Clarksville, TN – For nearly 40 years, the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center has established a record of bringing high-quality exhibits and programs to the area, providing meaningful engagement not only to its members but to over 30,000 visitors per year.
Thanks to a generous Google Data Center Community Grant, the Museum is thrilled to present a powerful educational series in two distinct but closely connected exhibition phases.
Phase 1, opening February 8th, 2024, is titled From Here To There: How Do We Move Things on Land, Sea, and Air? This exhibit is all about the exciting world of movement, including how physics and science are applied to everyday life in terms of transportation and logistics.
Through 11 hands-on interactive exhibit stations that include a hovercraft chair, an interactive canal lock system, pneumatic air tubes, pulleys, levers and hydraulics, visitors will discover more about the methods of how we get from here to there.
From Here To There was developed by the Sciencenter, the Rochester Museum and Science Center and TEAMS Collaborative, and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Phase 2 is the exhibit Water/Ways, which opens late November 2024. This exhibit dives into an essential factor of life on our planet: water. Water/Ways takes a deep look at this essential component of life on our planet, which powers the environment’s engine, impacts climate and helps shape and sculpt the landscape.
With compelling text, imagery, interactives and videos, Water/Ways reveals the central nature of water in our lives by exploring a number of important questions. Water/Ways is part of the Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide.
“The Customs House Museum sparks curiosity and encourages life-long learning,” said Amber Tillman, Head of Data Center Economic and Community Development from Google. “Google is thrilled to support these two exhibits that will inspire visitors, young and old, to think critically about the world we live in and how it works.”
Museum Executive Director Frank Lott added, “The themes of these two exhibits are great fit for our audiences. Clarksville is a “river town” in the truest sense of the moniker. Located at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers, we are an intermodal community with direct links to navigable rivers, railroads, interstate highways and airways.
The opportunity to bring high-quality traveling exhibits to the Museum greatly depends on grants like this. Now, as a Google Data Center community, we are very grateful to Google for funding these outstanding projects.”
Additional special programming activities will be developed and presented to augment the exhibit content. Some of these activities will be provided as digital, online learning opportunities. According to the Stephanie Stafford, the Museum’s Curator of Education, “School tours, workshops and content that matches teacher curriculums will be coordinated with the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, private academies and home school educators.
This provides support in the areas of art, history, culture and STEAM. Educational materials will be distributed to teachers in advance of these exhibits to allow educators to coordinate with their curriculum and schedule field trips.”
About the Customs House Museum
Located in the heart of Historic Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee, the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is the state’s second-largest general interest museum with over 35,000 square feet of exhibit space and houses hands-on activities and special events. Membership and admission information can be found at customshousemuseum.org.
Regular museum hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00pm to 5:00pm on Sundays. Adult admission is $12.00 (18-64). Senior Citizens (65+), Adult Military, CMCSS Teachers, and College Students are $9.00. Children ages 3 to 17 are $5.00, and children 2 years or younger and Museum members are free.
The Customs House Museum is located at 200 South Second Street. For more information, call 931.648.5780 or visit their website at www.customshousemuseum.org
