The first Ramseur Museum was in the former post office building which had been placed behind the Ramseur Library in 1970. As the nation’s Bicentennial approached, most towns found a project to help the local areas celebrate this historic occasion. The building still had post office boxes and items from the town’s first post office. This museum was formerly dedicated on October 17, 1976.
The Ramseur Historical Committee found items were beginning to deteriorate in the building without heat or air condition. An opening in the door for the post office cat became the entrance for many rodents as well as snakes and other creepy animals. The committee asked the town commissioners for help in locating another place to store the fragile artifacts that the former committee had placed in the museum. The first floor of the former Bank of Coleridge building was made available to the committee. The renovation of the building began in 2002. The museum opened at this location on November 18, 2006.
The Ramseur Community Museum features exhibits on the area’s early history, events, and people. Current exhibits contain memorabilia from Columbia Manufacturing Company (the cotton mill), Ramseur Broom Works, Alberta Chair Factory, Brady Funeral Home, and other smaller industries.
Military uniforms from World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam are on display. Newspaper articles from these wars are included. One display case contains bank memorabilia from the Bank of Coleridge, the Bank of Franklinville, the Bank of Ramseur, and Page Trust Company. Ramseur had a community band in the early 1900s. Uniforms, instruments and music from the band and that period are on exhibit. A good portion of the movie Killer’s Three was filmed in Ramseur and Coleridge as well as other parts of the county. One area of the museum contains memorabilia from that event.
Exhibits change periodically. We have had special exhibits featuring boy scouts, girl scouts, farming, and schools. The only permanent exhibit is the one about General Stephen Ramseur for whom the town was named.
We have had over 700 visitors in the museum since it opened. These have included visitors from 10 different states and 2 foreign countries as well as from our local area. The museum is open one weekend a month and by appointment.
The old post office museum was renovated in 2015 by a local scout who was working to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. It is now a Ramseur post office museum only. It is opened periodically and also by appointment.