One day, I just blurted out, “I love the library!” I don’t know why I said it aloud, but Mama heard me! She knew it already. Anyone who knows me well, knows how much I adore having and reading books. The library could almost be called my home away from home. I could unconsciously spend hours digesting all the information to be found between the front and back cover of a book. Most nothing excites me as much!
Needless to say, the library in our home is one of my favorite places in the house. A glorious twenty-one cabinets bursting with books, I have not yet read every volume it contains. But, that is on my bucket list.
History, science, math, biology. . . there is so much waiting to be learned and discovered!
Although our library at home is splendid, the over seven thousand volumes contained by the McCoy Memorial Library of McLeansboro beckons to my book loving family. It goes without saying, the beautiful building, with its white gingerbread and black iron trim, is a place of frequent visitation for us.
Over a hundred years old, history surrounds and permeates the establishment. Originally, the building was the residence of the Aaron Guard Cloud family. He owned Cloud State Bank, now known as Peoples National Bank. In 1921, what is now the library was donated to the public, by his daughter Mary Ellen Cloud. The second floor serves as a museum for the Hamilton County Historical Society and contains mementos of the Cloud Family.
Recently, we have been frequenting the library on a weekly basis. I enjoy just skimming over the tomes, or really digging deep into the material. Sharing something new I discovered with family is always exciting. With a deep love for history, the story of the building itself and the records I can find inside makes the library a place that I hold dear.
~Halayah
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