Charlotte County Historical Center
Donor Opportunities
Charlotte County Historical Center
at 22959 Bayshore Road on the waterfront in historic Charlotte Harbor, FL
Private Donors Make a Huge Difference
Corporate sponsors and individual donors are essential partners who advance the work the Charlotte County Historical Center does every day. As one, you will be a part of heritage education and preserving our historical resources, while enjoying unique donor recognition and special naming opportunities. Your gift allows our participants to experience stimulating exhibitions, broad-ranging educational programs, historical publications, enhancements to the artifact collections and preservation of significant historical resources throughout the county.
The Charlotte County Historical Center directly serves thousands of residents and visitors with our exhibits, programs, and events each year. In addition, our historic preservation projects support the efforts of many local historical groups and help to preserve our heritage for future generations.
Our permanent historical exhibit Charlotte County: Telling Our Story explores the full spectrum of area history, from ancient peoples living here thousands of years ago to the post-World War II land development boom. Also on permanent exhibit are 16 Heritage Oil Paintings by Betty Reese, the Bicentennial Time Capsule, and Shopping in Charlotte County near the Live Oak Emporium Gift Shop.
Our changing exhibits in the John W. Cole Gallery explore themes in depth every few months. Look for Reason for the Season, The Murals of Punta Gorda, Shipwreck Treasures and Grandmother's Attic in upcoming months. Funds are needed!
 The potter’s wheel fascinates children and adults. |
 Face painting and costumes are always fun. |
Florida Frontier Days – This outdoor pioneer festival attracts thousands of school children, families and adults over a three-day period each winter. Visitors participate in hands-on crafts and active games, sample authentic foods and learn from costumed wood carvers, candle makers, fur traders, potters, blacksmiths and the like. The 12th annual event is planned for February 7, 8 and 9, 2008, at Bayshore Live Oak Park near the Charlotte County Historical Center in Charlotte Harbor. We need sponsorships to pay 15-20 part-time artisans and re-enactors a stipend of $175 each, or $3500 to keep pace with last year’s event.
 Children try their hands weaving on a real loom. |
 Sack races are popular every year. |
Program Scholarships for Children – The Charlotte County Historical Center inspires and educates thousands of visitors each year, and we welcome many children from underserved communities. We would like to set up an ongoing Program Fee Assistance Fund to better support disadvantaged families on a case-by-case basis, so more can attend our educational programs, such as the Club Adventure after-school program, Camp Adventure summer sessions, and special Make-it-Take-it Gift Workshops for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Can you help us?
 |
 |
 |
Lessons in a Suitcase Outreach Program - A guest speaker from the Charlotte County Historical Center will come to your classroom or group function with an outreach “suitcase” packed to provide a fun, hands-on program of your choice on history-related topics. The fee for each of these outreach programs is only $25, so a sponsor who donates $100 will provide four presentations in the community.
Permanent Exhibits –
 “Our Hands on the Land” |
 Lighthouses & sea shells |
 Coastal Chart, 1883 |
Charlotte County: Telling Our Story is the permanent exhibit which explores the full spectrum of Charlotte County and Florida history in three galleries, telling the rich stories of people living here from ancient times through the post-WWII development boom. After the hurricanes of 2004, we repaired and remodeled these galleries to improve traffic flow, and we continue to refresh it with additional historical artifacts. Donations of funds and artifacts are always appreciated.
Heritage Oil Paintings by Betty Reese
Fascinating oil paintings of sixteen historical buildings county-wide
are now a part of our permanent exhibit at the Charlotte County Historical
Center. Some of the structures depicted still exist, and others are
gone forever. Port Charlotte artist Betty Reese researches each one,
then makes it come alive again. She has generously donated all of
these original paintings to the CCHC collections.
 Charlotte County Courthouse painting by Betty Reese. |
 Many of Betty’s heritage paintings are diplsayed in the lobby and hallway. |
(For more examples of Betty Reese’s work, see sections below on the Cookie House and the Placida Bunk House.)
