(rshsdepot) Havelock, NC

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Havelock News.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Depot to be used as railroad museum
 


_By  Corey Friedman_ (mailto:cfriedman_@_freedomenc.com)  
 
January 29, 2008 - 2:59PM
 
Havelock News
 
Trains brought business, tourism and a  Marine Corps air station to Havelock. 
Harold Rawls thinks it’s time this former  railroad town pays homage. 

“Your younger generations go to a movie and  see an old western with trains 
they stoked with wood,” said Rawls, chairman of  the Havelock Historical 
Preservation Society. “They say, ‘Goodness, did they  ever have trains like that?’”
 

Rawls wants to teach youngsters about the  trains they see in the movies and 
showcase Havelock’s history with a railroad  museum planned for the renovated 
Havelock train depot on Miller Boulevard.  

The historical society’s board of directors approved the museum concept  last 
week and decided to use the adjacent historic building, Hugh Trader’s  Store, 
as a companion gift shop. 

Dubbed the Havelock Atlantic and East  Carolina Railroad Museum, the 
attraction would feature displays and artifacts  from the 95-mile railroad that ran 
from Goldsboro to Beaufort. 

Completed  in 1858, the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad linked Havelock 
to other  cities in the region and introduced commerce and tourism to the 
town.  

“The focus will be on Havelock history, but it is Havelock history as it  
relates to the railroad,” said Eddie Ellis, a historical society board member  
and Havelock’s city historian. “Before the base came, that was everything. 
These  are the trains that hauled the stuff to build the base.” 

The railroad  museum could include a full-size locomotive and caboose outside 
the building in  addition to artifacts, maps, photographs, model railroad 
displays and a  children’s train area. 

A meeting room, administrative office for the  Havelock Historical 
Preservation Society and storage space would complete the  train depot, which is roughly 
5,800 square feet. 

Trader’s Store would  serve as the main entrance to the museum site, 
according to a 21-page plan for  the new museum. 

“What we’re doing is trying to bring people out any way  we can,” Rawls 
said. “We’ve got so many new people here who have no idea about  life before the 
base got here.” 

Historical society members are planning  a trip to the railroad museum in 
Wilmington to glean ideas on train museum  exhibits, setup and logistics. 

Havelock’s own monument to locomotive  history could be complete in as soon 
as two years, but much depends on the train  depot restoration project. 

Contractors placed a new metal roof on the  depot and restored the building’s 
exterior with nearly $200,000 in grant money  from the N.C. Department of 
Transportation. Inside the 1940s-era train station,  only the wooden skeletons of 
walls stand ready. 

“The inside is in  shambles right now,” Rawls said. “We’re going to have to 
go in there and think  about what we want to do first.” 

The historical society credits Diane  Miller, Havelock’s city grant manager, 
with securing supplemental DOT funding to  finish the exterior work. Rawls 
said the group will work closely with Miller to  find and apply for more grants 
as a new museum in Havelock begins to take shape.  

Rawls said the historical society is trying to recruit members and  
volunteers to raise money and help out with the interior renovations. He said  
builders, plumbers and electricians could support the project with in-kind  donations 
of free or reduced-cost labor. 

“We’ve got big ideas, but we  don’t have a big pocketbook,” he said. “We 
need volunteers, we need money and we  need members.”




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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1668
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org