Highland County Museum Seeking Volunteers

This is Lori Botkin with a Highland County Museum update.

Is Highland County your home? Has your family lived here for generations, or have you just become a member of our mountain community?

Either way, with a bit of training, you can be the one who brings it all to life when a visitor stops by the Highland County Museum in McDowell.

The museum will open for the 2022 season the first weekend of Maple Festival – Saturday, March 12. The museum is open Thursdays thru Saturdays from 11:00 to 4:00.

With a small volunteer pool of 5, more tour guides or what we call docents are needed. Our current volunteer corps consists of Roger Orndorff, Jim Hughes, Ludd and Peggy Creef and Bonnie Baxley. In addition, the Highland Historical Society Board of Directors pitch in by taking volunteer shifts at the museum when needed.

There is so much to learn and experience here. Volunteers invite guests into the museum and make them comfortable during their stay. Visitors can view everything from our brand-new Battle of McDowell orientation center to our Uniquely Highland exhibit on the history of the county, including the film “Tol’able David” made in Blue Grass in 1921.

You don’t have to be a local history expert to volunteer at the museum … all you have to do is open the door. If you can greet guests at the door with a big smile, you could be a good docent. If you are a “people person” who loves meeting new people and having long conversations, you will be a great docent.

If you are a Highland County history buff, we would love to have you here. Many of the people who visit are former residents who want to share their stories. You could be the perfect one to make them feel at home again.

We will be having a volunteer training session at the museum on February 26, at 10:00. Here you will learn all you need to know to be a successful docent. AND you will be the first to see the new exhibits to open this spring. If you have volunteered in the past, I encourage you to come back and be a part of the new and exciting things going on at the museum.

If you love Highland history and want to be a part of preserving her past, attend the session, then you can decide if you’d like to be a volunteer.

If the above dates are not convenient, call Lori Botkin at 396-4478 or email at highlandhist@mgwnet.com. Individual sessions can be arranged.

For more information on the museum and the Highland Historical Society go to www.highlandcountyhistory.com.

This is Lori Botkin with the Highland Historical Society and Allegheny Mountain Radio.