The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every part of ETSU, including the Carter Railroad Museum.
The railroad museum has recently reopened and has been in operation since Aug. 29. The museum’s staple, Heritage Day, is how the Railroad Museum decided to start off the semester with a focus on the colorful and popular lines of the region to the west of Mississippi.
Fred Alsop III, director of the Carter Railroad Museum, has been working like most to plan around something that has never existed before.
“There’s always challenges when you’re trying to pre-plan something you’ve never done before,” Alsop said.
The Carter Railroad Museum has stated that it will be operating to follow the COVID-19 guidelines for safety with as few changes as possible this semester.
“The only real change is closing the little engineers room,” Alsop said.
Due to the size of the room, the Little Engineer’s Playroom will be closed down temporarily to adhere to social distancing guidelines. This allocation means that Heritage days will still be happening on the last Saturday of every month.
“We have a heritage day on the last Saturday of every month, and we will continue to do that,” Alsop III said.
Adhering to the university guidelines also means that all visitors will have to wear masks while on the ETSU campus as well as its building, including the railroad museum. There will be directional signage throughout the museum to promote social distancing and to create safe traffic through the galleries and corridors. The number of patrons allowed inside the galleries are limited to 10 per gallery, and they have a time limit of 15 minutes within each gallery.
Following Heritage Days, other Carter Railroad Museum events will be held in person for the near future and are free to the public with donations welcomed. The museum is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
