The Wrightsville Beach Museum of History staff and volunteers kicked off the museum’s 20th anniversary celebrations June 5, by adding lemonade, cookies and 10 rocking chairs to the porch, expanding the outdoor N.C. Skiff Play Area with a lifeguard stand and fossil rock and sprucing up the interior with new artwork.
Those visiting the museum or walking the John Nesbitt Loop this summer may help themselves to the free lemonade and cookies sitting on a wooden shelf on the porch, museum executive director Madeline Flagler said. And while they eat and drink, they can sit in the dark green rocking chairs lining the shaded porch.
On each chair is a small plaque bearing the name of the Wrightsville Beach family or business that sponsored it. Nearly all the individuals sponsored their chair in memory of a family member or friend.
It was museum board chairwoman Lori Rosbrugh’s idea to make the porch improvements, Flagler said. Rosbrugh also created a large wooden chess set for the porch, where it now sits between the rocking chairs. In place of checkers, Rosbrugh used round black and white shells collected from Wrightsville Beach.
The museum obtained one of the town’s former lifeguard stands to install in its sandy play area. On Tuesday afternoon, Flagler was also awaiting the delivery of a batch of fossil rock — the same type used at Wrightsville Beach School — to spread around the play area.
Inside the museum, new paintings of historic Wrightsville Beach locations fill the walls. For the show, “Small Treasures of Old Wrightsville Beach,” Flagler invited 11 artists to paint small-scale pieces based on photographs of some of the island’s most iconic landmarks, like Lumina Pavilion. Unsold work will hang in the museum until Aug. 15.
To further celebrate the island’s history, the museum created two self-guided walking tours — one around the loop and the other between Johnnie Mercer’s Pier and Crystal Pier. The beach strand tour between the piers can also be driven, Flagler said.
Pamphlets available at the museum guide people to various historic sites around the island. A few of the landmarks, like the Marine Corrosion Testing Station of the International Nickel Co. on Banks Chanel at Auditorium Circle and the Causeway, and the Oceanic Hotel, which stood at the current location of Tower 7 Baja Mexican Grill, no longer exist. But the tour also features some of the island’s longest-standing buildings like Roberts Grocery and King Neptune Restaurant.
For more information about the museum, visit wbmuseumofhistory.com
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