JULY 29, 2010 ISSUE
Lees-McRae To Open Cheese House Welcome Center
The historic Cheese House building on Shawneehaw Avenue in Banner Elk will become a welcome center for the Lees-McRae College campus.Later this summer, Lees-McRae College will open a welcome center in the Cheese House, a historic building on campus located at the historic Mill Pond on Shawneehaw Avenue. In his revitalization plan to strengthen the college, President Barry Buxton identified the need to establish a more prominent sense of arrival at the campus entry.
“Currently the campus is somewhat of an enigma,” Buxton said. “We want to define the boundaries of our campus and encourage visitors to the area to stop by the welcome center and learn more about Lees-McRae College. Because of its prominent location in the town, as well as its central location on campus, the Cheese House was the obvious choice for the welcome center.”
The Cheese House and Mill Pond bridge the gap between the main campus and the athletics facilities located on Hickory Nut Gap Road.
Staffed by volunteers, the welcome center will act as a mini-museum for the college, stocked with information for visitors and prospective families. Volunteers will lead historic walking tours of campus from the center.
“We want more people to connect to Lees-McRae and the community,” Buxton said. “The college has a fascinating history, and we hope visitors to the High Country will want to explore that history through our welcome center and tours.”
The welcome center is slated to open by September 1. The Avery County Arts Council has occupied the Cheese House since 2007. College administrators requested that the Arts Council find a new home by August 1.
“The college and the Avery County Arts Council have been partners in arts education since the inception of the Arts Council many years ago,” said Buxton, who noted the college has provided free office space to the council for 12 years. “However, Lees-McRae must recruit more students and families and strengthen our financial base,” he said. “The college looks forward to maintaining a close relationship with the Avery County Arts Council in many future endeavors.”
The college offered additional office space on campus to the Arts Council, but the council is currently pursuing a move to Linville.
“Our students have conducted service learning projects there, and our students and graduates have been employed by the Arts Council,” said Kacy Crabtree, dean of faculty at Lees-McRae. “Lees-McRae and the Arts Council have enjoyed a longstanding relationship centered on collaborative arts experiences for Avery County, Banner Elk and Lees-McRae.”
For more information about the new welcome center, call 828-898-8729.
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