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Mount Mitchell, with its distinctive summit and storied past, has long been of great interest to all who live nearby or visit the area. It is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River, and looms a lofty 6,684 feet above sea level. Easily accessed from the Blue Ridge Parkway about an hour north of Asheville, the mountain and its museum have always been popular attractions. But now Mount Mitchell State Park is proud to present its beautiful new museum to replace the 50-year-old former museum, with exciting, interactive displays and state-of-the-art computerized exhibits. The new museum, sitting just below the peak, measures an impressive 1,600 square feet, which is about double the size of the previous museum, and is jam-packed with exhibits perfectly suited for curious children and adults alike. George Austin, a current Asheville, North Carolina, resident, and his young daughter, Sadira, recently took a day trip to Mount Mitchell to see the new museum. "I loved seeing her become so interested in the different activities. It can be hard to make things such as geological layers of rocks entertaining, but the magnifying glass exhibit really seemed to excite our little girl," commented Austin.
The most popular exhibits so far seem to be the weather station and "Big Tom" Wilson's cabin. Mr. Wilson, a mountain man who led a search party onto Mount Mitchell in search of the missing Dr. Elisha Mitchell (for whom the mountain is named), had a cabin on the mountain, and this exhibit is very near an exact copy of that cabin. Inside the cabin, visitors can press four different audio buttons and hear a presentation of a particular aspect of mountain life back in the 1800s. The construction of the new museum was made possible by the State Parks and Recreation Trust Fund and money from a 1993 bond referendum. The museum is located at the State Park on Mount Mitchell and is fully accessible by wheelchair. Admission is free, and the museum is open daily from 10AM - 6PM. For more information, please call 828-675-4611. (Top photo and logo provided by Mt. Mitchcell State Park.)
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Perhaps one of the most interesting exhibits available at the new museum is the new weather station computer. By simply typing in any date on which weather data was recorded (for example, someone's birthday), the computer will tell you what the temperature, wind speed, precipitation, and wind direction were on that date. Also available at the museum are 3-D models of the mountain range surrounding Mount Mitchell. By pressing a button on the pad, a corresponding light will illuminate the section of the range that is chosen, giving a brief description and history of the peak. (Second photo is view from tower on top of Mt. Mitchell.)