Bruce Daws, curator and historian at the Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum located in Downtown Fayetteville enjoys every aspect of his profession, but the most significant part to him was acquiring artifacts.
The museum was originally a railroad depot from the nineteenth century, then known as, The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railways.
On May 26, 2006, after a delicate architectural restoration project involving Daws, the Museum opened its doors to showcase local History.
Daws and his staff put together all the exhibits, and serviced thousands of visitors throughout the year.
Mr. Daws said, "This museum started as really a concept. It was a dilapidated building in the historic district that was primarily a warehouse."
"An opportunity came along through the State of NC transportation agency, Daws continued, "They had what they call a T21 grant; we applied for it, which allowed us to restore the building and redesigned it into a museum, so it went from just a concept to what it is today."
Bruce Daws
Fayetteville NC
photo by Sharon Matthias
"The Cape Fear River is critical because Wilmington goods coming from Europe and Northern ports would sail in and come up the Cape Fear River," said Daws. "These were products that we could not produce here; they would offload here, making Fayetteville a trade center, and other communities will come from long distances into Fayetteville to pick up merchandise."
Farmers filled their horse-drawn drays, buckboards, and wagons with agriculture products and materials like soya beans, lumber, pitch, tar turpentine cotton, and tobacco to take to the port center to trade, buy and sell, which was transported by river down to Wilmington to Navel stores, hides, Northern ports, and Europe, said Mr. Daws.
Additionally, photographs of riverboat passengers, cargos, and by-products were also on display. On the Water transport exhibit's, right, were two walls and glass cases filled with pictures and registered documents of African American scholars, professionals, and other prominent leaders' contributions to Fayetteville.
According to the museum's data, by 1890, the cargo trains replaced the steamships, stagecoaches brought affluent passengers to conduct businesses in the colonial's city. And the museum's interpretations, replicated that era back to reality for visitors on the second floor.
On both floors, the building's high ceilings and archways led to corners and corridors with a mixture of natural and artificial lightings. Each wall displayed art that held information and value. The artifacts and photos pulled curious minds into them, possibly, to get a closer look at eyes or faces of WWI and WWII Soldiers they never knew, yet can't help but accept, it could be them someday.
Mr. Daws, his four staffers, and volunteers did not only work on the restoration of the museum, but they also created the storylines and acquired the artifacts.
"One of the things we pride ourselves here is rotating the exhibits ... we like to do that so people can continue to come back, and when they do, they will see something different," said Daws. "We span all aspects of local history, and Fayetteville is a colonial port city which started before the American Revolution, so we certainly have a lot of material to draw from."
Daws' passion for his profession in Fayetteville's History was evident in his work at the museum. The 15 years of service sharpened his knowledge of artifacts collection, conservation and preservation, research, interpretation writing, and presentation details.
But when asked where he got his satisfaction as Fayetteville’s Historian, Daws said, "Different museum professionals have different things they gravitate to, and they enjoy, like people who work at the federal level and much higher levels like a specialist in X files and a presenter, ... I do everything." Daws continued, "I certainly enjoy all aspects of the work, but the greatest satisfaction is in acquiring artifact through different ways, putting Fayetteville History into a permanent institution, and safeguarding it which can be enjoyed by generations to come."
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