THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506220183
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The museum portion of the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Center hasn't opened yet, but the gift shop has.
With $15,000 worth of merchandise on hand, shop operators last week began selling everything from duck decoys carved in Maine to postcards.
In the first three days, the shop did about $500 worth of business, said Fletcher Bryant, president of the Back Bay Wildfowl Guild, which manages the shop and will operate the museum when it opens sometime this fall.
Located in the ground floor of the 100-year-old DeWitt cottage at 12th Street and the Oceanfront, the shop was opened to help support the operations of the museum.
``We're offering museum-quality merchandise here,'' said Bryant, who bought all of it himself on a recent shopping tour that covered Pittsburgh and parts of Maryland. Items include jewelry, bird carvings, boat models and toys and children's books. Some of the items are locally made.
Both shop and the museum are the responsibility of the Back Bay Wildfowl Guild, which already has established its headquarters in the historic building.
A fund drive aimed at raising money to finish renovations to the cottage has stalled, setting back the museum opening date with each passing month, said Bryant.
The opening of the shop was designed to kick-start interest in the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Center and thus spur private donations to pay for improvements and exhibits.
The shop will compete with an existing gift shop operated at the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia, at 24th Street and Oceanfront - plus a score of privately run gift and souvenir shops along the resort strip.
Over the last three years the DeWitt cottage has been undergoing a complete makeover, at an estimated cost of $270,000 in cash and in-kind services.
The brick and frame vacation home was built in 1895 by B.P. Holland, the city's first mayor, who sold it in 1906 to Norfolk banker Cornelius DeWitt. The building had fallen into disrepair in the last decade and was placed on sale as commercial property by DeWitt's heirs.
In February 1991, the wildfowl guild won permission from the city to use the old cottage as a museum that would feature artifacts and crafts related to the city's historic bird-hunting tradition.
A deal ensuring the continued presence of the cottage on the resort strip was finalized between the city, the Virginia Beach Foundation and representatives of four sisters - heirs of Cornelius DeWitt - who owned the property.
Terms of the agreement called for the city to provide a yearly annuity for the surviving DeWitt sisters. The Virginia Beach Foundation, an umbrella organization for local cultural, civic and charitable programs, agreed to take title to the property and spearhead renovation work. Once that work is completed, the foundation is to turn over the title of the property to the city.
The city assumes responsibility for the insurance and upkeep of the property thereafter. Part of the agreement called for the Back Bay Wildfowl Guild to use the cottage as a museum and headquarters. The guild promised to help the Virginia Beach Foundation raise funds to fix up the cottage and operate it as a museum. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
Fletcher Bryant plays with a puppet sold at the gift shop of the
Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Center.
by CNB