GALWAY — Galway Historian Phyllis Keeler has been living the dream of owning a museum for more than two decades, but realities of its responsibilities are weighing heavily these days.

“My husband Earl and I decided about a month ago that it’s time to sell The Cook Museum of Local History,” she said Tuesday.

The Keelers opened their museum on West Street in the village of Galway in 1984.

Because they have held Bible study meetings in the former residence, they did not charter the museum. Without nonprofit status, it has not been eligible for tax exemptions or grants offered to other organizations who have state charters.

“We pay the commercial rate for taxes and insurance,” she said. “We own the museum and we pay for everything.”

The building is listed with Inglenook Realty in Galway for $169,000, and Keeler said she hopes that someone with an interest in keeping it as a museum will come forward.

“I realize it’s likely someone will buy it for a home, but they will have an awful lot of work to do unless they want to live as people did a long time ago,” she said.

The Keelers were given the former home by Gladys Cook Brown with the understanding that it would be used as a museum.

Keeler said she and Brown were both retired school teachers and had similar strong Christian beliefs that created a bond and trust between them.

She said early in her friendship with Brown she shared a desire to have a local history museum in town.

Brown later asked if Keeler would like to have her house and all its contents for use as a museum.

After Brown’s death, Keeler and a band of volunteers found a collection of dishes, furniture and other artifacts that had been brought to the 10-room house over the previous century.

Every room contained antique furniture and every cabinet and hutch held delicate glass and china pieces collected by generations of the Cook family.

“They were conservative people and very careful with everything they owned,” said Keeler.

When an electric stove was installed in the kitchen in the 1950s, the old wood- and coal-fired stove was left in the room and hooked into its chimney.

Similarly, when a modern sink and faucets were installed in the kitchen, the old dry sink with its hand pump was left where it had been since the house was built in the 1850s.

Keeler said she has never lit the old kitchen stove and she doesn’t feel it would be safe to do so, but she’s pretty sure it still works.

“We did light the pot belly stove in the dining room once, but this house has dry timbers from 1850 and I don’t think it would be wise to start fires in the condition it’s in,” she said.

The museum opened on the first floor only on the last day of 1984. The second floor of the building was opened to the public less than two years later.

All items found in the house have been preserved and many are on display.

The front parlor in the house holds a pump organ and a phonograph, both in working order.

Keeler said all of the items in the museum will be sold if it is to be turned back into a residence.

She said she has spoken with local antiques authorities and the inventory will be carefully scrutinized.

“They tell me there are shifting values for many of these things and we will have to determine the best ways to offer them for sale,” she said. “I dread the thought of an auction, but it’s likely we will have to sell the furnishings.”

Keeler said she is still giving tours of the museum but anticipates she will close its doors in the middle of August.

“We’re hoping to sell before heating season,” she said.