EXHIBITS
FEATURED EXHIBIT
Voices of the Frontier: Cleveland County on the Eve of Independence
EXHIBIT DATES: April 10 – December 19, 2026 Before Cleveland County had a name, it was home to the yeh is-WAH h’reh-“People of the River”-known today as the Catawba Nation. This section of Voices of the Frontier invites visitors to explore the deep roots of this land, beginning with the Catawba Creation Story, a living…
PERMANENT EXHIBITS
Rotunda Gallery
As guests enter the museum, they are welcomed with our central instrument display in the rotunda. This area showcases the “crown jewels” of the Earl Scruggs Center: instruments belonging to three generations of Scruggs family musicians, including the banjo on which Earl mastered his three-finger picking style.
In These Hills
The journey begins here- in the rolling hills and rushing rivers of the North Carolina Piedmont. In These Hills features a state of the art interactive table called Common Threads that provides an exciting and engaging opportunity for guests to have fun while exploring music styles, cultural traditions, musicians, significant milestones and social structures which…
Out of Carolina
Out of Carolina explores Earl’s time in the mills and his transition from the mills to the stage, his early years on the road through the moment he made history when he first played on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium. In the Land of Radio explores the impact of broadcasting and guests can listen…
The Turning Road
The Turning Road explores continuity and change throughout the region. People had to adapt to the changing times from the destruction of the boll weevil to the decline of the textile mills. The civil rights movement brought new social awareness for the equal rights of all Americans and the new electric music style brought diversity…