THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607210077
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 90 lines
Museum of the Albemarle director Rhonda Tyson is making the rounds - civic groups, governing bodies, clubs, anybody - to see what they think of the design plans for the new museum.
At the same time, she says, she is becoming acquainted with the history of the Albemarle.
Everywhere Tyson goes, she carries with her a color rendition of the proposed 50,000 square-foot museum, which is more than five times the size of the current museum. Designed with a southern flavor, the building will feature a large front porch enclosed in lattice work and a tower that rises above the main building reminiscent of Outer Banks lifesaving stations.
``We're not saying it has to be like this,'' said Tyson, sitting in her office at the current museum on U.S. Route 17 South. ``Now's the time for people to tell us what they think. So far, though, everyone has liked it.''
The new museum will sit on the south corner of Water and Ehringhaus streets where Davenport Motors used to be. The three-story structure will greatly expand exhibit space and collection storage area. It will have classrooms and an auditorium.
Tyson said thatif the state legislature appropriates $8.3 million next year for the museum as expected, it will open to the public in three or four years.
``Usually the state pays for bricks and mortar, and special considerations come from private sources,'' said Tyson.
The special considerations part is Bob Carson's concern. Carson is the chairman of the fund-raising committee for the museum's board of trustees.
``For the state to take us seriously, we'll have to raise $1 million, at least,'' said Carson. ``We'll soon be starting our capital campaign.
``It's been a pretty long project,'' Carson continued. ``The wheels of state and federal government turn at about the same speed. All you can do is throw your cap in the ring.''
Carson and the rest of the trustees have been keeping their cap in the ring for years. In 1988, Barbara Taylor, the MOA director at the time, announced plans for a museum. There was cautious optimism of having a new building within a couple of years. The city donated a large parking lot on the corner of Water and Church streets. But state tax revenues fell short and the money never made it this far east. The state eventually rejected the city's land offer anyway.
The piece sits in a low-lying area that floods whenever it rains.
``The funding delay probably worked to our advantage,'' said Carson. ``We're going to have a prettier piece of property and a prettier building.''
The Museum of the Albemarle first opened in 1967. After years of lobbying and local fund raising by the Pasquotank Historical Society and the Elizabeth City Chamber of Commerce, the state added $43,000 in 1965. It took two years to enlarge and refurbish what was the old Highway Patrol building. The MOA became the first branch of the North Carolina Museum of History in 1979.
Thirty years later, that building is too small. Collections sit cramped on shelves and on the floor of a tiny back room. Some larger pieces such as a shad boat and an antique building have remained outdoors. There is not enough exhibit space to display many important artifacts.
This is the second time Tyson has been a part of museum construction during her 20-year career. She supervised construction of 35,000 square feet of exhibit space for the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, completed in April 1994. She was head of the exhibit design branch there for nearly 10 years before coming here last November.
``It was really exciting to see a whole lot of people pushing toward a common goal,'' said Tyson. ``After it was over I started casting about for the next big project.''
When former MOA director Wesley Creel told Raleigh he was taking a job as a museum director in Florida, Tyson saw ``the next big project.''
``I wondered why I had taken three vacations to this area,'' said Tyson. She would normally have gone to Wilmington where she was exhibit designer for the Cape Fear Museum for eight years. ``I love Wilmington.''
She has taken to this area for much the same reasons she did Wilmington.
``I really love an area where agriculture and the water come together,'' she said. ``I just love the hospitality here. People have been very kind. I visit with people here, and they tell me about their lives. They share their treasures with me, the things that are closest to them.''
To get more input from the natives, the staff plans to hold panel discussions with locals in October and November.
``We want to collect very carefully,'' said Tyson. ``We don't want 40 of the same thing. For example, we want to pick the one tractor for this area that everyone used. You tell us what our tractor collection needs to be.''
When the new Museum of History in Raleigh opened, the number of visitors increased from 100,000 a year to 300,000 a year. Tyson expects the same effect here. Last year, about 10,000 people visited the Museum of the Albemarle. She forsees surpassing 30,000 visitors a year at the new museum.
``Museums are a way of honoring your ancestors,'' said Tyson. ``At the same time you've got the future by educating your children. It's a way for tourists to identify where they are, and they understand why it is the way it is.'' ILLUSTRATION: JEFFREY S. HAMPTON color photo
Museum of the Albemarle director Rhonda Tyson holds an artist's
rendering of the 50,000-square-foot new building, which would
replace the museum's current cramped quarters. by CNB