National Park Service Awards $150,000 Grant for Museum in Winchester

“One Story… A Thousand Voices” Exhibit to Open in April 2023

The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (SVBF) has been awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Park Service to support the creation of a new permanent exhibit at the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum in downtown Winchester.

This new exhibit, “One Story… A Thousand Voices” – which will open in April 2023 – will include the complete renovation of the second-floor exhibit space and the creation of additional exhibits in the first floor court room area. The exhibit will tell the Valley’s Civil War story through the experiences of the people who lived through it – using artifacts, individual stories, and captivating imagery to show history at a personal, human level. It will cover major battles and famed events, as well as the everyday lives of soldiers and free and enslaved civilians. The exhibit will take visitors from the path to war through the tumultuous years of combat and destruction, the post-war era, and the efforts to preserve that history today.

"Our plan is for a museum with exhibits that are thought provoking, impactful, and inspiring,” said Keven Walker, CEO of the Battlefields Foundation. “The grant from the National Park Service is going to make that possible.” The grant will be matched by recently appropriated state funds, major private donations, and support from Foundation members. Fundraising for this project, which will cost over $700,000, has been underway for a number of years.

It was the commitment of major funding by the James R. Wilkins Charitable Trust – the largest donor to the effort – that made the project a reality, and allowed the Battlefields Foundation to move forward and seek out additional funding.

The exhibit will use sensory experiences, three-dimensional walk-through exhibit spaces, interactive touchscreens, QR codes, and a cell phone application. At the heart of the exhibit will be a remarkable collection of artifacts – such as a pike from John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, a crude bullet-proof vest worn by a soldier, a mourning dress worn by the famed Mother Crim, a table given to the freed slaves of the Washington family, and arms and equipment of soldiers both north and south.

In addition to new exhibits, the historic courtroom on the first floor of the museum will also feature a 360-degree virtual reality experience on the trial of John Brown. Developed in partnership with Shenandoah University’s Center for Immersive Learning, the experience will place viewers in the middle of key moments of the trial.

The “One Story… A Thousand Voices” project is designed to promote partners and historic sites throughout the Valley, as the exhibit and its accompanying materials will foster increased visitation to those sites.

The museum, which was originally conceived by Harry and Trish Ridgeway, first opened in 2003 as the Old Courthouse Civil War Museum. The Battlefields Foundation assumed operation of the museum in 2015 and renamed it the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum. Since then, the Foundation has been developing plans and raising funds for this project. “We’re standing on the shoulders of the forward-thinking people who created the museum,” said Walker. Fittingly, items from the renowned Ridgeway Collection of Civil War artifacts will be prominently featured in the new exhibit.

The museum will be closed down on November 1 to begin renovations and installation. The “One Story… A Thousand Voices” exhibit will open in April 2023 – in conjunction with the Foundation’s 2023 National Conference in Winchester.