Mount Airy Museum Of Regional History is movin’ on up — to its third floor, where a series of new exhibits is scheduled to open next month.

Included will be displays dedicated to the manufacturing and agricultural heritage of the area, along with the medical field, and a section on local musical figures that will feature a new exhibit highlighting the career of singer Donna Fargo.

Another attraction there will be a children’s gallery where kids can experience history hands-on through dressing in vintage clothing and other activities.

Meanwhile, space also will be reserved on the third floor for traveling exhibits, including an upcoming display of NASCAR memorabilia and a roots music exhibit by the Smithsonian Institution coming in March.

“It has been an incredibly big undertaking,” Candace Sammons, chairman of the museum’s board of directors and acting director of the downtown facility since March, said of the third-floor addition. “We have a basement and two floors open already.”

Planning for the third-floor expansion has been under way for several years, according to Amy Snyder, who has served as the museum’s curator of collections for 13 years. “We did fund-raising to complete it,” Snyder said.

Museum officials are busy assembling all the exhibits so the floor can be open to the public for a grand opening scheduled the last weekend in October, on Oct. 29-31, after a local highway dedication occurs for Fargo. N.C. 103 will be named in the singer’s honor on Oct. 29 during a ceremony downtown.

A sweepstakes drawing will be part of the third-floor grand opening, Sammons said. “It’s going to be a really big event and we’re looking forward to it,” she added.

Meticulous Layout

The exhibits on the upper level will conform to a carefully planned layout that has been practiced throughout the entire building to tell the history of the Foothills. “We try to go chronologically,” Snyder said of the various exhibits. “Our museum is a trip through time — so each floor is a different time period.”

For example, the lower sections of the facility focus on natural history and the Indians who first occupied this area, along with early settlers. The chronology progresses with such displays as a log cabin and an old-time general store, detailing the region’s evolution toward modern times.

The third floor of the museum, which contains 8,000 square feet, will continue the process by focusing on the industrial development of the area — specifically its textile and furniture manufacturing.

Companies such as Spencer’s Inc. have donated old machinery to display, and Sammons said furniture made in Mount Airy also will be highlighted.

The third floor additionally will detail the local farming tradition, basically telling the story of how tobacco — long the area’s chief cash crop — has branched off into viticulture in recent years. An old tobacco barn has been provided by museum contributor Brad Mosley, which came from a family farm. Other old equipment such as a tobacco transplanter and an apple press will be included on the floor as well.

Plans call for another section of the third level to deal with the area’s medical history, including local hospital operations, Martin Memorial School of Nursing, the health department, the Red Cross, country doctors and midwives. Vintage medical equipment and photographs of prominent local physicians are among the items planned for that exhibit.

A corner on the third floor will recreate the office of W.E. Merritt, whose hardware store once occupied the museum building along with Thompson Furniture. Many of Merritt’s old records still exist.

Also, musical exhibits that are now on lower floors will be consolidated on the third level in conjunction with the new display highlighting the career of Donna Fargo, to include costumes Fargo wore onstage which she has donated to the museum. Legendary fiddler Tommy Jarrell also will be featured along with radio station WPAQ.

As is the case with other parts of the museum, old photographs will play a key role in depicting the local history detailed on the third floor.

Children’s Gallery

A special addition to the upper floor, a children’s gallery, will enable young museum visitors to have fun with history.

“The point of the children’s gallery is to research the things they’ve learned about in the museum that they haven’t been able to touch,” Snyder explained.

For example, an “imagination station” will enable kids to dress up in period clothing, such as colonial garb, with a stage available for plays or puppet shows — all designed to bring history lessons alive.

A large mural of a nature scene is located near the section reserved for children. The mural that depicts deer, birds and other wildlife native to the area was designed and painted by Celeste Springthorpe Tsaklis.

Other sections of the third floor will pay homage to the automobile, including a large collection of model cars representing vehicles of all eras which was donated by John Canosa, and two model-T Fords contributed by Bobby Harold.

“So we’re going to have a pretty full third floor,” Sammons said, adding that its opening will represent a major milestone for the museum.

“I think it will be awhile before we want to undertake another expansion.”

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.