Newton
History Museum of Catawba County
Permanent collections and rotating exhibits housed in the 1924 Old Catawba County Courthouse.
The History Museum of Catawba County offers testimony to the hardy settlers of the Catawba River Valley and their resourceful descendants, who carved a world-renowned furniture and textile empire out of the backwoods. It is the story of the American Dream as pursued by the self-sufficient Scots-Irish, German, and English peoples who followed the Native American trails along the Catawba River in search of a place to call home.
The story is artfully displayed in the former Catawba County Courthouse — an imposing Renaissance Revival structure built in 1924 on the square in downtown Newton, and listed on the National Register.
Current exhibits
- Miracle of Hickory
- Catawba Springs
- The Gourd Lady
- People of the River
- The Sounds of Catawba
- America 250
The collections
The collections include agricultural tools forged from hand-dug iron ore and handcrafted household furnishings — cupboards, wagon benches, beds, tables, chests, cradles, and plantation desks. Among the treasures are military uniforms including a British Red Coat from the Revolutionary War era (one of the few in existence), the front desk from the Virginia Shipp Hotel, an original Piedmont Wagon, Judge McCorkle’s law office, and a walk-in replica jail cell.
Two full-scale antebellum parlors have been reconstructed and preserved: the Shuford-Jarrett (1830), with deft molding-plane embellishments and pegged muntins, and the Munday Parlor (1840), with trompe l’oeil dentils, marbleized baseboards, and a dazzling hand-painted central medallion. Visitors can also walk through Dr. Hambrick’s 1920s medical office, with its stainless-steel examination table and period instruments.
Visiting
The museum is open Tuesday–Friday, 9 am–4 pm, at 30 N. College Avenue in downtown Newton. Call (828) 465-0383 to confirm hours or plan a group visit.