Potential covid-19 exposure closes Compass Inn Museum, cancels militia re-enactment

The Compass Inn Museum in Laughlintown and the adjacent Ligonier Valley Historical Society headquarters are closed for two weeks because an employee may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

The precautionary closure will be in effect through Aug. 28.

The employee did not come into contact with museum visitors since the potential exposure but did work near other staff who were in contact with the public, according to Theresa Gay Rohall, executive director of the society, which operates the museum.

The closure also triggered cancellation of a living history event and blacksmith demonstrations planned for this weekend at the museum. Rohall hopes to schedule a later encampment on the grounds by Proctor’s Militia, an area group that portrays a Revolutionary War-era militia unit.

The affected employee learned of a potential exposure during a recent trip to the Midwest and has not displayed symptoms of infection with the virus but is being tested, Rohall said.

If the result is positive, she said, all of the staff — two full-time employees, two part-timers and an intern — will get tested and the society will contact any museum visitors who could have been exposed.

“We do have names and phone numbers for everybody who visited the museum, and we will call them,” Rohall said.

During the pandemic, the museum operates on a reduced schedule Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; has converted from a docent-led to self-tours and has limited access to the inn’s first floor.

But, Rohall noted, “There are staff members at the museum. There has to be somebody over there checking people in, to watch when they go in and come out.”

Ed Appleby, a blacksmith from Laurel Mountain Borough, planned to demonstrate his skills at the museum Sunday. He said he plans to return to the museum’s blacksmith shop once it reopens and also offer wares for sale at the Ligonier Country Market, held Saturday mornings off Route 30 just west of Ligonier.