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REIDSVILLE — John and Peggy Burton always have been collectors.

During the past 50 years, they have accumulated an eclectic variety of items, ranging from old-fashioned canning jars to clocks, music boxes and vehicles.

Not just any vehicle.

Although he has 11 antique cars, John has numerous other modes of transportation — a bicycle built for two, antique horse-drawn farm equipment, a Conestoga wagon, and a buggy with fringe on the top.

These are housed in what the Burtons call their country museum, next to a replica of an early 1900s store featuring old Esso gas tanks, a mail order catalog filled with pictures of men’s suits and swatches of sample fabrics, tobacco products, apothecary items and boxes, tins and bottles from the 1920s and 1930s.

Their home is filled with antiques — homemade quilts, clothing and furniture, many inherited.

Next Sunday , the Burtons will open their home to the public to raise money for the Eden Historical Museum and the Rockingham County Historical Society Museum and Archives’ Lillian M. Coleman Leadership Challenge Grant.

Joining the host couple in providing tours of the home and its buildings will be friends and members of their family.

Their granddaughter, Taylor Marie Burton, 20, will tell guests about Emma Claudia’s Room. This room includes an antique bedroom suite and the child’s antique bed in which Taylor slept as a child. A crib quilt on Emma’s bed was made by Peggy’s great-grandmother, Rachel Parker Fisher of Georgia. Next to the quilt is a poem that Rachel wrote about it.

Emma Claudia Amos Burton and John Matthew Burton, the grandfather for whom the present-day owner is named, built the front part of the house in 1895. Original receipts show the addition cost close to $600.

They raised 14 children in the four rooms attached to other sections including a log home.

Emma named the homeplace Fairview because of the vistas.

John Matthew Burton bought the property in 1891 from William Barnett Moore, John’s material great-grandfather. Earlier, it was owned by his maternal great-great-grandfather, Frances Barnett Moore.

John Matthew’s room also has an antique bedroom suite. One highlight is an old hat that he purchased from Williams & Co. in Reidsville. A picture taken in 1909 shows him sporting the hat.

Serving as hostess in this room will be Barbara Burton, a sister-in-law.

In the parlor, where Mary Owens, a member of the historical society, will host, guests will find a French prayer clock, baby grand player piano, an Edison gramophone and several mechanical disc players.

The Burtons have more than 20 music boxes throughout their home.

A childhood photograph on the wall in the living room shows John’s twin aunts Lottie and Nell Burton, born before the turn of the 20th century.

The Burtons have 90 clocks. John admits he doesn’t have time to wind them all, even though most still work.

A large grandfather clock in the kitchen area came from Mace’s Jewelry on South Scales Street in Downtown Reidsville. Joan Bodden will be in this area.

Mary Burton Robertson, John’s sister, will serve as guide in the dining room, where photographs show the original owners. Peggy’s collection of china also is on display.

The Victorian walnut table will be set with two different types of Limoges china — a mid-1700s French pattern and a later version made by Theodore Haviland to satisfy American tastes.

John graduated in 1951 graduate from Wentworth High School. That summer, he met Peggy Gibbs of Greensboro.

They were married in 1956. Peggy taught English while John finished his education at Duke Divinity School, receiving his bachelor of divinity degree in 1959.

John served numerous Methodists pastorates in the state.

After 35 years, the Burtons came back to Rockingham County. John was pastor of Main Street Methodist Church until his retirement 14 years ago.

He inherited Fairview Farm and 17 acres in 1983. At that time, the couple realized a longtime dream by turning the farm house into a bed-and-breakfast inn.

They renovated the house, tearing away all but the 1895 addition and building a new addition where the log house had stood.

They closed the inn in 2004.

Over the years, they added many items to the original furnishings. Today, it is filled with family heirlooms and many other items they have collected over the years.

 “We have enjoyed the collecting,” John said. “Sometimes the hunt is as enjoyable as the find. We both share the same interests, and we enjoy other people enjoying it.”

Reidsville native Ann Fish has lived in Eden since 1979. Contact her at annsomersfish@yahoo.com