Debut for new museum

The Wimberley Institute of Culture has been the caretaker of the Winters-Wimberley House and the Wimberley-Hughes House since 2011. Since that time, they have been there for the community for preservation of the valley’s history, education and events as their mission states.

Since 2011, they have been preserving and educating with events as the fourth graders history tour, Pie Social and scholarships for local students. But the next step has been taken. Making the Wimberley Valley Museum and its extensive archive of Wimberley’s history more accessible and available to the public is next on the list for the WIC.

“There are over 6,000 photographs that are archived and digitized that are in our archives. They were gifted to be used in the museum,” Scott Johnson, a former president of WIC said.

A few years ago a WIC group started exploring how to update the Winters-Wimberley House and museum. The museum was rented out to groups and was open on tours of the city. But the group felt that it could provide more with a meaningful purpose. What was the best use for the house?

“The community has energy, ideas that want to do things. What a shame if the community did not first understand how we got here, what it took and understand what came before,” Johnson said.

So two years ago, six board members during a day in February visited the Port Aransas local museum, similar sized to the Wimberley, to see how they created their museum and how it looked. They also toured others small museums in the area and saw what did not work.

“All the heavy lifting had already been done… here was a model of what we can do in Wimberley,” Johnson said. “Nothing was new. We already had the foundation. It already had been done in Port Aransas and the surrounding area. ”WIC then had speaking engagements to test the waters for the museum redo.

“We spoke to membership and planted seeds and we heard ‘yes, yes, yes.’ ‘What is the next step?’ And ‘yes let’s do it.’”

There is a lot of work to be done with windows rotting and moisture damage. Also technology updates to be able to show videos and an interactive kiosk that will have stories to tell.

But even more astonishing is the talents that live around the area. Jic Clubb from Driftwood is a retired exhibit designer, having worked around the state at places like the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the Blanton Museum, and smaller museums around the state.

Designing the exhibit boards and traffic flow for the redo, he heard about the Winters-Wimberley House on one of the trips sponsored by the Wimberley Senior Citizens Activities, Inc.

Jic had retired in Driftwood, so he volunteered his talents to design the exhibits and traffic flow for the house. The story and photos for the Winters-Wimberley House is placed on exhibit boards to be easily read.

“It’s not a book where you stand up and read text, getting the story across. It can’t have too much verbiage, too many words. If there’s more to learn you can Google it. The suggested size is about 250 words to read. If you need a chair, it’s too long,” said Clubb.

Period furniture is being recreated especially for the museum’s display. The furniture is based on the bed made by William Carvin Winters, as a present for his sister’s marriage. This is the last surviving piece made by him. Winters was also a noted furniture maker with many items made for the state capitol. The fire there destroyed the Winters-made pieces for the Capitol in November 1881.

The redo will include period looking furniture with a historic look. Local carpenter, Dale T. Hood is creating cherry-wood exhibit board frames.

“Each one has that effort to look like the turn of the century (19th to 20th century). Cherry was chosen to be a close match to the fireplace. They’ll be attached to the floor and ceiling with hinges, so that the exhibit boards can be easily changed,” Hood said.

He is making seven frames and also two tables, one large and a smaller one for guest registrations inside the door. Cherry wood was also used for picture frames.

Meticulous detail is going in to make the Winters-Wimberley House a jewel, for all of Wimberley to be proud of.

The Grand Opening of the Wimberley Valley Museum will be December 1, the last Market Day of the year. The little museum holds a lot of history, and future plans will unveil more interesting pieces that show this “little bit of heaven.”

For membership or more information on the Wimberley Institute of Cultures see their website at wimwic.org .