Carver 4-County Museum Inc

Have you ever driven on Route 15 to or from Culpeper and noticed a large, red brick building that looks like a school?  The sign in front reads, "The Carver Center."  The building, opened in 1948, is the original George Washington Carver Regional High School, the FIRST and ONLY high school built in Virginia to educate four counties of minority students from 1948 through integration in 1968.  Those counties are Culpeper, Rappahannock, Madison, and Orange.

When you walk inside of that building, to your left is what was once the library.  Now it houses the Carver   4-County Museum Inc.  We are celebrating our 10th year of providing exhibits and programs to the public.  Our organizing meeting occurred in August, 2016 . . . and we are proud to have produced more than 50 in-museum, traveling, virtual, and special event exhibits and displays.  

This year we are a proud partner with VA 250 as we celebrate the anniversary of the signing of  the Declaration of Independence with a special exhibit, "We Declare."  We began in October of last year to compile the best available information about the Virginia Declaration of Rights - developed and signed BEFORE the Declaration of Independence.  The exhibit then traces how the Declaration of Independence came to be, a remarkable feat in the midst of British tyranny.  "We Declare" reminds all of us that natural rights are the source of how we live, govern and treat one another.  

Tying into a theme of active civic engagement, in the fall we will present an exhibit that features members of Carver's graduating classes of 1956 and 1966, asking the question, "How did you engage in your community and its progress in your post-Carver years?"

Last, we will close 2026 with four traveling exhibits, one for each of the counties we serve.  The name of the exhibit is, "On This Land," and traces ownership of specific acreage from the American Revolution through the present.  Amazingly, we found that of the four locations chosen, each led to Carver.  What do we mean?  A descendant became a student at the George Washington Carver Regional High School. 

Visit us on the web at www.carver4cm.org to find out more.  We have LOTS in store . . . including ways we are participating in our partnership with Virginia 250.