What started as a website is now on tour across the country, and this week it has made a stop in Clinton. The American Revolution Experience is here for a short visit, highlighting the many people who were involved in the fight for freedom.
The exhibit is on display after multiple applications by Vice Regent Penny Lockerman of the Richard Clinton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) for the traveling exhibit to come to the Sampson County History Museum — just in time for the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.
The exhibit is a national display put on by the American Battlefield Trust and DAR, and it travels across the country, visiting towns and answering the question: “How were the lives of ordinary people affected by the events of the American Revolution?” There are 12 panels with interactive kiosks sharing the diversity and innovation of many people not always included in history textbooks, the DAR vice regent acknowledged.
Lockerman urged the community to celebrate America’s 250th by learning from the traveling exhibit.
“A lot of us can’t relate to what it really was,” Lockerman said about the Revolutionary War and all that led to it. “History repeats itself. The more knowledge we have about history, the better decisions we can make about our future.”
The vice regent stressed how people can learn from the past, especially the “ordinary people” who are depicted in the exhibit.
Lockerman marveled at the amount of information available in the exhibit, emphasizing that visitors would need two days just to do it all.“But I just want people to take advantage while this is here,” she added.
The traveling display started in Washington, D.C., in 2023. There are two different exhibitions that travel the country, visiting museums and libraries and introducing Americans to new information about the birth of the United States.
DAR member Anne Price urged everyone to not only take advantage of the exhibit, but all the things the Sampson County History Museum has to offer.
“This museum is a gemstone and our connection to the past,” she stressed, sharing how important history is and how people today are a part of history being written right now.
“We don’t know what somebody will tell about us,” Price said, reflecting on all she learned from the “ordinary” people who were a part of the American Revolution.
Price compared the exhibit to learning from textbooks, emphasizing the importance of the interactive nature of the display.“History is a story and this exhibit makes it interesting and exciting,” Price stressed.
She encouraged community members to take advantage of the exhibit’s self-directed nature, making it easy to “do it yourself and get a great overview of American history.”
Price added, “I love how you can see how Clinton was a part.”
The traveling exhibit is set up alongside the American Revolution exhibit that is a regular part of the museum, and visitors can see how Clinton and Sampson got their names, as well as what role the region played in the Revolutionary War.
Another local DAR member, Myrtle Petty, shared that “Clinton is so fortunate to have this exhibit locally” and that the exhibit highlights some interesting personalities, one of whom is Benedict Arnold’s wife.
“I had not known of her personal activities,” she explained, describing how much information in the exhibit was new to her.
When Sampson County History Museum President Kay Raynor was asked about her experience with the exhibit, she echoed the DAR members sentiments.
“There are facts about the Revolutionary War that we don’t often read about in books. The museum is honored to partner with the Richard Clinton Chapter of the DAR in bringing this ‘experience’ to Clinton in celebration of America250.”
Both the DAR members and the history museum president urged the community to visit the museum and see the American Revolution in a new light before the exhibit journeys to its next stop Aug. 12.