College interns help polish Cobblestone Museum web site

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Cobblestone Society Museum includes three cobblestone buildings on Route 104 and also this collection of three wooden buildings: a print shop, harness shop, and an exhibit hall of 19th century farming tools. There are other buildings in the complex as well.

Provided photo – Claire Turner, left, and Taylor George have been helping to update the Cobbelstone Society Museum web site and expand the museum’s social media presence.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Cobblestone Society Museum opens for the season on Mother’s Day.

Press release, Cobblestone Society Museum

ALBION – In a classic case of “old meets new,” the Cobblestone Museum is engaging social media and other contemporary communication tools to attract visitors to its historical site near the intersection of routes 98 and 104.

The museum is embracing new technology to reach a wider audience. The museum also hired some fresh faces with new co-directors Sarah Karas and Matthew Ballard. They are teaming with Brockport State College interns Claire Turner and Taylor George to advance the museum board’s goal of drawing more visitors to its unique collection of cobblestone architecture and artifacts.

“Our new co-directors bring complementary talents to the table,” Cobblestone Trustee Diane Palmer said. “And we’re really excited about this new partnership with SUNY Brockport. It’s going to help us create a larger online presence.”

Cobblestone Trustee Stephen Karas helped forge the alliance with Brockport. “It has been refreshing and encouraging to view the different ideas and approaches that the co-directors and interns have designed to promote the Cobblestone through these new venues,” he said. “It is our goal that this will allow us to reach a much broader audience and encourage visits to our museum.”

The museum is already well on its way to achieving a new online “look,” resulting from a web design competition in a Brockport class last fall. One of the winning designers, graphic design and marketing student Claire Turner, also landed one of the two internships with the museum this spring.

As website intern, Turner is working to have the new site up and running in time for the museum’s opening event on Mother’s Day. Turner hails from the Rochester suburb of Greece and plans to pursue a career in the field of brand design. She enjoys the small town charm of Brockport and would like to continue her work with nonprofits.

“Claire’s contributions have been an enormous help so far,” said Ballard, one of museum co-directors. “Her skills in graphic design have put us on the fast track to a beautiful new website.”

Taylor George is the museum’s new social media intern. She has already established new social media accounts on Twitter (@CobblestoneMuse), Pinterest (The Cobblestone Society Museum), and Instagram (Cobblestone Museum), and will be helping maintain these accounts, along with the museum’s current Facebook page (The Cobblestone Museum). She is a journalism and broadcasting student graduating this May.

Originally from the Southern Tier town of Sidney, George would like to move to the South after she graduates to pursue a career in the food writing sector. She said working with her grandmother at the Sidney Historical Museum has inspired her to contribute her skill set to the Cobblestone Museum.

Sarah Karas, one of the new co-directors, has been working with George on the social media aspects.

“It has been a pleasure working with Taylor,” Karas said. “She has great ideas on how to promote events and the museum in a unique way. She has been a valuable addition to our organization.”

The museum will use its new online presence to help promote events, provide information on renting the museum for weddings and meeting spaces, and to generate interest in general admission tours and large group tours. In the future, new interns will continue to maintain the website and social media aspects of the museum.