Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce board president Stephen Murray, Beaufort History Museum board president Katherine Lang, chamber president and CEO Blakely Williams, and museum board member D.C. Gilley celebrate the signing of the lease that will bring the museum back to The Arsenal. It will move from City Hall on Boundary Street to the spot on Craven Street sometime in the spring, after renovations to the second-story space at The Arsenal are made.

By ERIN MOODY

Courtesy, The Beaufort Gazette

The Beaufort History Museum is moving back home.

In early spring, the museum will leave City Hall to return to The Arsenal, which houses the city’s official visitor center at the corner of Craven and Carteret streets, said Blakely Williams, president of the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“From our point of view, it’s going to really enhance the visitor’s experience, to be able to come in and get all sorts of good information and then go upstairs and visit the museum,” she said.

The chamber has a $1-per-year lease for 99 years with the city for The Arsenal. The chamber’s sublease with the museum also will be for $1 a year and is for five years, with a renewal option for another five, Williams said. It was signed Thursday after months of negotiations between chamber and museum boards.

Museum board president Katherine Lang has long said her ultimate goal was to see the museum return to The Arsenal, where it is more accessible to residents and tourists.

The exhibit and storage space will be smaller than it is now — from 3,500 square feet to 2,470 square feet. But it will allow a different configuration that will provide new display opportunities, she said. The museum board is commissioning a study to develop a long-range plan for museum improvements.

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