The descendants of the people who once lived in Raetihi come to the Raetihi Museum to look for their ancestors' past.
Margaret Cole is one of the rostered volunteers who opens the museum on a Sunday or by special request, and says the visitors are grateful for any information about their family.
Mrs Cole says her favourite items are the handmade baby gowns with one from as early as 1853.
On a wall is an old Wanganui Photo News that cost two shillings and sixpence, with pictures of the Queen Mother, who travelled up the windy Parapara to Raetihi to meet the people, who turned out in their numbers to watch her walk elegantly in high heels across the showgrounds.
Also volunteering is Jessie Seaman, the museum's patron, she is well-known her fundraising efforts; Bernice Frost is the president, Valma Littlewood the secretary and Adrienne Maru the treasurer.
The museum is in the original railway station building that sat below the road before Te Puke Marae, on the way to Ohakune.
It's now in Seddon St at an altitude of 1696 feet above sea level.
The branch railway between Raetihi and Ohakune once carried passengers and freight, but the line was closed in January 1968.
In the'50s and'60s the biggest ewe fair in the Southern Hemisphere was held at the sale yards in Seddon St, and in farm paddocks.
The ewes were trucked to the station, then went by rail to Ohakune.
Mrs Cole and husband, Maurice, farmed at Ruatiti before they retired and moved closer to Raetihi.
"The hill country sheep around here are known as the best, because they are so strong. They have durability and strength because of the cold winters."
Some winters the sheep have had to endure snow for eight days, Mrs Cole said.
She came to Raetihi 53 years ago from Auckland. She had planned to go overseas but "you had to have a job to go to," she said.
So she worked relieving at the Raetihi Hospital for six months, and then worked in Farm Supplies.
Just as she was about to go home, Mrs Cole met the man who would become her husband, and her future was sealed.
Mrs Cole says you could fall over in Raetihi and people would know who you belonged to and where to take you.