Internet research has turned up two alleged Sultana artifacts that may still be in existance – one at a small Kentucky museum, the other in the hands of a private collection.
An article from the Dec. 7th edition of the Birmingham News tells of an elderly couple – both 82 – who have an amazing collection of unique antiques in their Alabama home:
The couple’s collections, housed in their sprawling white brick home on 2½ acres, include antique dresses, cars and dolls, and an eclectic assortment of just about everything else, including two theater seats from the old downtown Ritz Theater, a piece of copper wire from the USS Arizona, a 1912 brass cash register from a Sylacauga curb market, a metal Liberty Overalls sign found behind a wall at the old Liberty House factory on First Avenue North and a piece of boiler grate from the Sultana, a Mississippi river steamboat that exploded in 1865, killing some 1,700 Union troops.
If its real, wouldn’t this be not only a piece of the Sultana but possible evidence as to what really caused the boilers to explode? Maybe far fetched, but it does get the imagination going.
The second item could possibly part of the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Covington, Kentucky, which currently hosts an almost Ripley’s Believe It or Not type collection, although the museum’s broader concentration is on items of local historic interest.
An article from Wednesday’s Kentucky Post says the museum will close April 1st to undergo renovations in preperation for summer turnout, so you may want to head there sooner to check out, “the piece of wood that allegedly came from the Sultana, the steamship built in Cincinnati that exploded and sank in 1865, killing about 1,700 freed Union prisoners of war in the nation’s worst maritime disaster.”
If anyone is able to pay a visit to either museum and can take some photos of these possible relics, I’d love to share them on this blog!