The owner of the property surrounding the Henson home, William Chapple, saw the house as a potential tourist attraction and opened it to the public in 1948.[1] Chapple published a book in an attempt to promote the building, The Story of Uncle Tom, and began to provide tours of the building.[2] Admission to the house was through drop in contributions, with visitors placing their donation in a pot outside the building's access point.[7] Chapple later sold his property to Jack Tomson.[7] During Thomson period of property ownership, the Henson homestead was moved twice, reorienting it from its original position.[7] Thomson later opened the entire property as a museum in 1964.[7] Shortly after the property was opened into a museum, Thomson sought out a descendant of Henson, Barbara Carter, to work as its curator.[7] During Carter's tenure as the museum's curator, she helped shift the institution's focus from just chronicling Henson's life, to incorporate the history of slavery and the Underground Railroad in its exhibits.[7]