With the close of the state budget fiscal year in June, the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum near Galeton was found to have doubled its attendance since remodeling last year.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s year-end inventory showed that more than 9,600 people visited the museum between July 2014 and June 2015.

That number is more than the amount during the previous fiscal year, when visitation was down due to the construction of the new museum visitor center and exhibit gallery.

The newly-renovated building opened to the public in May and the number of visitors to the site during the past two months has increased dramatically.

“This year’s Bark Peeler’s Festival, held at the museum on July 4 and 5, was a very successful event with more than 2,200 guests attending over the weekend,” Josh Roth, site administrator, told The Era.

Roth said, “the museum realized there would be a decline in visitorship because we were dealing with a limited space.

“Most exhibits were in a trailer in the parking lot; so there was a little bit for visitors to see, but not as much as before construction and certainly not as much as there is now,” he said.

Roth said return visitors since May have been “off the charts.” Through raincheck coupons issued to visitors who came during the construction period, museum personnel have been able to track the number of visitors coming back.

“They were given a voucher that was good for a free readmission once the new center opened,” Roth explained. “People are redeeming those now, and since May we’ve seen about 200 of those coupons come back.

“So, there was a pent up interest from the public in returning to see what they may have just caught a glimpse of when they were here during construction,” he continued. “Fiscal year 2015-16 is off to a great start and is shaping up to be one of the best years for attendance in the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum’s over 40-year history.”

The lumber museum is located on U.S. Route 6 between Coudersport and Galeton and is now open year-round, rather than just seasonally. Developments over the years have included a logging camp, saw mill, pond, locomotive buildings, picnic pavilion and original Civilian Conservation Corps chestnut cabin.

Roth said one of the goals of the expansion of the visitors center with adding the program room was to cater to the needs of the community.

“We want to be able to support the community and provide a place to get together and have meetings or host events — to have programs that will be directed at meeting needs of local people,” he stated. “We want to thank the residents of the counties and municipalities surrounding the museum because over 30 percent of last year’s visitors were local to our area.”

Roth noted the other 70 percent of visitors are not local, indicating the museum is serving to help bring tourists into the region.

“The largest subset of that demographic that we track through zip codes is the 36 percent that are coming from counties in southcentral Pennsylvania — Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, etc.,” he related, noting another 17 percent come from the Susquehanna Valley.

Overall, 80 percent of the museum’s visitors are from Pennsylvania, while another 14 come from neighboring states, five percent from states that do not directly border Pennsylvania and one percent are international visitors, according to Roth.

“Essentially, it was time for the lumber museum to receive an upgrade like this — the original building had been here since 1972,” said Roth.

Periodically, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) will allocate funds to capital projects for expansion and upgrades, and the board of directors in Harrisburg decided it was time for the lumber museum to “go through that process and join the group of 21st Century museums within the commission’s system,” he explained.

“At this point, it’s the newest exhibit within the Pennsylvania museum system,” Roth said. “In my opinion, it’s a terrific exhibit and a world class exhibit and can really stand with any other museum, even at the national level.”

So far, they’ve had nothing but positive feedback from all the visitors, he said.

“Even those who may be coming for the first time and never saw the old building,” Roth pointed out. “There’s a stop at the end of the exhibit focused on modern forests and sustainable forestry where people can write down their comments about the museum and what they can do personally to help Pennsylvania’s forests grow and prosper.

“Many of those comments focus on the exhibits and how much they appreciated their experience here, how much they learned and the fact that they plan to come again or encourage others to come,” he said. “It seems the investment the state made in the museum is paying off already in terms of connecting with the public and making a lasting impression.”

Roth said the museum is always in need of volunteers and looking to partner with other community organizations. Anyone interested in doing so should call 814-435-2652.

“Working together, the residents of northcentral Pennsylvania can ensure a bright and prosperous future for our community museum.”