Caldwell

Caldwell County Historical Society
Heritage Museum
The Caldwell County Historical Society Heritage Museum displays and preserves artifacts, records and archival document relating to Caldwell County history. Opened in 1991, the museum maintains six display areas, one temporary display area, nine special collections, a reading room, and a museum store. Items of note pertain to military contributions by Caldwell county citizens, music, and Davenport College, the last building of which now houses the museum.

Fort Defiance
Fort Defiance is not a fort, but the restored 1792 home of Revolutionary War hero and North Carolina Speaker of the House General William Lenoir. It was named for a frontier fort that stood nearby in the mid 18th century. The house contains over 300 original furnishings, textiles and historic household items. Also on the grounds are a smokehouse, reconstructed kitchen, the family cemetery and authentic gardens.

Tuttle Educational State Forest
Tuttle Educational State Forest, part of the Educational State Forest System in the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources, is designed to teach the public about the forest environment. Forest rangers conduct classes and guide tours especially created for schoolchildren to learn more about soil, water, wildlife, timber and forest management. Exhibits, the "talking tree" trail, and forest management demonstration areas help visitors learn more about the forest.

Caldwell Arts Council
The purpose of the Caldwell Arts Council is to establish and maintain an awareness and appreciation of cultural arts in Caldwell County. At the Caldwell Arts Council facility, gallery installations and their accompanying virtual exhibits expose local art to a wide and diverse audience. A permanent collection of outdoor sculpture can be viewed in prominent spaces throughout the county, but particularly around Lenoir.

Caldwell County Public Library
The Local History/North Carolina Room provides to the public genealogy, local history, and North Carolina materials. The collection is comprised of microfilm, county and state records, subject and family vertical files, books on Caldwell County and the immediate area, and realia.

Hudson Depot Museum
The Hudson Depot Museum interprets the history and heritage of the Town of Hudson as well as the history of the Hudson Depot. On exhibit is a restored 1912 Wood-Sided Rear Cupola Caboose furnished with railroad artifacts. The museum is open during special events and by appointment.

Antiquities Vending Company
Soda Machine Museum
Antiquities Vending provides a protective habitat for vintage soda pop machines and glass bottle sodas. This expanding museum has over 1,000 soda machines dating back to the world's first machine and comprising the world's largest collection of antique soda machines. Visitors can browse the museum while listening to their favorite oldies on the jukebox and enjoying a cold glass bottle soda dispensed free from one of the machines on display. Adjoining the museum facility is Club Cola, a banquet hall that can be rented out for parties with all the bottle soda you can drink.

Telephone Pioneers Museum
The Telephone Pioneers Museum is a memorabilia room showcasing the history of the Blue Ridge Telephone Pioneers with scrapbooks of their service activities as well as artifacts relating to the history of the telephone. The museum is open by appointment only.

Chapel of Rest Preservation Society
Chapel of Rest
The Chapel of Rest is a restored Episcopalian Church that belonged to the Patterson School, a boarding and day school for grades seven through twelve. From the opening of Patterson School in 1909, students had vespers and worship services in the Chapel. The Chapel burned in 1916 and was rebuilt in 1917. The Chapel was used until 1921 when the services moved to the Patterson School campus. The Chapel is managed by the Chapel of Rest Preservation Society and is open for special events, daily meditation and weddings.

St. James Episcopal Church
Oertel Art Collection
St. James Episcopal Church, once used as a Confederate prison in 1865, houses an extensive art collection of Johannes A. Oertel, a renowned Christian artist and former rector of the Church. Twenty-three of Oertel's paintings are displayd in the Church and Parish House as well as the alter painting and the hand-carved reredos. The collection is open for viewing by appointment.

Todd's Country Store
Todd's Country Store, which served as the Buffalo Cove post office from 1927 until the 1940's, is full of local history memorabilia including photographs of local families and general store artifacts like the 1927 Meyers Remedy Cabinet.

Wilson Creek Visitor Center
The Wilson Crek Visitor Center gives information on the Wilson Creek Gorge area and has a photograph and artifact collection that tells the story of the town of Mortimer. Mortimer was washed away in a flood in 1916 and then again in 1940 and was not rebuilt. The remains of the old cotton mill and CCC camp are nearby.

Coffey's General Store
Coffey's General Store, opened in the late 1800's has a large collection of antiques and photographs on general store history and local history. The store served as the local post office for many years and visitors can see the old post office window and mailboxes.

Granite Falls History and Transportation Museum
Housed in the historic Andrew Baird House, the museum features more than a century of history in Granite Falls and the development of transportation with many artifacts from the town's past.

The Patterson School Archive
The Patterson School opened with 19 students in 1909 at the former Palmyra Plantation which belonged to Samuel and Mary Patterson. It is now a non-denominational co-ed college prepatory boarding and day school in the Christian tradition serving grades nine through twelve and one year post-graduate.