I would also add to Scotty Greene's posting, "Hear! Hear!" When
I became the curator of the Lott Home museum, one of the things
I had to deal with were the many "legends" surrounding the family
that lived there. This was most difficult, as some of the legends
were deeply rooted into the community's oral history. Some "legends"
were simple exaggerations, others were stories perpetrated by friends
of the original owners as it made a colorful love story!
While doing that, we also uncovered some documented history that
tied the family in with both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Of course, neither of these were "XX slept here," but were close:
the Lott Home Museum has a grandfather's clock that is known, by
documentation, to had been used by George Washington!
But yes, it is very important for museum docents to tell the real
story, and especially to not magnify the value of the artifacts in
the museum.
David Dewey
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