The Williamson County Heritage Foundation has been working for several months to create a space where community members and visitors alike can learn more about local history.
The Moore-Morris Historical and Cultural Center in Williamson County is scheduled to open later this year and will feature photographs, historical artifacts and records of people’s experiences.
Although the exact date has not yet been announced, the foundation said it expects to open in early 2024.
“As you dig through all the content, some will make you laugh, some will make you cry, and some will take your breath away,” said Bari Beasley, CEO and president of the Williamson County Heritage Foundation.
“We’ve been really inclusive and very inclusive in all of our storytelling.”
walk in the past
Upon entering the museum, visitors begin their journey through history with historical accounts of three different communities in the rebuilt White’s Tavern.
“Andrew Jackson probably drank whiskey here, so we recreated White’s Tavern to pay homage to what was here in the 1800s,” says Beasley. This tavern dates back to 1803 when it was used as an inn and bar.
It was demolished and replaced with a brick prison in 1905. It was then antiqued in 1941 when the Old Old Jail was built at 112 Bridge Street.
The building was abandoned and slated for demolition, but was rescued by a foundation in 1972 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The space, now known as McConnell House, is used by several businesses, a community center, and private events.
In addition to the tavern’s exhibits, visitors can use other interactives to learn about key figures in Williamson County history.
The use of living portraits is key to the museum’s message of telling the county’s story from multiple perspectives.
“Everything is very technologically driven,” Beasley said. “We are using technology and storytelling to meet people, especially young people, where they are.”
The President, the Trail of Tears and Williamson County
From former colored troops to the county’s most notorious villains, the portraits offer viewers a unique way to interact with the subject matter and history they are learning.
The museum also has space for regular exhibitions of exhibits from other local history groups that do not have a permanent home.
“This hallway will be for people in the community like the Lewes Historical Society and the African American Heritage Society. They don’t necessarily have a building, but we wanted to give them a space. ,” Beasley said.
It was also important to tell the stories of Williamson County’s indigenous communities, foundation members said.
One of the most historic moments in Native American history occurred on the grounds of Franklin’s Masonic Lodge, the city’s oldest building. It was there that the Treaty of 1803 was signed between President Andrew Jackson and a delegation of Chickasaw leaders. Historians say this was also the meeting that sparked Jackson’s Trail of Tears project.
Beasley said the story will be told using interactive screens. She also highlighted the museum’s storytelling lab, where community members can come and create audio recordings of their own history for future generations.
“You can give it to your family or we can keep it,” Beasley said of the recording. “Even if you’re from another part of the world, you have something that you can take back to your family and start a conversation about the importance of oral history for people who know your family’s story in the future. ”
Once the museum officially opens, visitors will also be able to use iPads and other interactive devices to conduct their own research on historical figures and events through the archives.
“There’s still a lot of life in historic old buildings, and just like with the Franklin Theater, we’ve created an amenity for the community. That’s what we hope to do here. ” Beasley said. “We want to create something that visitors can enjoy and learn about. The content changes all the time so it feels fresh for locals as well.”
As for Beasley, she said working on a project of this scale is truly a labor of love, noting that the foundation recently held an event to show people what’s going on with the museum project. .
“After all the work with the historians, exhibit makers, and my team, it was amazing to see the space come to life,” she said. “We’re really excited for the public to see it because it shows how purposeful the content is and how we tell stories in creative and interactive ways.”
For the latest information about the Center, please visit https://williamsonhistorycenter.org/visit/.