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Pop-up exhibit proves that ‘This Place Matters’

By Tabitha Johnston - Chronicle Staff | May 26, 2023

From right, Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association President Michael Nickerson, Historic Shepherdstown Museum & Archives Committee Chair John Kavaliunas and Shepherdstown resident Ken Lowe talk about local history in Evolve on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The popular Netflix show, “Bridgerton,” features a monarch who, it turns out, bears a notable connection to Shepherdstown. The show’s Queen Charlotte was lightly inspired by Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who married England’s King George III in 1761. In honor of the new queen, Shepherdstown’s founder, Thomas Shepherd named his new town “Mecklenburg” the very next year.

This, and other tidbits of local history are currently on display in Evolve, in a joint pop-up exhibit by the Historic Shepherdstown Museum (HSM), Jefferson County Museum (JCM) and Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association (SBPA).

“What a great idea, to come together like this and have such different things to look at, throughout history,” said Evolve co-owner Jan Hafer, mentioning the exhibit’s idea came from HSM board member Stephanie Unger. “We met and brainstormed together.”

Unger then reached out to the JCM and SBPA President Michael Nickerson with the idea of collaborating together on the pop-up exhibit idea.

“This is the first time we’ve publicly displayed artifacts, and absolutely the first time the rifle that was found in the Potomac River has been displayed. So there’s some firsts happening here!” Nickerson said, noting the SBPA hopes to eventually have a permanent exhibit in town of Civil War items found around the area of the Shepherdstown Battlefield.

Mayor Jim Auxer looks at a display from the Historic Shepherdstown Museum in Evolve on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

On display from the Jefferson County Museum is its exhibit, “Extravagant, Elaborate, Elegant: African American Women’s Church Hats,” which is being phased out of the museum’s permanent location. The church hats on display in the exhibit were donated by Delores Jackson Foster, Nettie Hughes and Gwen Twyman, all African American women from Jefferson County.

Along with the Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz display, HSM also featured a variety of other items of local significance, which could be easily transported from their permanent location in the Entler Hotel, such as an eye manipulator machine and photographs of visits to Shepherdstown by the Kennedys. Other items on display were duplicates, such as of maps from the museum’s newest exhibit, “Great Dreams: Maps of Shepherdstown and Jefferson County from the 17th through the 21st Centuries.” Having these maps and museum artifacts in the pop-up exhibit will hopefully draw more interest toward the organization’s local preservation work, according to Historic Shepherdstown Museum & Archives Committee Chair John Kavaliunas.

“This is just a sample of the maps we currently have in the museum!” Kavaliunas said, before pointing out noteworthy duplicates in the pop-up exhibit. “We have 22 maps, starting with John Smith’s 1607 [map] through a 2022 [map], which is an aerial view of the Shepherdstown Historic District.

“Everybody likes maps!” Kavaliunas said. “One of the displays that we have over at the museum now, is of a 2007 map with an 1885 map. People find it enjoyable, to try to find their houses and then to figure out where it would have been over a century ago. They like to see how the area has changed.”

The free “This Place Matters” exhibit will reopen its doors for one final weekend, this Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Jefferson County Museum's closing exhibit, "Extravagant, Elaborate, Elegant: African American Women's Church Hats," was viewed by a number of people in Evolve last Saturday. Tabitha Johnston