Timeless Tales, Local Treasures
From pioneer days to present, our exhibits bring Ashe County’s history home.
The Virginia Creeper Railroad
One of our most popular exhibits, the Virginia Creeper, features a 30′ long HO Scale diorama of Tuckerdale, Lansing, West Jefferson, and Todd.
This amazing exhibit pays homage to the Virginia Carolina branch of the Norfolk and Western Railway that ran between Abingdon, Virginia, and Todd, North Carolina. The real Virginia Creeper train served Ashe County until 1977.
Volunteers spent over 6,000 hours working on this diorama at the museum and included an impressive amount of historical detail. Ashe County communities included in the display include the railroad hubs of Tuckerdale, Lansing, West Jefferson, and Todd. Aside from the diorama, there are also many other artifacts in the Virginia Creeper exhibit, ranging from date nails to a beautiful bronze engine bell. Visitors to this exhibit are encouraged to blow the train whistle!
Veterans Hall of Honor
The museum's Veteran's Hall of Honor is a space set aside to honor and memorialize men and women from Ashe County who have served their country in uniform. It features displays, photographs, and artifacts from our nation's various wars, as well as stories from Ashe County's veterans. The Veterans Hall of Honors helps ensure that the sacrifices made by Ashe Countians during times of war are never forgotten.
Music and Moonshining
This exhibit is set aside to recognize Ashe County's deeply rooted musical heritage. It includes displays about notable local musicians, including old-time recording artist Henry Whitter, who is known for his early recording of several classic tunes such as "Wreck on the Southern Old 97," "Tom Dooley," and "She's Coming Around the Mountain"; local gospel pickers E.C. and Orna Ball; and banjo picker Jack Reedy. This exhibit features artifacts such as Henry Whitter's Martin guitar, records from Jack Reedy, and Orna Ball's accordion.
This room also features a life-sized diorama of a mid-twentieth-century moonshine operation, which includes a real copper pot still that was confiscated by the Ashe County Sheriff’s Department, mash barrels, a rabbit box trap, and part of a 1939 Chevrolet "bootlegger's car."
This exhibit is part of the North Carolina Moonshine and Motorsports Cultural Trail.
Native Americans
This display includes many artifacts left behind by the indigenous people who called Ashe County home centuries before the first European settlers made their way into the region. These items include projectile points, axe heads, banner stones, and pieces of reconstructed pottery discovered in Ashe County and the surrounding region. These artifacts provide us great insight into the people who inhabited this land before us.
Commerce and Community: General Store in Ashe County
Commerce & Community touches on the history of general stores in Ashe County and the impact they had on the communities that they served. Within this mock-up of an old country store, visitors will find a collection of artifacts ranging from 19th-century store ledgers to the post office box from Ashe County’s Husk community. The exhibit also showcases several goods that were produced here in Ashe County, such as green beans, tobacco, cheese and dairy, and Dr. Pepper products. Visitors to this exhibit will get a sense of the important role general stores played in the social and cultural fabric of rural Appalachian life.
Ashe County's Timber Industry
Ashe County was once home to massive stands of virgin timber, including chestnuts, oaks, and maples. Around the turn of the 20th century, these vast stands of timber drew the attention of northern timber barons who were looking for new timber to harvest for the northern industrial machine.
The problem these businessmen had to solve, however, was how to get the giant logs out of remote Ashe County. Their answer? Bring the railroad to the trees. Ashe County’s mighty forests were thus the impetus for the train coming into the county. The new railroad and timber industry created a short-lived economic boom in the county from about 1910 to 1930. Once the old-growth timber was cut, however, the timber industry quickly started to wane.
This exhibit remembers those early days of the timber industry.
Education in Ashe County
The museum’s Education in Ashe County exhibit follows the history of Ashe County’s school system from the days of one-room schoolhouses through consolidation and into the modern era. Inside this recreation of a one-room schoolhouse, visitors will find displays about Ashe County’s leaders in education, historic photos of the county’s various schoolhouses, and classroom artifacts spanning across the two centuries.
