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CARTHAGE, ILL. -- The Tri-State Area is full of rich history dating back to the time when American Indians roamed the lands.

And some of that history, including arrowheads, is on display in Carthage.

"History is kind of a dying art for some people but there's still a lot of people who love it. Especially the civil war, that's kind of something they're always interested in. If you can tie that in locally, I think it means more," Summer Intern Nathan Pierce said.

Which is what the Kibbe Museum in Carthage has done. There is a whole section on Lincoln and the Civil War, but there's way more to the museum than that. Perhaps the most interesting, and disturbing, is the display on the dead. There's an old embalming station and caskets from the past. Those items were donated by the Illinois Funeral Directors Association.

"A lot of it's donations, or family members who are afraid they have value of theirs, they don't know what's going to happen to it when they pass away, so they want it to be preserved and give it to the museum. Or people put it on a temporary loan, just to have it on display but they still own it technically," Pierce said.

That means, most of the artifacts you'll find at the Kibbe, came from your friends and neighbors.

"You can read about Gettysburg, you can read hundreds of thousands of books on the subject but if you can come in and see how it ties in to people who once lived in your community, some of these houses are still standing where these people lived, that illuminates it a little more, makes it seem a little more real," Pierce said.

And who knows, you might find out something new about your family as well.

There also is a quilt display throughout the whole museum until Saturday July 14.

The museum is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., Saturday from noon until 4 p.m., and the last two Sundays of the month from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.