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Our Permanent Exhibits

Here are the permanent exhibits currently on display:

"Out of the Archives"

Waynesboro has a deep and rich history. The Waynesboro Heritage Foundation has been fortunate over the years to have been entrusted by the community with its many artifacts, records, stories, and memories that document our city's collective history.

Located in the back of the rotating exhibit room is a curated collection of individual items we want the community to see, but may otherwise rarely have their "moment in the sun." From an obscure game and a Civil War-era diary, to original artwork and colonial-era coins - these items represent a snapshot in time of past and present everyday Waynesborians, and help us understand how we got where we are today.

The artifacts will be rotated through periodically. We wish we could display everything, but eventually each of these items will have be returned to its home for permanent preservation. So, make sure you stop in frequently to check out what new parts of Waynesboro's history we have on display.

Early Waynesboro and Basic City

The role of railroads in the history of Waynesboro

Waynesboro education

Waynesboro industry

"Memorable Waynesboro" and the history of local entertainment and hospitality in the Valley Fishburne Pharmacy

Early banking in Waynesboro

A special exhibit highlighting "Early Entrepreneurs of Waynesboro"

Our Previous Exhibits

Here are the rotating exhibits currently on display:

"'Flowers on the Wall' - A Tribute to Lew DeWitt and his Music"

From his days with the Statler Brothers, beginning in 1955, through his solo career, this new exhibit, produced from a partnership between Judy Wells De Witt and the Waynesboro Heritage Foundation, celebrates the life and musical career of Lew De Witt.

Although Lew and his family moved to Staunton when he was a child, in his later years he called Waynesboro home. Lew embraced Waynesboro and Waynesboro embraced Lew. His six yearly concerts in Ridgeview Park in the 1980s, as part of Summer Extravaganza, helped ingratiate himself with Waynesboro. In fact, he was so well loved in the community that in 1992, two years after his death, Waynesboro dedicated De Witt Boulevard in his honor.

The exhibit will ran until April 2025 free of charge

"A Century of Service"

In 2025, the Waynesboro Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs will both celebrate their 100th anniversaries in the community. The new exhibit at the Waynesboro Heritage Museum, "A Century of Service," celebrates this milestone for the clubs, and will be on display until early 2025.

Each club, in conjunction with the Waynesboro Heritage Museum staff, provided written histories and club artifacts for the new exhibit, that document and highlight a century of their service to the Waynesboro community.

Come visit the museum and learn about the impact two remarkable organizations have had on Waynesboro!

The exhibit ran until January 2025 free of charge.

"The Timeless Tunnel"

The Blue Ridge Tunnel recently opened as a new and amazing attraction in Virginia by using a long-abandoned and almost forgotten feat of engineering. At the time of its opening in 1858, the railroad tunnel was the longest tunnel in America. Today it is owned by Nelson County, Virginia and operated with the help of the Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation as a hiking trail.

“The Timeless Tunnel” exhibit at the Waynesboro Heritage Museum on Main Street in Waynesboro tells the story of the people who planned and built the tunnel along with their struggles and accomplishments. You will also learn the story of the tunnel’s abandonment and the decades-long work and dedication of local citizens to give it a new use for the 21st century.

"Foundation of Hope"

When Booker T. Washington, who had a vision to improve education facilities for rural African-American communities in the American South, joined forces with Julius Rosenwald (president of Sears, Roebuck & Co.) who was looking to find new ways to extend his philanthropic generosity, their partnership led to the creation of nearly 5,000 schools. In 1924, the local Black community in Waynesboro, as a product of their effort, determination, and fundraising, erected Basic School, built in conjunction with Rosenwald’s matching funds.

2024 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of Waynesboro’s Rosenwald School. It has been an important part of the community in its many iterations since 1924. A new exhibit called “Foundations of Hope: Celebrating 100 years of Waynesboro’s Rosenwald School and its Community” at the Waynesboro Heritage Foundation celebrates this milestone.

In collaboration with the Waynesboro Black History Museum, the Waynesboro Public Library, Waynesboro Parks and Recreation, and the Waynesboro Chapter of the NAACP, this exhibit highlights the Rosenwald school-building program and its visionaries as well as the early history of Waynesboro’s Rosenwald School as an educational institution and haven for the Black community during segregation. The exhibit also discusses the fate of the original building, how the school was used after integration, and how it is used today. Finally, the exhibit showcases the biographies of several instrumental figures in the establishment of Basic School and early African-American education in Waynesboro.

Foundations of Hope was on display until October 2024.

"Until the Cows Come Home"

On October 14, 2023, the Waynesboro Heritage Museum opens a new exhibit called “Until the Cows Come Home,” investigating and chronicling the consolidation of the towns of Waynesboro and Basic City in 1923.

The events of a century ago were contentious, to say the least, and sources of the day captured the anger surrounding the merger. Come on down to the museum to learn more about the consolidation, to find out why cows became such an important part of the vote, and how steps are being taken to revitalize an area that is considered a “Lost Town” of Virginia.

The exhibit will ran until July 2024, free of charge.