Mrs. Shirley Simmons has dedicated much of her life to educating the people of her community here in Fuquay-Varina and to taking action to preserve the town’s past. After 38 years of teaching history in the public schools (including 31 years at Fuquay-Varina High School), she refocused her efforts on the preservation of town history and the creation of the Fuquay-Varina Museums, for which she serves as historian and volunteer director.
Mrs. Simmons, who was born in Avery County and whose father was a Baptist minister, has lived with her husband, Ernest, in the town of Fuquay-Varina since 1963. She has served as a historian for her church and is a long-time member of the Fuquay-Varina Woman’s Club, which was chartered in 1926. The Woman’s Club was involved with moving the J.D. “Squire” Ballentine School to the Ashworth Park property in 1993. They researched the building’s history and raised money to support its relocation, restoration and refurbishment, working in partnership with the Fuquay Springs Questers Chapter #1134 group who owned the building. The Ballentine Schoolhouse Museum opened to the public as a museum in the year 2000.
The Fuquay Springs Questers group, which was organized in 1988, also helped to relocate and restore the first Fuquay Springs Post Office (built in 1901), which is the second oldest building on the Ashworth Park property. As it states in the 2021 Suburban Living article entitled “The Bright Stars of Fuquay-Varina” by Roberta Clayton, Valerie Macon and Nancy King, the Questers restored the Post Office (which belonged to Hattie Parker) “as their contribution to the Centennial in 2009. The Questers have served as docents, helped with identification of large donations of pictures, and provided staff for festival days and other events. They have received several grants for the museums.”
At the time of the town’s bicentennial celebration in 2009, Mrs. Simmons co-chaired a bicentennial commission with town native Ms. Frances Senter. They served on the “repository committee’ and gathered a large number of historical photographs, along with artifacts related to the town’s history. These were to be borrowed and returned to their owners, but many townsfolk were interested in an archive being established—this is where the idea for a town museum originated. At that time, having received so many great images and information, Mrs. Simmons decided to co-author a book on the town’s history, working with Mrs. Shirley Hayes.
Ashworth Park is now home to several more significant historical town treasures including the Ballentine School, the Post Office, and Centennial Museum (which opened in 2009 as part of the bicentennial celebration), along with an original tobacco barn from Guilford County, a children’s playhouse from the Johnson House located at the Mineral Spring, and a railroad caboose (#375), which was found in Alabama and rebuilt. The park was dedicated to the town on October 8, 2014.
When asked what her favorite artifact is in the Centennial Museum, Mrs. Simmons responded that she was especially fond of “Varina” Ballentine’s tombstone, because of its significance to the town’s name and the story associated with it. J. D. Ballentine, the “Squire,” married his wife Virginia Arey, “Varina,” on December 3, 1867. As it states in an April 18, 2021, article written by Mrs. Simmons: “Tradition has it that Virginia wrote to J. D., signing her name ‘Varina’ at sometime during the war. He enlisted October 4, 1861. There is another writer who says that she knit socks and included her name inside as ‘Varina.’ Both stories may be true.”
“Varina” died on May 28, 1888, at age 45. Her original gravesite was in the family cemetery near the home place, which stood just across from where Wagstaff Road intersects Highway 401 S. The cemetery was located where Trinity Episcopal Church is today. Varina’s tombstone was saved by the Lane descendants (who were related to the Ballentine family). A new tombstone had been erected for her in the Oakwood Cemetery in downtown Raleigh, where J.D. Ballentine was buried. The old tombstone, now on display in the Centennial Museum, was used in the Lane family yard as a stepping stone until they donated it to the museum.
Museum volunteers, Ms. Jane Swinson and Ms. Betty Vaughan, were also asked what their favorite museum artifacts were. Ms. Swinson has been a tour docent for about a year, and she especially loves the pictures of the old homes that are still in town today—she likes to go and find them. Ms. Vaughan has been a docent since 2011 and serves on the museum’s Friends board. She likes the old jail cell that was preserved as part of the museum’s municipal building space. She finds it to be “surprising and fascinating.” Mrs. Simmons noted that there had been three jail cells and that the preserved space “makes a great picture spot.”
