The Dillon Home Museum is expecting a busy day of tours on Thursday, April 18th,--the big day of the Sons & Daughters of Thunder Sterling premiere. Several key scenes were filmed in the Dillon Home for the historic docudrama. Twelve lead actors and nearly 70 extras re-enacted the true events surrounding the first public debates concerning the abolition of slavery at Lane Seminary in 1834 Ohio. The Dillon Home was the stand-in for the real-life Lyman Beecher house located on Lane Seminary grounds in Cincinnati.
Linda Heckler was the curator of the Dillon Home at the time of filming and was assisted by Kimberly Smith. The two women became honorary production assistants for Thunder, lighting candles, moving furniture, helping the cast and crew in whatever way they could during the winter and spring months of 2014.
Current Dillon Home curator Erin Thompson assisted the Rundles with pick-up filming in the house in early March of this year and has been busy arranging the special benefit screening of the film in Sterling.
The Thunder production team was so grateful for the use of the Dillon Home Museum for the film, they decided to do a special Sterling premiere screening event to raise money for the continued preservation of the historic site. The film will be shown at 6PM on Thursday evening, April 18th at Sterling High School's Centennial Auditorium, 1608 4th Avenue. The Rundles will be joined by 9 stars from Thunder following the film to take part in a Q&A. Tickets are $6/pp and can be reserved at www.centennialauditorium.org.
The website states that "the Dillon Home is a work of Italianate Architecture built in 1858 for Civil War Brigadier General Edward Needles Kirk. The Kirk’s had plans to raise a large family in the home, but when Edward died from a wound sustained at the Battle of Stone’s River, his wife Eliza returned to Pennsylvania. The home went through few changes, but several owners, before Washington Dillon purchased it in 1882.
Filled with treasures and virtually un-touched by time, the home is a place you must visit to learn the local history. Home to P.W. Dillon, President of Northwestern Steel and Wire, the homes’ grandeur is a remarkable sight, as his wife, Crete, was an avid traveler, and collector of eclectic pieces and period furniture. Unique from most historic home museums, The Dillon Home retains all of the original furnishings and belongings, as the estate was conveyed to the Sterling Park District after PW.’s passing in 1980."
The magnificent Dillon Home is open for guided tours Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Monday and Wednesday). Visit https://www.sterlingparks.org/location/dillon-home-museum/ for touring hours or to arrange your wedding or other special event at the Home.
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