Matheson History Museum to hold Sarah’s Birthday Bash on Sept. 12
Press release from the Matheson History Museum
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Due to an incredibly busy summer (inaugural summer camp, new exhibition) and limited funding (several years of significantly reduced or non-funded state grants), we have scaled back Sarah’s Birthday Bash this year.
This year, we will be celebrating our namesake’s birthday with free cupcakes, a mini-exhibit about Sarah Hamilton Matheson’s life, self-guided tours of the current exhibit, Chains of Steele, and shopping in the newly reorganized gift shop.
To kick off the day, Immediate Past Board President and current Advisory Council Chair Robert Mounts is inviting all members and supporters of the museum to a reception and short program from 11 a.m. until noon. The program will highlight the civic life of Sarah Hamilton Matheson and her many contributions to the community. Mimosas to toast her memory and other refreshments will be served. The reception is free and open to the public.
Next year, we hope to return to celebrating Sarah’s birthday with a full community party in the Museum and Sweetwater Park.
Sarah Hamilton Matheson
The last resident of the Matheson House was Sarah Hamilton Matheson. Sarah was born in Davidson, North Carolina, in 1901.
Sarah earned her B.A. at the North Carolina State College for Women in Greensboro and her M.A. at the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia. After graduation, Sarah moved to Oklahoma to teach at the Oklahoma Presbyterian College, and it is there that she met Christopher Matheson.
After two decades of marriage, she was widowed and traveled the world as a teacher and missionary. When she returned to Florida after a two-year teaching trip to Korea at the height of the Cold War, she traveled the state to speak about her world travels and Florida history.
Sarah traveled to over 40 countries in her 95 years of life and circumnavigated the globe twice! Her love of the global community included renting out the second floor of the Matheson House to University of Florida exchange students for many years.
Sarah became the first female elder of her church, First Presbyterian Church, and was among the first female elders of all Presbyterian churches in the South. She contributed to the historic preservation of the Matheson House, in which she lived for half a century. On top of all that, she was involved in multiple civic organizations and was a founding Board member of the Matheson History Museum!
We are eternally grateful to Sarah for deeding the Matheson House to the Matheson History Museum upon her death in 1996. She is buried with Christopher in Evergreen Cemetery.
This event is sponsored in part by Visit Gainesville/Alachua County, FL and the City of Gainesville.