Construction to begin on Damascus museum

Work will lay the foundation for the trailer that will house local history

The Damascus Heritage Society has awarded a contract to LeNak, a Damascus construction company, to prepare the foundation and place the two pieces of one of the trailers on it and seal the pieces together.

The work will also include building a ramp and making the entrance to the trailer handicap accessible.

The society received two surplus trailers from Montgomery County Public Schools in July 2007 and parked one on school-owned land on Oak Drive across from John T. Baker Middle School and the other on county land near the Damascus Library on Woodfield Road Extended. It plans to open a temporary museum behind the library and use the trailer on Oak Drive for storage.

"We do hope this is going to be more tangible evidence to the community this is a more serious project," said Randy Scritchfield, president of the Damascus Heritage Society.

The Damascus Heritage Society plans to build displays in the museum around a variety of local themes, including early settlers, agriculture, African Americans and turn-of-the-20th-century Damascus. The museum will house family histories, artifacts and memorabilia.

In 2007 the society received a $200,000 bond from the state. To meet the terms of the allocation, the group must raise and spend $50,000 on the museum building by the end of June 2009 and match that with $50,000 worth of volunteer work.

With the architectural, engineering and legal work that has been donated to the project, meeting the in-kind piece will not be a problem, Scritchfield said.

However, the society has only raised $30,000 of the $50,000 cash required and it will need to spend another $30,000 to make the building useable.

Linda Olsen, a member of the heritage society, helped raise money for the museum with a jewelry show and sale and concert featuring an Elvis impersonator. She is working with the Izaak Walton League on planning a Damascus heritage day with fundraising activities for Oct. 19.

LeNak won the contract in a competitive bidding process with its bid of $18,200. Work will begin in about two weeks and take about a month, Olsen said

The second phase of the project will involve getting electricity to the trailers and hooking up the electricity and installing new carpeting, said Dan King, chairman of the building committee.

"Even though we're very excited about this news, it's just going to be a while to get the building acceptable to have people in it," Scritchfield said.