The Road Less Traveled
These five unusual museums are off the beaten path , to be sure ,
but sometimes that can make all the difference if you 're looking for a
fascinating wintertime travel experience.
By Glenn Morris
The reason for inking the road
less traveled is to see what oth¬
ers will miss because they pass
them by. I lore arc five very dif¬
ferent hut very compelling reasons to
detour from your hurried course. As at
any museum, there's more to what you
see than meets the eye. but these very
expressive collections push the bound¬
aries of historic aland human knowledge
a lot farther than you might expect. If
you're looking lor something to do on
those cold, rainy days this winter, gel
cra/y and venture ofT the beaten path to
.North Carolina's unusual museums.
SchieJe Museum of Natural History,
Gastonia
Sometimes it is through the eyes
of a child that we are finally able to
really "see' clearly what is right be¬
fore our eyes. Such a gentle re¬
minder came my way when my 1 1-
ycat old daughter and I toured Gas¬
tonia's Schiele Museum of Natural
1 1 i story.
We were walking back to the
main entrance when she remarked,
mattei-of-fac tlv. "This is the kind of
museum you would expect to find
in New York or Washington."
Yes. it is as accomplished as any
major metropolitan museum in the
Southeast and is quite understandably a
source of civic pride in Gastonia. The
Schiele Museum houses exhibits and
sponsors programs that are national in
quality. II you can't linger, learn and
marvel in the Schiele Museum, you be¬
long in one ol their glass cases with the
other fossils ol vour kind.
The hallmark of the museum are the
static exhibits, the several still-life recre¬
ations ol natural habitats and epochs in
the history of man's presence on earth.
These exhibits, not to detract from the
museum's broad-based educational
programs, arc the symbolic heart of the
Schiele. In a sense they are the fruit» ol
seeds planted long ago by the personal
collections of Rudolph M. “Bud"
Schiele, the first director and name¬
sake.
In 1959. Schiele, a career executive ol
the Piedmont Council of the Boy Scouts
of America, offered his personal coller-
tionsof birds. mammals, rocks and min-
A winter smie of the old grist mill at Schiele Museum.
rials to the
«
on illy with two conditions:
It would build a place to house it. and
he would be the director, as a volunteer.
It was no small offer, as with the actual
specimens came Schiele's enthusiasm
and \ ision. his love of the outdoors and
his ability to engender the spirit of learn¬
ing in those lie worked with.
Лк
Stjtc/larujiy 1991
20
Mis collections, assembled through a
lifetime of energetic obcrvancc and
unflagging curiosity, became the nucle¬
us of the museum in 1961. which
opened its doors as the Gaston County
Museumof.Natui.il History. In 1965, the
City of Gastonia took over operations
and the current name, honoring the
founder, was adopted. Schiele con¬
tinued his service to the museum until
his death at age 81 in 197-1.
From that beginning more than 30
years ago. the Schiele has benefited
from widespread community accep¬
tance. growth and expansion. The muse¬
um’s current director. Alan Stout, a for¬
mer biology teacher who worked
closely with Schiele, and the curators
are driving the museum as an active
educational component of the quality
of life in Gastonia. As a walk-in visitor,
you are not likely to benefit from the
full range of the museum’s educa¬
tional /eal; this is experienced more
closely by local school children who
use the museum’s resources as an
adjunct to classroom education.
You will see, however, exhibits that
are anything but static. Indeed, von
almost expect to see the biids flutter,
the flanks of the mammals swelling
and falling with each breath. It's a
source of pride to Stout, who stepped
up to head the museum aflei Schiele's
death.
"We were the first to develop a com¬
prehensive exhibit of the biospheres of
North Carolina." says Stout, “and we
paid particular attention to detail. Foi
example, the entrance to the cave exhib¬
it in the mountain habitat is geological-
