Matthews Heritage Museum

"Matthews Heritage Museum provides educational and engaging interactive experiences for all ages. The museum strives to nurture a healthy respect for the forward thinking of the early settlers and help guests reflect on the business environment, lifestyles and cultures of those early Matthews townspeople."

Due to the National Health Pandemic, we are asking our patrons to wear masks and practice social distancing. We will also expect visitors to use provided hand sanitizer upon entering. We will only be able to have 5 visitors at a time in the museum as we are so small, and recommend you call 704-708-4996 to make a reservation. We are still providing guided tours and will have our guides positioned to stay 6 feet away from the group.

We will allow drop in guests, if there are no other visitors in the museum. Those items, which we encouraged people to touch in the past, have been removed from display. When making a reservation, we accept credit card payment for admission fees to eliminate contact. We look forward to seeing you again!

"My Favorite Things: Ladies Accessories"

The Matthews Heritage Museum announces its new exhibit opening March 19, 2020. "My Favorite Things: Ladies Accessories" will feature favorite items that woman from the early twentieth century to the fifties treasured. From baubles, bangles and beaded purses to collars, gloves and muffs, each of these treasured items made the lady feel special, feminine or beautiful. What items do you have that make you feel special? The exhibit includes hats, purses, hankies, gloves, shoes, and jewelry from the turn of the century to the fifties. The exhibit will be on display until September 12, 2020.

Read more about current Display

Group tours of the museum and this exhibit can be made by calling or emailing the museum. To contact the museum or schedule a tour call: 704-708-4996, or email: info@matthewsheritagemuseum.org. Please call two weeks in advance. We can accommodate 20 people on a tour.

Learn more about "Passport to History"

Pick up a free copy of Foundations, the Matthews Historical Foundation newsletter, at the museum.

Read the Fall 2020 issue of Foundations, MHF newsletter.
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Photo credit Cyma Shapiro, The Beacon

Roseland Cemetery, off Monroe Road was the burial place of slaves and free people of color. It will soon undergo preservation efforts. As a means of supplementing this work, the Matthews Heritage Museum would like to hear from those whose relatives are buried there. We would like to know the person's full name, their birth and death dates, your name and your relationship to that person, and a phone number in case we have questions. The end result is to create a data base of those who are buried there, as there are no records for the cemetery. When we have a relatively large data base, we will post to our web page minus your personal contact information. If you know someone buried there, please send information to Matthews Heritage Museum info@matthewsheritagemuseum.org.. Please help us create this important information. You may also call 704-708-4996.

About a month ago, the Matthews Historical Foundation received an email from Jeff Houser, president of the Olde Mecklenburg Genealogical Society, asking if anyone knew of a cemetery existing in the area. He had been contacted by Piedmont Gas worker Michael Doby, who had found a number of stones, the earliest with the date of 1817, while working in the Crestdale Crossing neighborhood.

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The Matthews Heritage Museum was voted the Best Local Museum in the 2020 Charlotte Media Group Contest, run in the South Charlotte Weekly, Union County Weekly and Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly. The Museum won in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 making this our fifth consecutive year to receive the award!

Matthews Memories Cookbook

Matthews Memories, A Collection of Remembrances and Recipes from a Small Southern Townfeatures 133 pages of stories and recipes with over 40 photos from early and contemporary Matthews cooks and kitchens. The stories reminisce about the cooks and their recipes from early and contemporary Matthews kitchens. Included are references to early Matthews and local southern dishes, such as Creecy Greens. All proceeds from the sale of this book directly benefit Matthews restoration projects. $21.95. Pick up your copy today at the Matthews Heritage Museum or contact us online to request a copy. This book is a gem for nostalgic memories about the past!

See our other gift ideas.

Find information about Girl Scout badge on our "Students" page.

The Historic Landmarks Commission has developed a video explaining the significance of the Outen Pottery and its potential for Matthews's future.

View the video featuring Dan Morrill.

Joe Brandenburg as "Dr. Reid" and Pat Browning as "Mrs. Reid" represented Matthews Heritage Museum in this year's annual Matthews Alive Parade - September 2019. The car is a 1930 Model A Ford driven by owner Hank Donaghy.

The Matthews Heritage Museum is pleased to announce that it has added a new feature. The Museum has put up a “Little Free Library” in front of the museum. Like other library’s it’s a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share.

In the beginning—2009–Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it. He built several more and gave them away. Each one had a sign that said FREE BOOKS. The Museum is hoping to feature books based on history, though we will allow any book to be placed there.

Our “Library” was built by Jason Surface, son of one of our volunteers. It is a miniature version of the Massey Clark House, 1880, which is the home of the Matthews Heritage Museum.

The Matthews Heritage Museum is open Thursday – Saturday from 10 – 4:30. Guided tours are available to the visiting public. Schools can schedule a guided tour by calling 704-708-4996. Admission is $4 per person, $2 for young people 11-17, children 10 and under are free. Parking is available on the street and behind the museum.

Matthews Heritage Museum, Matthews North Carolina