The Parsonage House & Sis’s Cottage Resale Shop is a wonderful and unique place to discover that one perfect item that you did not know you were looking for.

The rooms of the home are staged with delightful furniture depicting the time periods of life in the home. The Kitchen remains the heart of the home with a wringer washing machine, a small electric refrigerator, a table for 6, and a workspace. With no indoor plumbing, you will see the original red hand pump at the kitchen sink. Look out back to see the outhouse and now an additional resale space, fondly called Sis’s Cottage. The Cottage is named in remembrance of the last occupant of the home.
Items for sale are donated from Island homes and beyond. Donations are accepted based on the management guidelines. Proceeds help support the KIHA preservation projects and the museum collection.

The Resale Shop is OPEN seasonally, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 12-4. The campus is closed Tuesday and Wednesdays.

A LITTLE HISTORY ABOUT THE HOUSE

Visitors love looking at the house and imagining how it must have been to live with no indoor plumbing and an antiquated heating system. Be sure to check out the outhouse in the back yard. The congregation of the German Reform Church built the Parsonage on land purchased for $51.00 from Mrs. Anne Twidney on August 8, 1888. 

By 1915 the island’s population, as well as the congregation, had dwindled and soon after could no longer support a resident minister. The Church’s trustees rented the house to the Betzenheimer family and they moved into the Parsonage in 1919, acting as caretakers for the church. 

Alvin Betzenheimer, and his siblings were all born in the Parsonage house.  The family lived there all their lives until Florence Betzenheimer Mckillips moved out around 2010. Florence Betzenheimer McKillips, fondly known as “Sis,” continued her mother Emma’s role of caring for the house and the German Reform Church next door even after both buildings became part of the Kelleys Island Historical Association in the 1980’s.  The Association granted Mrs. McKillips use of the house until her death in 2013 at the age of 92.