Wednesday’s editorial promotes the burgeoning North Myrtle Beach Area Historical Museum.
All the books and other library materials are gone from the building on Second Avenue North, but the old circulation desk remains and it will have a place in the North Myrtle Beach Area Historical Museum taking shape in the former library.
For years, the museum was the vision of Dick Hester of North Myrtle Beach and others who formed a nonprofit organization and began looking for artifacts and promoting a museum about the area – the city of North Myrtle Beach, Little River and west to Longs. Then the city and Horry County built a much needed larger library and the city donated the handsome former library building to the museum. The library had outgrown the building and there was no room to expand.
The museum’s main attraction will be a 3,000-
square-foot, long-term gallery. “This is where we will look at the history of the area – from the state line to Barefoot,” says museum director Jenean N. Todd, hired by the board last July. One of the interactive, hands-on elements will feature the Jim Caudle Reef in the Atlantic Ocean off North Myrtle Beach, including footage of military equipment being dropped off a barge to form the reef. “There are many types of learners,” Todd notes, and exhibits will include puzzles, sorting (such as in a large donated collection of shells), videos and Internet links.
One of the exhibits will be Native American artifacts donated by the Tidewater Golf Club. “It’s great evidence that this area has been inhabited for many years.” The item were displayed in cases at the Tidewater clubhouse. The museum also will have a 1,200-square-foot changing gallery. The former library circulation desk will be the reception desk in the museum. Left of the foyer will be a retail area, the museum shop.
“I’d say we have 15 percent of the artifacts” needed, Todd says. The Cary, N.C., native is actively seeking items for display, including memorabilia from area high schools such as yearbooks, letter jackets and class rings. She’s looking for a crab trap and fishing equipment, restaurant menus, promotional items from various businesses – “three-dimensional items that represent life in this area, showing this is more than a tourist destination.”
Volunteer Sandra Buchan is busy cataloging items already accepted. She’s working 12 to 16 hours a week making notes on photos and so forth and preparing to input information on every acquisition. “Yes, we’re making progress,” Buchan says. “I’m loving it.” She and her husband Smith Buchan have been coming to the area for many years and moved from Goldsboro, N.C.
Todd also is looking for founding members, whose names will be on the Founders Wall. The cost is $100 per person and $250 per family. The Founding Member Campaign will be ongoing through April.
Todd retired after 25 years at the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science in Wilmington, N.C., where she played a role in two renovation/expansion projects. Before taking her current job, she vacationed with her family in North Myrtle Beach for years.
Check your attic
North Myrtle Beach and Little River residents may have items of historical interest, such as old restaurant menus or promotional items from businesses – i.e., hardware store or lumber company yardsticks. Museum Director Jenean Todd asks residents to check their homes. Items of interest may be taken to the museum (former library, 2nd Avenue N.) on Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. or they may contact Todd for an appointment or more information about the ongoing Founding Member Campaign. Phone | 843-427-7668
Email | info@NMBmuseum.com
Website | www.NMBmuseum.com
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