CANDIA - Although its hours are limited, the Fitts Museum maintains an extensive collection of 18th- through 21st-century furniture, art and tools, putting a local spin on American history.

Open the third Saturday of the month from May to October, with private or group tours available by appointment anytime, the preserved Colonial home on High Street displays tools, furniture, letters, art and other historical artifacts dating back as early as the 1600s.

Originally purchased by brothers J. Lane Fitts and James Hill Fitts in 1882, the building first opened as a museum three years later.

“At that time, museums were more about things that were collected around the world,” said museum trustee Pat Larkin. “There would be rattlesnake coils from the Midwest, shells people would bring back from trips to islands, things like that.”

The original collection, including a Midwestern rattlesnake coil and woven Native American baskets, is still exhibited today in a curiosity cabinet on the museum’s second floor.

In 1901, The Fitts family donated the building to the to house their museum and the collections of the Smyth Public Library. Though the library has since moved to its own property, some antique books remain.

“A lot of them seem to be fairly religious – various sermons and the like,” Larkin said of the mainly leather-bound books packed in glass cases at the back of the museum’s tool room, which otherwise showcases hand-forged implements made centuries ago by a local blacksmith. “I guess it speaks to the times. That seems to be very common in the 1800s.”

In addition to the tools, the museum has rooms featuring Colonial cookware, musical instruments, textiles and memorabilia from the Civil War. Its focus is on Candia’s history, with exhibits including supplies from the three shoemaking factories once located there and a switchboard used for the town’s phone lines until 1952.

The July special exhibit displayed presented items from the Revolutionary War, including letters, weapons and a document describing the call to arms under which Candia volunteers walked to Boston to join the fight.

Like the building itself, most of its contents were donated. It began with the Fitts brothers’ displays, but throughout the years, other Candia residents started donating items they came across.

“A thing that a farmer would use in Candia 20 years ago, 80 years from now will be history,” Larkin said.

One of the museum’s more recent acquisitions is a 13-star American flag, accompanied by a note saying it was used in Abraham Lincoln’s second presidential campaign in 1864. Unlike the common Betsy Ross 13-star flag, which displays the stars in a circle, this one has them in a grid.

“There’s six and six, and one in the middle, so we still have to do some research on that flag,” said Larkin.

The museum was open July 21. About halfway through the 1 to 4 p.m. visiting hours, the museum guestbook showed the signatures of five guests.

“It’s a pretty steady stream, especially the past couple years,” Larkin said, adding that attendance has increased since the museum changed its hours so it was now closed in the winter months.

Larkin said most visitors come out of an interest in general history, but some have specialized pursuits as well, like a background in of antique furniture.

“It’s a constant learning experience,” she said. “We love it when people come in and can tell us something.”

The museum’s next open day is Aug. 18, with a special exhibit on the growing and usage of herbs, to include potpourri samples. The September exhibit will feature a wool spinning demonstration on the antique loom housed in the museum’s attic. Arrangements to visit the Fitts Museum can be made online at www.fittsmuseum.org.