AT CP&L BRUNSWICK SITE
Center Lobby Exhibit Celebrates
200 Years Of Southport History
BY SUSAN USHER
When Carolina Power & Light
C ompany's newly-refurbished Visit
ors' Center opens next week, Vicki
Spencer wiii be eagerly watching tor
the reaction of an important audi
ence ? the residents of Southport.
She's particularly interested in the
response from local historical buffs
and lifelong residents of the area to
a ccntcrpiecc exhibit that, in a sense,
is a birthday present to the city.
Celebrate 200 Years of Southport,
the center's centcrpicce lobby exhib
it, was created in honor of the city's
200th anniversary, being celebrated
all this year.
"We really think that the people
of Southport will enjoy coming and
seeing what we've collected," she
said. "Many of the photographs
have been seen in 'The Way It Was'
(a local newspaper photo feature),
but seeing them all at once and see
ing how we've progressed offers a
new perspective."
Ms. Spencer, senior energy infor
mation specialist, said the exhibit
will remain on display a full year.
Even then, it won't be destroyed; it
was intentionally designed so that
much of the display can be pre
served and mounted in a suitable
spot elsewhere in the city. However,
mementos loaned by area residents
will be returned when the exhibit is
dismantled.
The Visitors' Center has been
closcd since Nov. 1 for renovations.
The interior was gutted and has been
replaced by a new exhibit area that
takes visitors on a zig-xag course
through 2,500 square feet of ex
hibits.
Some of the exhibits arc still in
development and won't be up when
the center reopens its doors to the
public at the grand opening Thurs
day, March 19, at 10 a.m. There will
still be plenty to sec and do.
In addition to the lobby display,
the center includes about 25 other
exhibits. These focus mainly on en
ergy production, alternative energy
sources and energy conservation.
"We're trying to do things in a
more up-to-date, interactive way,"
said Ms. Spcncer. bv refurbishing
some familiar exhibits and introduc
ing new ones, including a question
and-answer game with a board simi
lar to Tic-Tac-Toc with kid appeal,
cutaway views of an energy-effi
cicnt home, and cycling machines
linked to computers.
By pedaling the stationary bikes,
visitors try to generate enough ener
gy to cut on and operate small appli
ances and the like, while the com
puter measures their output.
But for this year, a 27-foot-wide
time line which relates local events
to those across North Carolina and
beyond, and related displays are the
focal point.
Ms. Spcnccr started pulling to
gether materials and developing the
exhibit in August, working nights
and weekends while holding down a
full-time job at Brunswick Comm
unity College.
Many of the 75 or more pho
tographs, maps and other visuals
came from the archives of the State
Port Pilot , the weekly newspaper lo
cated in Southport
A former employee of the news
paper's advertising department, Ms.
Spencer was given after-hours ac
cess to bound volumes and photo
files.
Publishers James and Margaret
Harper also loaned or made avail
able much of their own collection of
Southport memorabilia, as did nu
merous other area residents, organi
zations, agencies and businesses.
Ms. Spcnccr immersed herself in
the city's past, signing up for Susie
Carson's local history course offered
through Brunswick Community Col
lege and scouring the files of area li
braries, historical societies, muse
ums and state archives.
For the time line dating from
1790 to the present, she relied pri
marily on Bill Reaves' two-volume
chronology of Southport, interspers
ing tidbits of information with a col
lection of approximately 75 pho
tographs spanning the city's past.
Her favorite of the photographs:
five undated photographs that to
gether create a panoramic view of
Southport apparently taken from the
river pilots' tower that once stood on
the waterfront
While the military and maritime
influences on Southport's history are
very much in evidence, other aspccts
of the community's cultural and
economic development arc not ne
glected.
A sundae dish, a 191 1 menu, a so
da cup holder and the original scales
from Watson's Pharmacy arc
mounted alongside a Cape Fear
Lighthouse prism, a Wilcox &
Gibbs sewing machine and an ice
pick from Southport Ice & Coal Co.
Nearby arc three related memen
tos which came from different
sources: the pocket watch (circa
1874) of river pilot, J J. Atkins, a
1930 ledger from the river pilots' as
sociation turned to an entry logging
Atkins' piloting of the , and a red
ribbon emblazoned with the name of
the vessel.
Folded nearby, a handwritten
sketch of Southport and the lower
Cape Fear River area, complete with
maps and photographs, but with no
indication of whom the author might
have been.
Another display case includes
relics of Southport's colonial days,
as well as Revolutionary War, Civil
War and War of 1812 artifacts.
Written documentation of the
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city's past includes early literature
promoting the community, a
Soulhport Public High School annu
al from 1922 and a pamphlet about
Soulhport published as a War Camp
Community Scrvicc during World
War I.
Lights of the Cape Fear , features
the navigational beacons which have
guided sailors through the treacher
ous waters of the Cape Fear area.
Along with photographs of individ
ual bcacons and a map depicting
their locations, visitors get a you
are-there view of the stairwell of
Cape Fear Lighthouse, the last of the
three known bcacons erected on
Bald Head Island.
The exhibit offers a different per
spective from other looks back at the
city's evolution.
"We made an intentional effort
not to duplicate the work of the
Soulhport Historical Society and
other groups that are planning their
own bicentennial projects," said Ms.
Spencer.
In fact, CP&L is underwriting one
project undertaken by the Soulhport
Historical Society, a htory of the
city being written by leal historian
Susie Sellers Carson.
The lobby area isn'thc only part
of the center wiiii a ne' look.
The old auditoriurrhas been tom
out of the center, crciing additional
exhibition space. Rolacing it is a
circular "mini-theatf" with a blue
dome and a sclf-scricc touch panel
that allows viewer to choose from
assorted videos o energy-related
topics and local siis that arc stored
on laserdisc.
Near the exit, atargc circular map
details the local Jn of area attrac
tions and Brunwick County golf
courses. Visitor can mail picture
postcards of (P&L's Brunswick
Nuclear Plant t> their friends, cour
tesy of CP&L.a large map encour
ages visitors u pinpoint their home
towns, and anonitor provides up
to-the-minute weather information.
A schedule for the popular
Southport-Frt Fisher Ferry is
mounted harJily by the exit.
The CP&- Visitors' Center is io
cated on N.J. 87 at Southport.
STAfF PHOTO BY SUSAN USHER
SENIOR ENERGY Information Specialist Vicki Spencer rear
ranges one of many artifacts loaned by local residents for the ex
hibit, part of CP&L's contribution to Southport's year-long cele
bration of the city's 200th anniversary.
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