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. This gallery features a state-of-the-art interactive area called the “Common Threads Classroom,” providing an exciting and engaging opportunity for guests to have fun while exploring music styles, cultural traditions, musicians, significant milestones, and social structures which shaped the…
Out of Carolina
The Out of Carolina Gallery explores Earl’s time in the mills, his early start in music, his journey on the road, and, eventually, the moment he changed music history when he played on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium. This gallery explores the earlier years of Earl Scruggs’ life and career, including his transition from…
The Turning Road
In The Turning Road Gallery, guests will learn about both continuity and change throughout the region. This gallery focuses on the changing times in the area, from the destruction of the boll weevil to the decline of the textile mills. The Civil Rights Movement ushered a new social awareness for the equality of all Americans,…