The North Carolina Museum of History has created a groundbreaking new exhibit, North Carolina and World War One, honoring the centennial of the state’s entry into the war in 1917. Believed to be the largest of its kind among state museums, the exhibit is open until January 2019 after drawing nearly 44,000 visitors in the first month.
Museum curators and designers sought to create a new, immersive type of exhibit, one that would put visitors in the boots of Tar Heel soldiers on the Western Front, including the 86,000 soldiers from North Carolina.
“The research and development of the museum exhibition began in earnest a few years ago, first by drawing up a storyline, then by adding artifacts, and then by working with our designers on a physical presentation of the North Carolina story in WW One,” said Jackson Marshall, deputy director of the museum.
Marshall, whose grandfather was a WW One veteran, was the curator and project manager of the exhibit. When his two sons were young, he took them on family vacations to the battlefields of the Great War in France. The 6’ x 6’ battlefield diorama they built together is featured in the exhibit; his sons also helped build the exhibit’s trenches and install relics from WW One battlefields in France.
Visitors walk through a life-sized trench warfare environment within a maze of seven-foot-high walls, topped with barbed wire, sandbags and hand-painted rats, all spread over much of the exhibit’s 6,500 square feet. Cave-like “funk holes” and a dugout are irresistible to explorers, young and old; picture-taking is encouraged. Grandparents find much to share with their grandchildren here.
A re-created field hospital, wall-sized photo murals, historical film footage, and more than 500 artifacts immerses visitors in the life and some of the experiences of Tar Heel soldiers and nurses. Interactive video displays are around every corner while heart-pounding battlefield sounds and lights complete the scene. Going through the trenches without reading any of the text labels, a visitor still gets a lot out of the experience. There are videos and interactives, sound effects and surprises, like an exploding shell or a periscope you can look through.
The exhibit also has a uniform worn by aviator Kiffin Rockwell, on loan from the National Air and Space Museum in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Rockwell, who grew up in Asheville, was the first American pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft during World War One.
The Museum of History in downtown Raleigh is within walking distance of many other attractions, including the State Capitol, the Museum of Natural Sciences, the Governor’s Mansion, and award-winning restaurants and bars. A Smithsonian Affiliate, the museum is free and open to the public with free parking on weekends.