Museum wins beautification award
An old home with a new look continues to attract the attention of passersby in Grovetown. Now a new sign in front of the 3-year-old business is getting even more recognition.
"It looks nice and they've done a great job," said Paula Dukes, a member of the Columbia County Clean and Beautiful committee and chair of the Point of Pride committee. 'They've done a good job.'
The Grovetown Museum, which includes military displays, a Paul Hamilton Hayne exhibit, old school photographs and other memorabilia from the city's early days, has received Columbia County Clean and Beautiful's quarterly Point of Pride award.
"Actually, it was a surprise to me because I didn't know that was even given out," said Cheryl Carswell, president of the museum's board of directors. City workers maintain the grounds of the museum, cutting the grass at least once a week. According to Wayne Newman, director of the Grovetown Department of Public Works, recreation-department workers maintain the lawn.
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"They were proud" when the learned the museum had received the landscaping award, said Newman of workers Michael Woods, Eddie Jones, David Jenkins, Willie Dorsey and Frazier Houston.
The Grovetown Museum recently was named a Point of Pride location for the beautiful loandscaping.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"We keep them in line with what we want and they do it," added Carswell. "We are careful to instruct the city when we need more flowers and when a flower dies, we have them replace it and they take it out of our budget. They also trim the hedges."
The Point of Pride award program began a few years ago to recognize area businesses for their efforts to make the county more beautiful. Recipients are presented a plaque at a meeting of the Columbia County commissioners and a sign is place in front of the business for three months.
"Everyone who has received this award is so excited," Dukes said. There are two representatives for each county district on the board and the Point of Pride award is rotated throughout the county. The next Point of Pride recipient will be announced later this month.
Carswell is delighted with the museum's newest award and she hopes it will help attract even more attention now that the museum is staffed.
"We previously used volunteers," Carswell said, "but we are now fully staffed and can open the museum from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Fridays and 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays."
A drop-in reception for Columbia County educators will be Aug. 26 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., said Carswell, who hopes the museum will become a place used for field trips and research.
"This is just a great little place to learn more about our forefathers and about the city of Grovetown," Carswell said.