Sparta Historical Society holiday open house is Sunday

New room to be dedicated to Sparta historians William and Mary Elinor Eppler SPARTA - The Sparta Historical Society will hold its yearly holiday open house on Sunday, Nov. 22 from 1 to 3 p.m. The homestead will be open for tours of the home and displays about Sparta history and will reveal a new room dedicated to Sparta historians, which is a special Boy Scout Eagle service project. This year the historical society will open new room dedicated to Sparta historians, William and Mary Elinor Eppler. A collection of materials obtained from the Epplers has been sorted and displayed and cataloged for future enjoyment and education for Sparta residents. The project was a huge undertaking since William Eppler was the town historian from 1976 until his death. His wife of 52 years, Mary Elinor Eppler, contributed their historical collections and research to the Sparta Historical Society, including years of her own personal research of hundreds of epitaphs from 75 graveyards, especially the Old Cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church in Sparta. She became interested in the epitaphs while translating old church minutes of 1805-1843 from longhand into typewritten copy. The project was entrusted into the hands of local Boy Scout Alex Gastelu, who led this as his Eagle Scout service project. Many hours of volunteer work have gone into sorting thousands of slides about Sparta, Edison, the Morris Canal and local area railroad, old photographs, old newspapers, postcards, books, old letters from the Ogden Family dating back to the 1700s and a letter from Thomas A. Edison dated 1928. Some of the most unique items have been displayed in the new room and files of documents and town history have been cataloged for ease in research. The open house is free and open to the public from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Sparta Historical Society, Route 517, next to the Sparta Middle School in the old Van Kirk House.