Museum commemorates history, heritage in ‘Little Lithuania’

SHENANDOAH – A historical marker in downtown Shenandoah proclaims the borough as “Little Lithuania” and, this Sunday, a museum commemorating that heritage opens on the east end.

This Sunday, the Lithuanian Heritage Museum opens at 318 East Centre Street in the former Chaikowsky Funeral Home.

An open house is scheduled for 4pm to 6pm Sunday.

Anne Chaikowsky La Voie Skirmantas and her husband have been working to open the museum.

She tells the Sentinel the museum is a revival of one that existed in Frackville, operated by the Knights of Lithuania in the 1980’s. Many of the artifacts from that museum are present at the new museum in Shenandoah.

A Lithuanian American student group also helped in the effort. She adds that grants and donations also assisted.

Schuylkill County, she says, is home to the world’s oldest Lithuanian overseas community.

Numerous firsts for Lithuanians, either in the United States or the world, occurred in the Shenandoah and Mahanoy valleys, including the establishment of the first Lithuanian Catholic parish and cemetery in the U.S., the first printing of a Lithuanian word or novel, among numerous others.

Stop by the museum to learn more.

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