Pender County Museum preserves more than a century of local history inside Burgaw’s oldest brick building
BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — Housed inside a 1917 former private residence, the Pender County Museum stands as the oldest brick structure in Burgaw and a living archive of local history.
The building, originally constructed by former mayor Amos Burton, has served many purposes over the decades — including time as an infirmary — before eventually becoming a museum in 1979.
Today, the museum preserves hundreds of artifacts donated from across the county, spanning military service, education, medicine, agriculture, and everyday life in Pender County.
Among the permanent exhibits is a collection highlighting local service members, including photographs tied to Camp Davis, a major World War II-era anti-aircraft training base that once operated along the Onslow-Pender County line.
Upstairs, visitors can explore exhibits featuring segregated school photographs from the Jim Crow era, along with a detailed medical display and a room dedicated to historic clothing, including wedding gowns.
“We’ve got a lot of permanent exhibits,” said Janet Slate Rivenbark, president of the Pender County Historical Society. “Our military room relates to a lot of people who served from Pender County.”
The museum also showcases early communications history, including a vintage wall-mounted telephone and a 1956 Pender Telephone Company directory — where visitors can still find familiar family names.
Upstairs, the “Mattie Bloodworth Room” honors one of the county’s early historians, featuring her portrait and typewriter used to document Pender County’s past in her 1947 book History of Pender County.
For Rivenbark, preserving that history is deeply personal.
“I have always loved history. Our children and our grandchildren are growing up here, and it’s important for us, for them, and for everyone to be a part of this,” she said.
From family stories to county milestones, the museum continues to connect past and present — preserving what Rivenbark calls “a collection of treasures from lots of different people.”
Hundreds of antique farming tools are displayed in a barn behind the mail house, offering a glimpse into the county’s agricultural roots.
The Pender County Museum will feature a new exhibit titled “Deep Blue Roots: The Early History of Blueberries in North Carolina” during the upcoming N.C. Blueberry Festival happening June 19 and 20. The exhibit will be mounted in the train depot as part of the festival events.
Following the festival, the exhibit will move to the Pender County Museum for continued public viewing.
The museum is located at 200 W. Bridgers Street in Burgaw and admission is free. Regular hours are Thursday and Friday from 1-4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. The museum is also open by appointment on occasion.
