A large crowd of citizens and local officials turned out to celebrate the milestone of the reopening of the Gibson Depot Museum with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Stephanie Walcott | The Laurinburg Exchange
In the renovated Gibson Depot Museum, there is a room dedicated to military history, displays of old clocks and farm implements, work by local artists, videos of town residents talking about Gibson’s history and much more.
Stephanie Walcott | The Laurinburg Exchange
GIBSON — A long-anticipated project came into fruition Saturday with the grand reopening of the Gibson Depot Museum.
A large crowd of citizens and local officials turned out to celebrate the milestone with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Gary Gallman of WLNC was the emcee and State Rep. Rev. Garland Pierce delivered the invocation at the event. Remarks were made by Scotland County Commissioner Darryl “BJ” Gibson, Gibson Town Council members Margie Whitlock and Ronnie Hudson, Gibson Town Administrator Peggy Smith, volunteer and museum committee member Vickie Leech, and Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce Chris English.
Mayor Archie Herring was unable to attend but left some remarks to be shared.
All the speakers thanked volunteers Vickie and Greg Leech, Dennis Wright, Connie Cooper, Peggy Smith and many more who worked tirelessly to revitalize the space. Hudson reminded the crowd that the museum was opened to the town because volunteers made it happen.
“We held a couple of cruise-ins to buy cabinets and repair the air conditioning at no cost to the town,” Hudson said.
After all the speeches, the ribbon was cut, and the crowd flowed through for a peek at the newly refurbished space.
In the renovated museum, there is a room dedicated to military history, displays of old clocks and farm implements, work by local artists, videos of town residents talking about Gibson’s history and much more. Judging by the “oohs” and “aahs” and lively chatter, the volunteers were successful in their endeavors.
“This really brings back some memories,” said former Gibson Mayor and Postmaster Sadie Odom. “It makes me shed a few tears. I’m so proud to see something I thought was a thing of the past come back to life. They did a fantastic job!”
The idea for the museum was conceived in 2013, and it briefly opened in August 2016, but there were never enough volunteers to keep it open, according to Vickie Leech. Over the next several years it succumbed to dust and disarray until Smith and Leech got involved. The two women say when they got a glimpse inside the depot, they knew this was a project that had to be revived.
Smith said she immediately thought to herself, “Why is this place not open to the public? This should be shared with the public.”
Vickie Leech said she agreed when Smith showed the former depot to her.
“There’s a lot of history in here. This needs to be enjoyed and remembered by people,” Vickie Leech said.
Smith and Vickie Leech made a list of things that needed to happen to reopen the museum and got to work. Others joined them as they toiled through the summer cleaning and organizing to make the museum a reality.
Dennis Wright lent his talents to do video interviews with Gibson residents, and he also made the new sign.
For now, the museum, located at 13640 Oil Mill Road in Gibson, will be open on Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.