Glass Tombstone and Queen Victoria's Friction Tube

Schoharie, New York

We were led to the Old Stone Fort Museum several years ago by Secret Caverns head guide Todd DelMarter -- he believed we really needed to see "Queen Victoria's Friction Tube." The museum mostly displays items of local interest, but we found these three noteworthy:

Queen Victoria's Friction Tube.: A little piece of brass from an Armstrong rifle presented by her to Confederate President Jeff Davis in 1864. Why is it here? Jeff Davis was probably pissed that all he got was a friction tube instead of diplomatic recognition, guns, food, etc.

Plate glass tombstone: Daisy Schoolcraft was the daughter of a man who ran the local glass factory. She died in 1887, age 4. The unique all-glass tombstone stood in Schoharie Cemetery for 75 years and was even written up in Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Then it was smashed by vandals in 1962 -- casualty of a turbulent decade. The Museum pieced it together and displays it in a wooden frame.

There's also a cheap brown metal folding chair on the second floor. Carefully painted on it is: "In Memory Of The Charter Members."