Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
January 4, 2007 issue
The End of a Museum
Last January, the ASU News Service announced that the Appalachian Cultural Museum would be closed, the exhibits placed in storage at the old Belk Library and the Turchin Center and assorted buildings around campus would host exhibits of the museum’s collection. The release said that the university would prepare a brochure outlining a walking tour of the exhibits.
Persistent rumors had hinted for months that the museum was moving, but museum director Chuck Watkins had declined to comment.
However, once the university announced the museum’s closure, the lid flew off the container. It turned out that university officials had decided to locate a communications disorder clinic at University Hall and move the museum out of the building. Museum staffers learned of the decision in late 2005, and a committee was been formed to find an alternative location for the museum.
However, museum staffers and committee members were not given a heads up about the museum closure notice and the walking tour idea.
Consequently, the committee meeting on January 13 was tumultuous, with committee members angrily protesting the decision to ASU Chief of Staff Lorin Baumhover.
Committee members had identified six possible sites for the museum, but the university had rejected all of them, including the committee’s recommendation—a building in downtown Boone that was offered rent free for one year with an option to purchase—because, Baumhover said, the university had no funding for a long-term commitment.
Following that meeting, both Chancellor Ken Peacock and Provost Stan Aeschleman confirmed the university’s commitment in writing to the continued operation of the museum and maintained that storage of the museum’s artifacts, if necessary, would be temporary.
At a meeting in February, Baumhover said that the university had worked hard to find a new home for the museum, adding, “I am more encouraged this week than I have been. I wish I could tell you about the sites, but a certain amount of confidentiality is required in any real estate transaction.”
But nothing happened.
On March 11, the museum that opened at University Hall in 1989 closed its doors at University Hall. One of the visitors on that last day was NASCAR legend Junior Johnson who had loaned vehicles and memorabilia for an exhibit at the museum.
Approximately 50 percent of the museum’s collection was on loan and several owners, including Johnson, asked for the return of their artifacts.
On March 17, two of Junior Johnson’s racecars, exhibited at the museum since it opened, were loaded on trucks and taken to the NASCAR museum in Darlington, S.C.
After the museum closed, staffers sorted and packed the artifacts for storage, while continuing to offer the museum’s children’s programs and travel opportunities.
At their retreat in April, members the Boone Town Council discussed the possibility of locating the museum at Horn in the West. In June, the council approved a request from the Friends of the Appalachian Cultural Museum to investigate the feasibility of locating the museum at Horn in the West. But those plans have gone nowhere because the group did not receive the planning grant it hoped would fund the study.
Developer Doug Gale briefly raised hopes of a new home in November when he proposed providing space for the museum at his planned mixed-use complex on West King Street. But Gale abandoned his development plans when he could not reach a satisfactory purchase agreement with the sellers.
Museum staffers have been reassigned to new jobs within the university. All of the children’s programs ended in the summer, and the adult travel programs are now a thing of the past as well. No support staff exists to handle bookings, payments and arrangements, and while volunteer Bettie Bond, who led the popular tours for several years, was willing to continue leading the tours, she was unwilling to assume responsibility for logistics and finances.
And that’s the story of how a cultural treasure—identified as a must-see in a New York Times article—was destroyed in 2006.