BRADY TWP — Even though it was spring in name only as temperatures hovered near 30 degrees, The Old Stone House museum on Saturday held its first Spring Into Action volunteer clean up day.

Aaron Cowan, Old Stone House curator, said it was time to clean the museum to get ready for its summer season.

The museum’s curator since 2009, Cowan said cleaning was not a major priority before this.

“Well, frankly, a lot of it we didn’t clean,” he said.

He said it is important to preserve the house for the community.

“We’re trying to recreate the life of what it would be like living here (in the 19th century),” Cowan said.

He hopes more people become interested in visiting the museum.

“I have people all the time saying, ‘I drive by all the time and I’ve never been inside,’” he said.

Cowan said he will try to restore the house’s old summer kitchen starting this year, as well.

During the cleanup, he said the volunteers found several items in the museum’s basement that he did not know were there, including a shovel used during the museum’s groundbreaking on Aug. 11, 1963.

Other new items discovered included general store records dating back to 1897, showing purchases made by Slippery Rock Normal School, now Slippery Rock University.

Jen Melnick, Cowan’s graduate assistant, said it is likely they will find more artifacts in the basement.

“Anything’s possible, the basement is just a jumble of unknown,” Melnick said.

She said the clean up was successful, even just a few hours into it.

“I think we accomplished what we set out to do,” Melnick said. “It’s probably the cleanest it’s been in a couple of years.”

Because of the age of the artifacts in the building, Cowan said he and the volunteers were cleaning gently.

“We’re being careful in terms of how we’re doing things,” Cowan said. “It’s all antiques, there are no reproductions.”

He said getting volunteers involved in the cleaning is a great way to get more potential patrons interested in the museum’s programs.

The season kickoff will be April 30, featuring musician Judi Martin playing “A Banjo Pickin’ Girl.”

The museum also will have five cooking classes this summer, as well as two Civil War weekend events.

Some of the volunteers, such as Bill McGary of Volant, were already regular patrons. He agreed that preserving the museum is important.

“It’s educating the general public who need some help understanding our past,” McGary said. “Kind of an investment for the future.”

McGary said he has always had an interest in history. He owns a house built in 1820.

Others came for the first time.

Charlene Klinger, a student at Slippery Rock University, said she had seen the house many times.

“We pass this all the time ... and it looked like a really cool place,” Klinger said.

After this, she said she will most likely return.

“I think it’s really nice that they have all the stuff inside,” Klinger said. “It gives people a background in history.”

The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from May 1 to Oct. 31. Admission is free, but a $3 donation is suggested.

The Old Stone House was built as a tavern in 1822. It was abandoned in 1918, but the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy converted it to a museum in 1963. SRU bought the building in 1999.

For information, visit http://oldstonehousepa.org/.