Carver 4-County Museum Inc

Dear Friends:

    Welcome to The Carver Center campus in Rapidan where the Carver 4-County Museum is housed in the original library of the historic George Washington Carver Regional High School (GWCRHS).  We are excited to again participate in GiveLOCAL Piedmont. 

     Before we tell you about the exciting things happening with us, let us first remind you of our mission and values.

    Our mission is to document, celebrate and share the educational, social, cultural and military history and accomplishments of students, faculty and administrators of George Washington Carver Regional High School, the only institution of secondary education that served minority children in the four-county region of Culpeper, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock counties from 1948-1968.

     Our core values are citizenship, stewardship and partnership.

 Our 250th Celebration Began with a 1936 Langston Hughes Poem

We're building on our existing exhibit, Liberty, Labor and Langston, based on the Langston Hughes poem, Let America Be America Again

From our exhibit, "We Declare"

Our main 250th anniversary exhibit is "We Declare," an exploration of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, adopted June 12, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence, adopted 3 weeks later, and our responsibility to be informed citizens in modern America.  One of the special artifacts is an original July 3, 1858 Harper's Weekly newspaper with a reprint of the signed Declaration of Independence.  We surrounded the print with brief biographical sketches and photographs of the Virginia signers (see below in the Media Gallery).  

Also this year we will have a series of traveling exhibits to each of the four counties we represent: Culpeper, Orange, Rappahannock, and Madison.  Titled "On This Land," we trace four sites from the revolutionary period to the present, noting how that land has improved/changed over time.  We found that all roads lead to Carver.  Yes, descendants from each of the four targeted lands were students at the George Washington Carver Regional High School.

Last, 2026 will not be complete without an exploration of civic engagement.  Opening in September, we will highlight Carver's alumni from the classes of 1956 and 1966, showcasing the ways they improved their communities throughout their adult lives.  The exhibit title is "ENGAGE."  We will display and share on social media some special moments as a unifying community experience.  

OUR SUMMARY

     We began 2025 as a new, independent IRS 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation registered in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  We opened in February, 2019, as a program of the George Washington Carver Regional High School Alumni Association (GWCHRSAA) and since then, we have had more than 45 in-museum, virtual, and traveling exhibits.  Our most popular traveling exhibit is "U. S. Colored Troops" in which we research and present African American men born in specific Virginia counties who joined and fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War -- even before most of them could vote.  We are forever grateful to the GWCRHSAA for incubating our efforts.

        Our museum is located in the original library of the school, now called The Carver Center.  We are administered by a 10-member Board of Directors.  Since 2016, they have contracted with a curator who helps to execute our mission through exhibit preparation and marketing.

OUR ADMINISTRATION   

     The members of the museum's governing board are:  Dr. Hortense Hinton-Jackson (President); C. Denise Turner (Vice Chair);  Ruth Irving Carroll (Secretary); Charlotte B. Carpenter (Treasurer); Charles C. Jameson; William H. Lewis; Jane C. Pollard, Brenda Price; Bettie A. Turner; and Marlene G. Ware. 

     Our director-curator is Ms. Terry Miller.  

     We invite you to visit us on our website at http://www.carver4cm.org, email us at carver4cm@gmail.com, and follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Carver4cm.