Former Mayor Don Burden, who is also president of the Shrewsbury Historical Society, will give a talk along with two other professionals on the wedding gown collection the Society has, a small part of which is currently on display at the Eastern Branch Library on Route 35.
That talk will be via zoom on Thursday, June 9 at 6:30 p.m., Registration is available by visiting the Shrewsbury Historical Society site or the MonmouthCountylib.org site.
But the former mayor, historian and author also has a fascinating story to tell of a recent visitor to the collection at the museum which will probably not be one of his topics at the Eastern Branch Library program.
It’s the story of the visit from the Bunny.
In his routine affable fashion, Society President Burden had agreed to meet a couple from out of state to see the historic Bridal collection early one recent Sunday afternoon.
He arrived shortly before the 1 p.m. appointment, opened the door and prepared to welcome them. When they had not arrived within 15 minutes, he busied himself with some chores, leaving the door open as a sign of welcome. Minutes later, when he heard a noise at the door, Burden hastened to extend his welcome and invitation into the museum.
However, it was not the couple who had asked for the appointment. It was a rabbit. A small brown, wild bunny.
The little mammal of the Leporidae family had simply walked in the open door.
The unexpected visitor took President Burden by surprise and he dodged slightly to the right. That gave the inquisitive little bunny enough space to hop on past his surprised host and scamper into the main room of the museum, the focus of the unique bridal gown collection.
In quick pursuit, and now not thinking this was such a cute little furry bundle of nature, President Burden managed to spot the little “damn monster!” just as it ducked under one of the very historic dresses in the collection.
That called for a broom with which the rabbit chaser managed to move him from beneath the folds of the fragile dress. But not to be released. No sir, young Mr. Lagomorpha scampered under the raised platforms where all the other gowns were on display. And once again, the furry mammal went out of sight.
Changing tactics, the rabbit hunter opened the museum’s back door, grabbed a snow shovel and began beating on all the platforms in his effort to have his visitor reappear, say thanks for the visit and scamper.
It worked. Bunny Lagomorpha re-appeared, just long enough to be seen scampering out the door into the wide open spaces.
President Burden says he learned two lessons from the experience. One, he won’t leave the door open any more.
And two! Even visiting rabbits think a trip to the Museum is a must to see the outstanding display of wedding history.
There’s one final chapter to the Bunny story. That dress the bunny ran under when he first came into the museum? It belonged to a woman had a long and happy marriage and the couple had one daughter. The daughter was born on Easter. Throughout her life they have called her….you guessed it…Bunny!
Oh. And the couple from out-of-state arrived shortly after. No scampering under dresses or platforms for them. They simply spent an hour learning firsthand some of the fascinating stories about the ladies who wore the dresses and the care that has been taken by the Museum to restore and maintain them in their original beauty.
