prospect house & civil war museum

This building has been a rooming house, resort hotel, a home and now functions as a museum, providing a look at memorabilia from those past years as well as an amazing Civil War collection in the basement with many items belonging to the original builder and owner of the property. The two sleeves of his uniform are displayed, a bullet hole in each of them from wounds on two separate occasions. His family had saved all his correspondence from that time, so the collection has a personal touch, yet is wide-ranging. Friends say their grandkids love it.

You have to go through it to believe it - it's 100+ years of history all in one little house - complete with pictures, letters, and a basement full of civil war items.

This collection is an incredible record of civil war history and especially of this one family. What a treasure for history buffs and people interested in learning more about the civil war era from a very personal perspective. Jay Johnson is a wealth of information and he love to share it.

My friend and I toured this historic Prospect Summer house Hotel and Civil War Museum yesterday in Battle Lake, MN. I was very impressed with the amount of memorabilia not to mention all the house/hotel furnishings and the family history. Amazing labor of love for the great grandson of the original civil war veteran/proprietor of the hotel, "Cap" Colehour. The Civil War memorabilia was phenomenal, well worth your trip.

My friend and I did not know what we were signing up for when we reserved a 2 o'Clock tour. The most amazing peek into a family's life here as four generations preserve their life and their positions....as curator Jay Johnson, with humor and due respect shares the lives of his ancestors, you bring their stories away with you and through his antidotes his history belongs to all of us. We will be back....with our husbands..

This museum has something for everyone - it's a showcase/time capsule of the Colehour family's lives going back to the 1860's. Curator Jay Johnson is the great grandson of the original owner and can tell you the story behind every piece of furniture, artifact and family heirloom. You can really tell this is a labor of love for him, maintaining this house!

We toured the Prospect House and were enthralled with the details of the physical evidence that supported the interesting anecdotes from the family member giving the tour. He was very steeped in the background of the house and the people connected with it. We spent several hours painlessly perusing the many items.

Very cool museum. A gem in little Battle Lake. Very informative tour guide. Kept 9 and 7 year old boys interested in all of the war memorabilia. Definitely worth the visit.

I enjoyed my visit to the Prospect House. It is a very fun tour, and the historical artifacts are outstanding. It is a casual and fun tour. Enjoy it.