CULLMAN, Ala.- The Cullman County Museum’s doors might be closed at the moment, but the museum director Drew Green invites everyone to join him on Facebook for Stories from the Museum. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Green selects an interesting object found at the museum and tells its story and its importance in the history of Cullman County.
Green is hoping everyone enjoys his Stories from the Museum videos during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was doing them every day and then when I realized this was probably going to be longer than a month,” Green said. “I’m spacing it out and doing it every other day. I am still posting the regular historical photos, and then we are also sharing items we have for sale in the gift shop because we can mail those without having any contact with people.”
The museum has always worked with the area homeschoolers, but with the public and private school students at home, Green is trying to help everyone with his fun history lessons.
“We are in this organization, The American Alliance of Museums, and its museums from all over the country,” he said. “It’s small ones like we are and big ones like The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City). They have a daily dispatch, they call it ‘Dispatch from the Museums,’ and it’s all the people sharing ideas about how they are staying relevant. That’s where I got the idea.”
Green’s favorite video he has done so far is on the topic of the Native Americans, Cherokees, and “the three sisters.” Other topics he has covered are Big Jim Folsom’s shoes, stereoscopes, the Civil War and Colonel Cullmann.
The American Alliance of Museums has encouraged its members to use the hashtag #virtualmuseumtours. This helps people find and join in on the fun stories from museums around the country.
April would normally be a very busy time for the Cullman County Museum.
Green explained, “This is when a lot of the ‘snowbirds’ in Florida usually head back home. We get a lot of visitors stopping by on their way back home.”
The Alabama Department of Tourism’s April Walking Tours are another big draw for the museum, and those walks have been canceled for 2020.
Said Green, “We’ve really been growing it and it’s been really successful, but they had to cancel it this year because of the social distancing.”
Green said there are a few ideas he is considering for possible virtual walking tours in the near future.
Green welcomes your suggestions and topic ideas.
“If someone is studying something or they know of something we have, and they are interested, I will be glad to do that,” he said.
Send suggestions to cullmanmuseum@gmail.com or call Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.- 4p.m., 256-739-1258.
He added, “For any students or teachers, any way we can help them get through this, we will try.”
Follow the Cullman County Museum on Facebook to see previous videos and to make sure you catch the new ones.
Green said, “We are hanging in there and we’re waiting for this journey to be over and looking for brighter days. In a few of my videos, I say, ‘When you can come back to the museum.’ I’m trying to do teasers. I’m trying to think of things that are interesting and also educational for the kids that are using it for school. Also, to kind of keep people’s interest in the museum and create an anticipation of our reopening and a desire to come and see what we have in person.”
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