By SHANNON HALL JONES
Special to Atmore News
Today [August 1, 2018], the Atmore Historical Society is excited to announce that we have officially acquired the Watson Cabin, which will become the home of our Museum. The Watson Cabin is located in Heritage Park and is next door to the Peavy-Webb Building, which already houses our Welcome Center.
Having the Watson Cabin for museum space will be an asset to Atmore and Heritage Park. This acquisition is part of our ongoing effort to increase tourism and develop historic downtown Atmore. The Peavy-Webb Building is not large enough to create displays, and we have been seeking another building to house our collections and tell the story of Atmore’s history.
The Watson Cabin had belonged to the Atmore Leadership Corporation, and we have signed agreements and a bill of sale with the City of Atmore to officially, legally transfer ownership of the Peavy-Webb Building and the Watson Cabin to the Atmore Historical Society (this was not properly documented in the past).
The City owns Heritage Park, but the Atmore Historical Society will now be in charge of scheduling all events located in the park. The City will pay for the utilities and maintain the park grounds, and AHS will be responsible for the upkeep of the buildings.
We will lease the properties on which the Peavy-Webb building and Watson Cabin sit … for $1 per year, for the next 20 years, and the lease will automatically renew at the end of that term. We are also very grateful to the Atmore Leadership classes of 2016, 2017, and 2018 for their $3,000 donation that will go directly to cabin repairs.
We have many generous donors who have already given us items for display and made donations. If you would like to donate items for display, or arrange a special loan of an item, or donate funds to help, please contact us.
We are extremely grateful to City of Atmore, Mayor Staff, the Council and the Chamber of Commerce. We also wish to thank our volunteers, and members who work at the Welcome Center and will continue working to make the Museum a success too.
For more information, please email us at atmorehistorical@gmail.com or call 251-253-4214, or visit us on Facebook at atmorehistoricalsociety, or the website at atmorehistorical.us.
News photo by Ditto Gorme