Video tour of the Henderson County Heritage Museum

History buffs, local enthusiasts and newcomers alike will be amazed and informed by the amount of local history contained in the Henderson County Heritage Museum.

The museum will feature state of the art multimedia presentations, historically accurate maps and displays depicting different aspects of Henderson County's history.

The museum will rotate exhibits on a six month cycle to keep the information new and fresh for old and new visitors.

The first exhibit opening Friday is titled Let Freedom Ring.

The people of Henderson County, from the Cherokee to early settlers and later residents, left their blood on the fields of every American war, museum director Jennie Jones Giles said.

"This display is to commemorate their service during almost 250 years of armed struggles in which they created, expanded and made safe our land, and strove to free others from oppression," she said.

Multimedia presentations will feature guardians of Henderson County's past such as Frank FitzSimons, Jody Barber, Louise Bailey and George Jones, Giles said. WHKP radio and FitzSimons' family donated audio from the 1950s and 1960s in which he recounted the oral history of Henderson County after the local news broadcast.

The museum also features a gift shop stocked with local heritage books written by local writers.

"We will have as many local heritage books as possible," Giles said. "We will also have gift items with our logo and items to give to school children."

Wilderness days to 1860

The Let Freedom Ring tour begins with Henderson County's history from wilderness days to 1860.

Not only are there historic displays, but Jackson Steel designed and built iron grills to cover the historic glass windows that were in the courthouse before it was renovated.

"We used local businesses and people to join as partners for everything that was built and bought for the museum," Giles said.

In one exception, the museum's display walls were bought and built out of county, simply because no company offered that service locally.

One interesting display tells how Bat Cave, the world's largest granite fissure cave, was used to hide people during the Civil War.

The museum will also focus on the Cherokee Indians who were fighting to keep their land, telling their story in their own words.

"People will see things here they wouldn't see at the Smithsonian or anywhere else," Giles said. "We have one anonymous donor who is loaning the museum original uniforms and weapons from the French and Indian War."

1860 to 1920

The next room visitors can visit highlights Henderson County from 1860 to 1920.

"The Civil War will always be represented in this room even when the exhibits rotate," she said.

The room includes a map that pinpoints where Henderson County soldiers were stationed during the Civil War.

"We will have a World War I exhibit focusing on local guys who served and a special feature on those who died," she said.

There will also be a Window on Main Street room that will feature artifacts from the Shepherd-Drake Store.

"This was the first building in Hendersonville," she said. "It was used for everything. M.M. Shepherd put a store in the building and we have the actual store counter and cash register."

In the 1900s H.E. Drake put his General Store in the same building and it remained there until 1965.

1920 to present

The final room of exhibits will feature 1920 to present day Henderson County .

"World War II will always be in this room," Giles said. "It will expand and shrink depending on the theme."

There will also be exhibits for the Korean War and Vietnam.

"We will have a mounted display of local guys who died in Vietnam," she said.

Also there will be features on Desert Storm and the Iraq Wars.

The multimedia in this room will include Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech after the bombing at Pearl Harbor and audio and video from HonorAir, Henderson County's effort to take all its World War II veterans to see their national memorial in Washington, D.C.

County involvement

Henderson County has provided space and a half cent from its room and board tax to support the Heritage Museum, and has helped with planning.

"We are active on the museum's board of directors," Henderson County Communications Officer Pam Brice said. "In fact, our County Commission Chairman Bill Moyer sits on that board."

Brice said the county has provided the museum with a beautiful space to call come.

"County tax dollars were used to pay for the renovations here at the Historic Courthouse, and we have offered the museum space here to operate, free of charge."

A percentage of the room occupancy tax that is collected goes directly to fund the operation of the museum, she said.

The half cent tax should generate $15,000 to $20,000 per year for the museum, Brice said.

The county is marketing the museum through its Travel and Tourism office.

"We have 90,000 visitors per year visiting our beautiful county and we are letting those visitors know about our history and our new museum," she said.