The Ward W. O'Hara Agricultural and Country Living Museum in Auburn began as one couple's collection of farm equipment that outgrew their space. Ward O'Hara wrote 15 books and was a local newspaper columnist for more than 11 years. He and his wife Ruth began collecting farm equipment, and in May 1975 the Cayuga County Legislature approved using the idle 4-H Pavilion at Emerson Park as a country museum after the O'Haras approached it. The museum marked its 50th anniversary in 2025.
Finger Lakes readers have voted it FLX Finest Gold for Family Attraction in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and FLX Finest Gold for Place to Volunteer in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. In 2026 Tour Cayuga gave it a Commemorating America 250 Tourism Award for stewardship of agricultural heritage.
The collection runs from hand tools to horse-drawn implements, tractors and other large farm equipment from the 1800s and 1900s, plus a Model T car and truck. Inside are a carpenter shop, a blacksmith shop, a complete rural kitchen, a bedroom, a one-room school, a country mercantile and a dairy room. The museum also keeps an herb garden with over 40 varieties, and its exhibits cover early industry in Cayuga County and Auburn.
Tim Quill has directed the museum since 2007, after 33 years of teaching. The Citizen reported in 2025 that the museum has raised nearly $850,000 since he arrived, fixed its heating system and added wings and rooms, including the Dr. Joseph F. Karpinski Sr. Educational Center. The museum is county-funded, and FingerLakes1 reported in November 2025 that the proposed 2026 budget put that funding at risk and that legislators later restored $30,000 to its part-time salary line.
The Martha Shaw Harvesting History Series holds a talk on the third Thursday of each month except July, August and December, in the Brier Classroom. Seasonal programs in 2026 included an Easter egg scavenger hunt, Halloween hunts, Old Fashion Halloween, and June Is Dairy Month with a New York State Fair butter-sculpture photo exhibit, a cheese exhibit and tastings, Ice Cream Fridays and Butter Mondays. The museum also runs a patron giving campaign, and its homepage invites visitors to become volunteers.
The Fourteenth Annual Festival of Trees runs from November 22, 2026 through January 31, 2027, with over 200 decorated trees throughout the heated museum. The Christmas Open House is Sunday, December 13, 2026, with horse-drawn wagon rides, Model T rides weather permitting, music, refreshments, kids activities and Santa visits. The museum is at 6880 East Lake Road (Route 38A), beside Emerson Park on the north shore of Owasco Lake, and its site suggests a picnic and a swim at the public beach after a visit.