On the heels of a grant awarded to the county for the historic courthouse, the Clay County Museum receiving $93,000 to help with its operations.
Museum Board President Beverly Hollifield said the largest projects the board plans on completing with the grant include a covered ramp going from one building to the other. The board also want to enclose the pavilion, allowing many of the bigger artifacts to be displayed.
“We have quite a few farm instruments here inside the museum, but we want to be able to put them out and display them,” Hollifield said. “We have a handmade tractor, we have a double barrel corn chucker, we have a lot of the tools farmers used that will now be able to display on the wall so that people will be able to have a true appreciation for everything. And they’ll be protected.”
Hollifield said this grant will enable the museum to do things that will bring in people to see its artifacts. Hollifield said many projects the museum will focus on involve improving quality of experience for individuals with disabilities and children.
“Its a place to learn and a place to grow,” Hollifield said. “And a place to look at what history has done, what the people have accomplished.”
Hollifield said they also hope to install a small porch with rocking chairs, a barrel and a chess board. Hollifield said the grant helped install handicapped stalls in the bathrooms and make the bathrooms more accessible to guests over 55.
“If we make it easy and accessible to them with the handicapped bathroom that we now have, and the ramp that we now have for them now to be able to come in,” Hollifield said. “They will come and we will have activities here now that we are beginning to be able to expand and be able display things in a way that people can better appreciate.”
Hollifield said she hopes to teach children about Clay County. Hollifield said she hopes to have things in the museum to teach people basic crafts like quilting. Hollifield said children can come create bat boxes and help better their environmental understanding of animals.
“It lets the community, and the youth in the community, know it may be a small community, but it does not put boundaries on where you can go and what you can accomplish,” Hollifield said.
