Ground broken for $65M Civil War history center in Fayetteville

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Ground broken for $65M Civil War history center in Fayetteville

By Paul Woolverton
Staff writer

Ground was ceremonially broken in Fayetteville on Wednesday for a $65 million museum complex dedicated to the Civil War era, the most divided period in American history.

Participants at the event said they hope the complex will be an educational resource and help heal racial and cultural divides that persist in the United States more than 150 years after the war ended.

The North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center is to be built next to the remnants of a Confederate Army arsenal on Arsenal Avenue on Haymount Hill. So far, organizers have obtained $27 million in government commitments and private donations to pay for it. They plan to ask the state, which has contributed $5 million, for another $25 million.

Backers say the history center will be a nexus of knowledge about the 1861 to 1865 failed rebellion of the Southern states. And it will cover the Reconstruction Era, a difficult period immediately after the war when the United States government brought the former Confederate states back into the union and approximately 4 million newly freed slaves into American citizenship and society.

The first phase involves rehabilitating and moving three historic buildings on the property to form a “village,” said Mac Healy, the president of the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Foundation.

One will be a support center, and one will be a digital education center for distance learning, Healy said. The third will be a center for the study of the Civil War and Reconstruction period, Healy said, run in partnership with Fayetteville State, UNC Pembroke and UNC Wilmington.

Organizers hope the second phase, which is to include a 60,000-square-foot museum building, can start construction in 2020 and open a few years after. The new museum building will replace the Museum of the Cape Fear, a small history museum on the site that opened in 1987.

Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at [email protected] and 486-3512.

Excerpts from article here - http://www.fayobserver.com/news/201...-65m-civil-war-history-center-in-fayetteville

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
I saw that announcement somewhere else yesterday. Outstanding. Museums are becoming more important for educational reasons too. History classes in public and private schools take field trips to museums. Books,movies and videos have their place but the subject comes alive when your eyes are feet/inches away from actual artifacts and relics.
 
There are 1 or 2 others on this board that may or may not agree but this would be a GOOD reason to go back to 'Fayette-nam...'

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Cost estimates for Civil War history center under review
By Steve DeVane
Staff writer
Posted Nov 25, 2018 at 1:31 PM

Supporters of a proposed Civil War history center are working to raise money as they consider the possibility that the project could cost more than expected.

About $27 million in gifts and pledges has been raised for the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center, which is estimated to cost $65 million, according to David Winslow, senior consultant on the project. That total includes $5 million from the state, which has provided $2.5 million as a grant and $2.5 million to match private donations.

Full article can be found here - https://www.fayobserver.com/news/20181125/cost-estimates-for-civil-war-history-center-under-review
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Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
I wish them luck. Museums are generally money losing operations that rely on volunteers and donations to sustain themselves.
 
I wonder what similar history museums already exist in that part of NC?

Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation

82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex

The Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum

Airborne Special Forces Museum

The North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center

John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum

Raeford Hoke Museum

The North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center

Battlefield Museum

African American History Museum

Averasboro Battlefield and Museum

General William C Lee Airborne Museum

National Railroad Museum

...to list a few...
372

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Cyclorama painting valued at $6.5M donated to Civil War center
By John Henderson
Staff writer
Posted Jun 8, 2019 at 3:00 PM

A “cyclorama” painting depicting Pickett’s charge at the Battle of Gettysburg that was appraised at $6.5 million has been donated to the foundation trying to secure funding to build a Civil War history center in Fayetteville.

The foundation trying to develop the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center has agreed to pay $250,000 for the painting to the latest owners, Billy Ray Powell of Fuquay-Varina and two other collectors. In 2007, they purchased it from Wake Forest University for an undisclosed amount.

The foundation that is trying to raise money for the project on Arsenal Avenue on Haymount Hill says the donation will release more than $1.8 million in state grant money for the center that could not be released until a cash or in-kind match was made.

Full article can be found here - https://www.fayobserver.com/news/20...ing-valued-at-65m-donated-to-civil-war-center
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Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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