HARMONY — For Ken Hoover, collecting antique guns isn't just a hobby. It has to do with his ancestry.

Hoover was one of a number of exhibitors at Historic Harmony's 12th annual Antique Gun Show, showing his antique British guns and bayonets.

One of those guns was a musket that was surrendered by the British in the Battle of Saratoga, considered a turning point in the American Revolutionary War.

It was in that same battle that Hoover's ancestor, Col. William Thompson, was exchanged for a German mercenary working for the British Army.

“It ties in with my family history,” Hoover said.

Hoover of Michigan has a summer home near McConnells Mill State Park and has ancestors from Butler. He's a regular at the show, and each year displays a different part of a collection he's been amassing since the 1940s.

“I was always interested as a military collector,” he said.

Hoover's was one of many displays that drew interest not only for its place in history but for how it was made.

“Even though they're firearms, they're now considered works of art,” said John Ruch, president of Historic Harmony.

The displays primarily featured pre-1898 guns, as well as antique knives, swords and Native American artifacts.

In addition to Pennsylvania, exhibitors were from Virginia, Tennessee and Michigan.

Ruch estimated that 200 to 300 people would come to the show, which was a fundraiser for Historic Harmony.

Included among the hundreds of guns were three rifles new to the show made by Charles Flowers, a gunsmith who made sporting rifles in Butler County in the 1840s.

One of the rifles was made by Henry Wolf, who had Hugh Glass as an apprentice gunsmith. Glass was the inspiration for the character of the same name in the 2002 Michael Punke novel “The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge,” and the 2015 film “The Revenant” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Ruch said many of the guns were used for multiple purposes.

“They were for personal defense out in the wild,” he said. “Some guys carried them in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, or the Civil War because they were more accurate than muskets.”

Rick Rosenberger, who had guns on display, talked about the change in guns throughout the centuries. He said muskets were inaccurate beyond 50 yards, but he also said that older rifles are “every bit as accurate” as new rifles, and “more accurate than most.”

“There are people building these guns now, copying (the old rifles) and shooting them at contests and hunting with them,” he said.

Some people were there to sell antique guns, including Dan Mackel of Meadville.

“There's usually a pretty good interest in local stuff,” he said. “You get them at auctions, shows like this, sometimes antique shops.”

Mackel likened buying antique guns to buying paintings.

“It's all in the eye of the beholder,” he said. “One guy might think something is only worth $200, and someone else might think it's worth $20,000.”

He also said that where a gun was made factors in because someone from that area may want it more than someone who isn't from that area.

Mainly though, the antique gun aficionados have one thing in common.

“You almost have to be interested in history if you're going to be interested in these,” Mackel said. “Because every one of these is associated with a period of history.”