"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."
The museum will be closed over the Christmas Holidays on December 26, 27, and 28.
The Matthews Historical Foundation is hosting an open house for the Nancy Reid House on December 15, 2019 from 4 to 6. Historic Enactors portraying Dr. & Mrs. Reid will welcome guests to their Victorian Home at 134 W. John Street. Tours will be given by docents from the Matthews Heritage Museum.
The Historic Reid House will be dressed in its finest Christmas garlands as visitors tour this 1890 treasure. As you move room-to-room you will be delighted with the decorations of yesteryear. Light refreshments will be served. This event will surely put you in the Christmas spirit! FREE
The Matthews Heritage Museum is located at 232 N. Trade Street and is open Thurs. to Saturday from 10 to 4:30. The museum will be closed over the Christmas Holidays on December 26, 27, and 28. Currently on display is the exhibit House with a Heart: The 40th Anniversary of the HELP Center.
"THE HOUSE WITH A HEART: 40 YEARS OF THE MATTHEWS HELP CENTER"
Matthews Help Center Early Years
The Matthews Heritage Museum is pleased to announce its new exhibit will be on the 40th Anniversary of the Matthews HELP Center. The exhibit will feature the history of this organization from its inception in 1978 to its official beginnings in 1979 and through 4 decades of growth. The exhibit will be on display until February 1, 2020.
This exhibit traces the 4 decades of growth of the Matthews HELP Center from an all-volunteer agency assisting those needing aid and support to the professional staff of 7 full time and 6 part time staff of today. The community of Matthews rose to the challenge in 1979 when several churches, the Council of Aging and others recognized a need to assist those who needed guidance and temporary support. Gathering together volunteers from the Matthews Woman’s Club and the Happy Timers as well as others, this center reached out to those in need and provided everything from food, clothing and some financial help. Older citizens could get tax assistance or a blood pressure checked. Single parents often received guidance as to where they could get additional assistance.
Matthews Help Center New Location
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"
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!
The Matthews Heritage Museum was voted the Best Local Museum in the 2019 Charlotte Media Group Contest, run in the South Charlotte Weekly, Union County Weekly and Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly. The Museum won in 2016, 2017, and 2018 making this our fourth year to receive the award!
L to R: Angela Parlente, Docent of the Year, Bob Parlente, Becky Willard, President MHF
The Matthews Heritage Museum is pleased to announce that Docent of the Year for 2018 was awarded to Angela Parlante for her six years of service to the museum. We also celebrate her husband Bob for all his support he has given to her and to us!
The Board of the Matthews Historical Foundation extends its sincere and well deserved “Thank You” to all the docents and volunteers for their generous gifts of time and talent. It is much appreciated by the Foundation Board of Directors, Matthews, and all who visit the Museum.
Pick up a free copy of Foundations, the Matthews Historical Foundation newsletter, at the museum.
Read the Fall 2019 issue of Foundations, MHF newsletter.
PDF reader needed to view newsletter. Link to Adobe Reader.
Matthews Heritage Museum opened June 2013
Come see what the museum has to offer!
See our new Massey-Clark Panel
See the Tank Town Exhibit
Learn about Matthews History
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
If you would like to volunteer a few hours per month at our museum, contact us at 704-708-4996 or email info@matthewsheritagemuseum.org.
To donate items, contact the Matthews Heritage Museum at 704-708-4996 or email info@matthewsheritagemuseum.org.
Matthews Heritage Museum located in downtown Matthews - 232 North Trade Street