Shopping in Charlotte County
From trading
posts and peddlers, to neighborhood general stores and twentieth century shopping
plazas, the local retail business has changed greatly over the years. Alongside
the Live Oak Emporium museum shop is the Shopping in Charlotte County permanent
exhibit, with dozens of artifacts on display from the CCHC collections. Did you
live here when ladies had to travel all the way to Fort Myers to buy a fancy
dress? Historical photographs from the late U. S. Cleveland and the former Charlotte
Harbor Area Historical Society complete the picture.
 |
 |
 |
Visit the exhibit to learn who wore these fashionable hats in the 1940s and 1950s.
Bicentennial Time Capsule
During the nation’s bicentennial
in 1976, plans were made for a Charlotte County time capsule to be set in place
at the county’s Memorial Auditorium in Punta Gorda and re-opened after
100 years. The building was damaged beyond repair by Hurricane Charley, but
before it was demolished we removed the capsule’s two large cylinders
from their sand-filled vault for safe keeping. The Bicentennial Time Capsule is
now on exhibit at the Charlotte County Historical Center, and a place will
be provided for it in the new event center being designed for the old Auditorium
site.
 Time capsule removed for safe keeping, April 14, 2005. |
 Bicentennial Time Capsule on exhibit |
Changing Exhibits -
 Crate Expectations: Florida Citrus Labels |
 A Tiny Blue Marble: Exploring Earth from Space |
 Hurricane Charley: Winds of Change |
Our changing exhibits in the John W. Cole Gallery explore a variety of fascinating themes and particular people, places and events that shaped our history. Upcoming exhibit plans for 2007 include Florida’s Highwaymen in collaboration with the Blanchard House Museum, Murals of Punta Gorda with local artists and the Punta Gorda Mural Society, an exhibit called Shipwreck Treasures from Mel Fisher, Maritime Heritage Museum, and Grandmother’s Attic featuring treasures people have brought here from near and far. Each one is budgeted at $5000 for research, curation, installation and materials, and generous sponsors are needed to make each one happen.
Historic Preservation Projects –
 Cookie House oil painting by Betty Reese (CCHC collection) |
 The move from New Point Comfort Road in 2006 |
The “Cookie House”– In 2006, staff worked with developers Triple Diamond, Inc. and Waterford NPC, LLC to relocate and stabilize the last log cabin from the former Bass Biological Laboratory in Englewood, precursor to today’s Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota. Just a mile away from its original site near New Point Comfort Road, the historic building is now at Cedar Point Environmental Park where we will develop new programs and exhibits related to its history and scientific study in the Lemon Bay estuary. Program sponsors, exhibit sponsors and artifact donors are needed to develop high quality programs. As the Charlotte County Historical Center draws up a preservation plan with professionals, we invite sponsors to help us restore and protect the historic building for future generations.
 Placida Bunk House oil painting by Betty Reese (CCHC collection) |
Placida Bunk House – In 2005 and 2006, the Charlotte County Historical Center worked to save the only-surviving Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad workers’ bunk house near the site of the Coral Creek Bridge realignment project. It was relocated from private property to county-owned land, and soon it will be stabilized on a new foundation at the Mercer Trailhead of the Cape Haze Pioneer Trail (formerly the railroad bed) at its northerly end in McCall. The historic structure will be rehabilitated in future phases of the project. The preservation plan is estimated to cost $25,000, and sponsors will make a huge difference. |
Charlotte County Historical Marker Program – The
Historical Center works with the Historical Advisory Committee (whose
nine members are appointed by the Board of County Commissioners)
to research, approve and locate new historical markers at sites important
to our history. Each custom-made, weatherproof sign is manufactured
in cast aluminum to last for many years and costs $2,000. Sponsors
are invited to show their support for our community’s heritage
by underwriting a new marker.
New Archives and Study Center –Plans are underway to build an archives facility for the safe and secure storage of our community’s historical public records, donated family papers, photographs, maps, plans, drawings, documents and historical artifact collections, so that they may be enjoyed by future generations. A 2006 preliminary archives assessment, with grant assistance from the Florida Local Historical Records Project, determined the types of materials in our collections and the proper care required in a new building planned for the purpose. The proposed new facility will be co-located with the new South County Regional Library, providing public access to the county collections. County staff is gathering information and public input. It will be a major undertaking, long-awaited by the historical community and many residents, but still requiring multiple grants and generous donors. Call the Charlotte County Historical Center at (941) 629-7278 with your ideas.
