Hamlet Depot & Museums will officially open the new Hamlet Visitor’s Center exhibit, “Small Beginnings, Big Dreams,” on the day of the Seaboard Festival, but on Oct. 26, a select few will get the chance to have an exclusive sneak peek of the project.
According to Miranda Chavis, museum manager and downtown coordinator, about 60 tickets remain up for grabs for a special wine tasting fundraiser and preview of the exhibit.
“Right now we have a little over 60 tickets left for people to purchase,” Chavis said. “You will have an opportunity to actually see the exhibit before anybody else does.”
Locklear Farms out of Maxton will be serving locally-produced wine during the event, and visitors can enjoy refreshments while touring the new exhibit.
Tickets are $20 for museum members and $30 for nonmembers.
“You’ll see a special preview before anyone else does, and you’re helping to support a very worthy cause at the same time,” Chavis said. “We’re going to have people there who have been crucial toward the Depot project, and they’ll be coming through seeing everything. We’ll also have new people that have helped me along the way, as well. It’s going to be a wonderful, eclectic mix of old and new. It’s a different side of Hamlet that we haven’t seen before.”
Bobby Moser of Hamlet has served as the “master handyman” of the project, according to Chavis, and has seen much of the exhibit’s progress from beginning to end.
When the building was first chosen for the project, Moser said there was much work to be done. With Chavis’ dedication, along with the help of a team of contractors, foremen and architects, he said the building has come along way.
“We’ve worked on this for two years,” Moser said. “In one aspect, we’ve saved a historic building that’s part of the downtown historic district. We were able to expand our museum display area and have a welcome center where visitors who are coming into town can get information. Downtown Hamlet has come a long way with the restoration of the Depot and the whole of Main Street has really picked up on that theme and carried it on.”
The exhibit preview and wine-tasting fundraiser will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Hamlet Visitor’s Center, located at 12 Main St. in Hamlet.
For more information or to RSVP, call 910-417-7791.
— Staff Writer Mallory Brown can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 18, or by email at mallorybrown@heartlandpublications.com.






