The Centennial Museum is located one block off Main Street at 131 South Fuquay Avenue and is easily accessed with handicap facilities. It is open to the public two days a week, on Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoons, as well as during special events and by appointment. A contact form is available for group reservations at https://fuquay-varina-museums.org/contact/. The museum has a webpage at https://fuquay-varina-museums.org/centennial/, as well as Facebook and Instagram pages, which are maintained by the volunteers. (There is also an effort underway to add QR codes to each building so that additional information about them may be learned while walking around the park.) Mrs. Simmons mentioned that there are about 50 volunteers involved and around 25 docents (mostly former teachers), who regularly provide tours of the museum and do other needed work. There are currently no paid staff.
Mr. Carl Clark, who is the president of the Fuquay-Varina Museum’s Board of Supporters (which formed in 2022) and a descendant of the namesake of the town, William Fuquay, was interviewed for this article. He noted that the Centennial Museum is out of space and no longer able to accept large collections and artifacts, even though there are people, including himself, who want to make these sorts of donations in order to preserve town history. “There’s no room,” he said, “for display or storage, and the existing storage facility the museum has is costing a lot of money. A new space is needed.” Mr. Clark noted that a fundraising campaign will soon be underway to help to cover costs “for building expansion, staffing, and future needs such as artifact preservation and displays.”
“We’re in a vulnerable situation,” said Mr. Curtis Holleman, “regarding the need for additional storage and display space.” Mr. Holleman is president of the Friends of the Museum group (a non-profit organization formed in 2009-2010) and he has been involved in a number of town history and preservation projects, such as for Elliott’s Pharmacy on Main Street. “We have the old fire station,” he noted, “although the space is shared with the NC Department of Motor Vehicles office. It would be nice to have the whole building, if that were possible,” he added. He mentioned that the museum is paying for off-site storage but that doing so meant that “people can’t see the artifacts”…that there is “lots of history people can’t see.”
The museum is currently supported by a legal partnership (drawn up by legal representatives of both parties), with the Town of Fuquay-Varina, which owns the old fire station facility (once housing a police station and courthouse). When interviewed for this article, Mrs. Simmons noted that her biggest woe was that the current building is “too crowded” and that there is “stuff everywhere.” Mrs. Simmons mentioned that the museum volunteers in 2018-2019 put together a strategic master plan for future operations and expansion, which includes the need for paid staff and membership-building for the Friends groups, and that a town retreat focusing on this issue took place in 2000.
The museum volunteers and Friends groups are interested in more than just what is seen in the Centennial Museum and around Ashworth Park. Mr. Holleman said, “The activity of the museums is not just at one site; it’s about anything historical.” He noted that the old elementary school bell had been recently procured and is being refurbished. It is over 70 years old and once stood at the corner of Ennis Street and Academy Street, where the middle school is now located. With expansion, this would be placed on display.
Another project of interest includes the assemblage of old tobacco barns that are on display off of Purfoy Road, where the old Tyco facility had been located and later T.E. Connectivity Corporation. There is a possibility that several of them may be torn down to make way for new development, despite there being interpretive signage associated with them and a small privately-owned park. They are a rare assemblage of diverse tobacco barn structures and could possibly be designated as historic landmarks, according to Gary Roth, president and CEO of Capital Area Preservation. There is also a rare Longleaf pine tree on site.
The museum’s Friends groups are also involved in the hopeful preservation of Burt’s Cafe, owned by Mr. Romie Burt, Sr., which is located on Railroad Street and is believed to be the town’s first Black owned business. Burt built it for an office and brought the first African American physician, Dr. J. B. Davis, to serve the town. The building is a wooden structure that dates back to before 1940. It later housed a cafe where Black workers of the North State tobacco workers went to eat. The building is in good shape but could use some restoration. The Friends groups have discussed the possibility of it staying where it is or moving it to Ashworth Park, if the town were to allow it. The family that owns it is willing to move it and underwrite the restoration costs.
According to the Town of Fuquay-Varina’s Community Demographics Information webpage, “Fuquay-Varina is the 6th largest municipality in the most populous county in the State. Between the last two decennial Censuses, the Town grew by 90%, and the Town’s Inspections Department continually sets records for the most building permits issued monthly.” Rapid growth of this nature threatens to erase the remaining historic structures that are found in town, if preservation efforts are not supported to keep them around and to care for them properly.
The volunteers and Friends groups associated with the Fuquay-Varina Museums are working hard to ensure that the town’s history is saved and significant structures continue to be part of the visual landscape, adding unique character and ensuring that future generations understand how the town has evolved and thrived over time. (Their current project will be repainting NC # 375 Caboose.) We hope that you, too, will support these efforts and take advantage of what has been saved so that you can learn about our town’s unique history and heritage.
