Historic Groundbreaking The Folly Beach History Museum is one step closer to becoming a reality

by Jenny Peterson | Current Staff Writer

The City of Folly Beach is one step closer to expanding the Folly Beach History Museum at the Community Center, which displays the history of Folly Beach with artifacts, photographs, and documents.

The Folly Beach Historical Society announced that a contract for construction to expand the museum at the community center has been awarded and stakeholders are now researching how the items will be displayed and looking into grant money and coordinating tax-deductible donations. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Folly Beach Community Center, located at 55 Center St.

Currently, a small exhibit displays Folly Beach history with photographs, posters and artifacts. With the expansion, rotating exhibits would highlight different aspects of Folly Beach history. The historical society hopes to digitize each item for worldwide access online anytime.

“We are dedicated to collecting, preserving and displaying the rich history of Folly Beach and are always looking for artifacts, photographs, documents and other items to add to our archives. Please let us know if you have something to share or know of someone who does,” the society posted on its website. “We are also looking for folks who have lived on, worked on, or visited Folly who would like to tell their ‘Folly Beach Story’ on video.”

“If we don’t know our history, we’ll continue to make the same mistakes over and over and over again,” said City of Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin at the groundbreaking. “We want to make sure everyone remembers the things that happen.”

Volunteers are needed on several committees, including a fundraising committee and an acquisitions committee to help coordinate items that are donated or loaned to the museum and reach out to businesses about donating old artifacts including menus, stickers and more. Volunteers are also needed for the Folly Stories committee to do interviews, suggest people to be interviewed and edit and upload interviews to the society’s website.

“Thank you to all who have participated. And to everyone who’s made contributions to the museum,” said Goodwin.

Special thanks was given to those who have spearheaded the history museum’s expansion thus far: Richard Beck, Carol Linville, John McFarland, Mary Catoe, Tim McKevlin, Kia Hunter (museum management specialist), Jennifer Gruber (museum design and media specialist) and Amy Stockwell (PR specialist), Katherine Houghton (City Council), and Charlotte Goodwin.

“Come on back in July and enjoy it,” said Regina Anderson, a Folly Beach Historical Society board member and a driving force behind the museum.

To learn more or volunteer or donate, visit www.follybeachhistory.org or email FollyHistory@gmail.com.