of the Museum can be arranged by contacting the Museum at 814-466-6210 oroffice@boalmseum.com. Lee also provides a free slide show about the Museum’s far-reaching national and international history off-site to local schools and community groups

With Frank Blair's portrait in the dining room of the Boal Mansion are State College Borough Council member Tom Daubert (left) with Museum volunteers Linda and John Wainright.

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High School Class Travels Two hours
To Visit Spain in the Columbus Chapel

Students visiting Spain in the Columbus Chapel

For the twentieth year, Annville-Cleona High School Spanish teacher Mark Enders (crouching in photo) brought his Spanish class from two hours away to see Spain in the Columbus Chapel in Boalsburg.
Accompanying the class was ACSD Superintendent Steven Houser (left).
For more photos go to (and "like" while you're there) the Facebook page "Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum.,

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Museum CEO Christopher Lee shows Bishop Mark Bartchak the lamppost erected by the Knights of Columbus in memory of Joe Yourish whose vision and effectiveness brought the Knights of Columbus and the Columbus Chapel together.

Porches and Columns Conserved:
"Never Seen the Place Looking Better."

The northwest portico and columns shown here are among the areas recently conserved thanks to donor generosity and the carftsmanship of Aaron Allgyer and his crew.

The porches and the columns along the front face of the Boal Mansion have been stabilized and conserved (and replaced where conservation was impossible) thanks to the generosity of numerous donors and the craftsmanship of Aaron Allgyer and his crew, including his sons Amos and Vernon (see related story to left about the Boal Awards.)

Including in the work was the installation of two columns that had come down decades ago and now have returned to their rightful place in the colonnade designed by Colonel Theodore Davis Boal in 1898.

The resulting improvement in appearance was noted when locals at the annual Garden party said they had “never seen the place looking better.”

Taking Heritage on the Road

Boal Mansion Museum CEO Christopher Lee (photo below, left) brought the Museum's story in pictures to the Philipsburg Kiwanis Club where he was introduced by their incoming president Roger Cartright (bottom right photo, on right). Members expressed surprise at the depth of the Museum's collection and the many connections to American and international history. To request a slide presentation for your club, school or service organization, contact the Museum at office@boalmuseum.com or 814-466-9266.

June is a beautiful time for a wedding at the Boal Mansion with thousands of orange day lilies in bloom.

Photos (below) from Memorial Day 2012