Cleveland County Historical Museum’s Artifacts Are Moved From Historic Courthouse To Storage Facility
May 2 and 3, 2008, the artifacts were moved from the courthouse to a storage facility at the gymnasium of the former Hunter School building on Pinkney Street in Shelby by a professional moving company. The movie folks who were in town shooting the film, “Blood Done Sign My Name,” needed access to the inside of the courthouse and paid to have the artifacts moved so filming could take place without delay.
The Cleveland County School System owns the Hunter School building and the County is paying to have the artifacts stored there. Also, the county is allocating DCC money to pay the salary of Annmarie Reiley-Kay as curator for the artifacts. Ms. Reiley-Kay is paid with county money but reports to DCC. Once the Earl Scruggs Center opens, Ms. Reiley-Kay will be curator of the museum, salary paid through DCC with money from Cleveland County taxpayers.
A Second Violation Of The Terms Of The Lease Agreement With Destination Cleveland County For The Earl Scruggs Center
Term #17. Restored Court Room:
The lessee shall make the restored Court Room located on the second floor of the leased property available, at no cost, for governmental functions and educational activities. The County and the Lessee shall develop a policy that will govern the scheduling and ancillary cost of any use of the restored Court Room/
Ancillary costs shall include but are not limited to cost associated with providing security and staff for the facility during said use.
Museum Planner Cissy Anklam comes to Cleveland County April 30-May 1, 2008 for four public meetings to discuss DCC’s plans for the Earl Scruggs Center. She returns May 18 with five preliminary master planning designs, which DCC Executive Director Marta Holden shows to County Commissioners at their May 20, 2008 meeting.
A June 12, 2008 article from The Star says that on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at the Arts Council building, Cissy Anklam along with exhbit writer John Hubbell, reveals the master site plan for the Earl Scruggs Center to DCC board members and officials.
They showed a tentative floor plan of the courtroom, she called the “Great Hall” that could provide several seating accommodations, but only after the removal of the wooden pews that line the old courtroom floor.
“If we kept the pews, I think we would have been really limited in what you could do in that space,” she said. “We’re going to return it back to its original grandeur as a beautiful elegant space but it will be multi-use also. It’s very important for museums right now to be sustainable and one major way to do that is to have rental opportunities.” The area might eventually support meetings, reunions and wedding receptions for sources of income, she said.
The Lease Agreement says three times that the courtroom will be restored:
Term #17. Restored Court Room
The lessee shall make the restored Court Room located on the second floor of the leased property available, at no cost, for governmental functions and educational activities. The County and the Lessee shall develop a policy that will govern the scheduling and ancillary cost of any use of the restored Court Room.
The courtroom was not restored, as required by the Lease Agreement, it was renovated into a reception hall.
Museum Archival Committee Is Appointed By County Commissioners
At their meeting on June 17, 2008, the County Commissioners appointed a Museum Archival Committee to oversee the artifacts. Wanda Crotts, Libby Sarazen and Meloni Wray were appointed to serve on this board for a three year period to conclude June 30, 2011. At the end of that time, the three were reappointed to serve from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2014.
Destination Cleveland County Board Of Directors July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009
Brownie Plaster, President
Adelaide Craver, Vice President
John Schweppe, III, Secretary
Jason Gragg, Treasurer
Emily Epley, Executive Director
Myra Dixon
Shannon Kennedy
Millie Wood
David Jenkins, Theatre Director
DCC’s Visions To Include Local History At The Earl Scruggs Center
On July 1, 2008 Emily Epley begins as the new Executive Director of Destination Cleveland County to replace Marta Holden, who moved to Texas. According to an August 8, 2008 article in The Star, DCC Chairwoman Brownie Plaster says the Earl Scruggs Center is tentatively slated for a late 2010 opening.
DCC’s team of ‘story catchers’ work on the Oral History program for the Earl Scruggs Center, interviewing residents and recording stories to be used in collaboration with professional museum planners and writers to weave together and share the comprehensive story of the people of Cleveland County through the Earl Scruggs Center.
In an article in The Star on August 17, 2008, DCC Chairwoman Brownie Plaster says, “The reader might remember that in DCC’s research of successful museums across the country, we learned that the objects and the archives do tell the history, but what makes them come alive is the story of the people behind the objects. That’s how we came up with the title- the ‘Earl Scruggs Center- Songs and Stories of the Carolina Foothills’ for bringing alive the 1907 courthouse and its contents in an innovative fashion.”
If it is DCC’s intent to use the local artifacts to tell what is unique and pertinent to the people of the Carolina Foothills, one wonders why they later changed the name to encompass the entire southern United States when they renamed it the ‘Earl Scruggs Center- Songs and Stories from the American South.’
Earl Scruggs Returns For Second Concert For DCC
Earl Scruggs returned to his native Cleveland County on Friday, June 19, 2009 for a “Home Again” sold-out concert at the Malcolm Brown Auditorium at Shelby High School.
Proceeds from the concert benefitted the Earl Scruggs Center- Music and Stories of the Carolina Foothills, slated to be completed in late 2011.
While he was here, a film crew came to film him walking around the courtsquare and walking down the sidewalk as an intro film to be shown at the Earl Scruggs Center: Music and Stories of the Carolina Foothills. (Is this another new name?)
Destination Cleveland County Board Of Directors July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010
Brownie Plaster, Chairwoman
Adelaide Craver, Vice Chair
John Schweppe, III, Secretary
Jason Gragg, Treasurer
Emily Epley, Executive Director
Myra Dixon
Shannon Kennedy
Millie Wood
Sherry Grenier
Robin Hendrick
Linda Horn
Michael Poage
J.T. Scruggs
Jeff Ross
Trip Boinest
Robin Smith
David Jenkins, Theatre Director