In order to get a better feel for what it was like to attend class in an early 1900s mountain classroom, children are invited to take a seat at the antique school desk, ring the school bell, and write on the chalkboard.
Local Furniture and Craftsmanship
In Ashe County’s earliest years, and due to its relative isolation in the Southern Appalachian mountains, it was difficult to import large, heavy items from “off the mountain” (at least until the railroad came to town).
As a result, many Ashe County industries developed to help fill the needs for specific products. One of those industries was the furniture industry. As people built their farms and became more prosperous, they started wanting better and larger furniture, everything from bureaus to buffets to wardrobes. As a result, a thriving homegrown furniture industry started to develop in the county to fulfill this need.
The museum's Bare Room showcases some of the furniture that was produced in Ashe County over the years.
1904 Courtroom
The historic 1904 courtroom served as Ashe County's house of justice from 1904 until the early 2000s. Notable trials that took place here include the trial of Will Banks and the Ore Knob Copper Mine Murder Trial.
The courtroom also served as a community auditorium. The room hosted school events, box supper luncheons, political rallies, and live entertainment. From the 1930s and the 1960s, country musical acts performed, including The Carter Family, DeFord Bailey, Uncle Dave Macon, Earl Scruggs, and Bill Monroe.
Today this historic space is used to host educational lectures, musical performances, and other events. Interested in using this space for an event? Give us a call at (336) 846-1904.
(Please note that at this time the courtroom is only accessible by stairs. During special events, arrangements will be made to livestream events to a television on the first floor.)
Ashe County Victory Garden
With European farms devastated during WWI, the U.S. was called on to supply food. Before entering the war in 1917, the National War Garden Commission encouraged Americans to grow their own produce so surplus could go overseas—sparking the "Victory Garden" movement. These gardens surged again in WWII, helping prevent food shortages. By 1944, over 20 million gardens produced 40% of the nation’s vegetables—making it the most successful local food effort in U.S. history.
In places like Ashe County, self-sufficiency wasn’t new—but it became a patriotic duty.
This annual living exhibit features mountain apples and heirloom Ashe County vegetables like pimento peppers, "Big Red" tomatoes, and pole beans. Seeds are saved each year and shared through the public library's seed catalog and local farmers market swaps.
The Victory Garden is maintained by Cooperative Extension and Ashe County Extension Master Gardener Volunteers in partnership with the Museum of Ashe County History.
The Ore Knob Copper Mine
Stepping through the door of what used to be the Register of Deeds vault transports the visitor into the historic Ore Knob Copper Mine. The life-sized diorama includes a 19th-century miner (pictured above) as well as a 20th-century miner drilling to place dynamite. Artifacts from the mine include hard hats, a dynamite blasting box, an unusual ore cart, and more!
An HO Scale diorama built from an original diagram depicts the mining operation as it was in the late 19th century when it was the largest copper mine in the United States.
Ashe County's First Century
The museum's Worth Room, which previously was home to the Ashe County Register of Deeds, is dedicated to telling the story of European settlement and early Ashe County life. This exhibit explores the lives of settlers in Ashe County, from the long hunters of the 18th century to Ashe County’s 19th-century elite.
Some of the artifacts found in this exhibit include a beautiful 19th-century carriage, iron bloomery tools, 19th-century spinning wheels and textiles, and an 1856 square grand piano belonging to the Worth family.
A Home Away from Home: Recreation and Tourism in Ashe County
This exhibit takes a look at the history of Ashe County's tourism industry and the creation of some of its most notable recreational opportunities.
"A Home Away from Home" includes displays about Ashe County's historic inns, resorts, hotels, and restaurants. This exhibit also explores the positive and negative effects that tourism has had on local residents, such as the construction of the famed Blue Ridge Parkway, the New River Dam controversy, and the use of "hillbilly" imagery to promote tourism in western North Carolina. Artifacts found in this exhibit include scores of historic postcards, items from the Civilian Conservation Corps, and original bottles from both Healing Springs and Shatley Springs.
Note: This exhibit is currently still under construction but is expected to be open by the fall of 2025.