The Round Top Area Historical Society Announces Opening of New Library

The Round Top Area Historical Society (RTAHS) announces the opening of its historical library located in the Noak House on the RTAHS Wood Campus at 397 E. Mill Street, Round Top. An open house will be held for the public on Saturday, Sept. 20 from 2 - 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served on the front porch.

The library will open on a regular basis starting Friday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and continue from that time forward for every Friday and Saturday of each week except holidays.

The Noak House also includes a museum and archives, which is being redeveloped and scheduled for completion within the next few months. The Noak House is an early 20th Century country home donated, moved and restored on the RTAHS campus more than a decade ago by the Noak family. It has served since its inception as a library, museum and archives but in a more limited capacity. That capacity, however, has greatly expanded over the past two years and includes a complete redo of each of the Noak’s four main rooms and entry vestibule. The museum emphasizes the history of the Round Top area during the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

The library has expanded its collection to include American and world histories. There are also reference ma-terials and historical publications, family histories, church and cemetery records and area cookbooks. The collection also includes biographies, autobiographies and fiction. Laptops can be set up with available power on one of two library tables. Wingback chairs provide additional comfort. Table and floor lamps are in abundance and provide ample lighting where needed.

The Noak House Library, Museum and Archives at the RTAHS Wood campus is a small rural library. A place for escape and refuge. It is a real book depository and uses only hardback versions. The collection presently numbers about seven hundred (700) books, but continues to grow. Books are precious and not to be checked out. Fiction, biographies and autobiographies, however, can be reserved and set aside for a later return date but not to exceed 30 days. If books are not your thing, then come to the Noak House for a game of chess, backgammon or checkers. Two person card games are encouraged as well.

A new change in the Noak House is the “Media Room”, which is reserved for small lectures, online presentations and PowerPoint displays. Eight to ten people can be seated. PowerPoint films on the history of the Round Top area are to be shown in this Media Room to the public on a regular basis during docent tours occurring each month on the 3rd Saturday. A lecture and video display on the city of Alexandria in 43 BC is scheduled for next month and will be the first in a series of ancient history presentations offered by the RTAHS in the Noak House Library, Museum and Archives. Books supporting these ancient history events can often be found on the library shelves.