Wake Forest College Birthplace Museum - Wake Forest

The Museum is in the newer structure on the right

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       This was probably the quickest visit I've ever made. The Museum is anything but kid-friendly, especially for young children like my toddler. It's furnished like an alumni house or like my in-laws living room with lots of nice furniture and breakable sit-arounds.

       The auditorium on the right side of the Museum is where you can see a 15 minute video about the College and the Town of Wake Forest and their survival as exclusive elements. I only saw one or two minutes of the video before my toddler insisted on leaving the room, but it started out using golf star and alumnus, Arnold Palmer, as a departure point for exploring the College's history.

      The Museum's collection - which can be viewed in a hall to the left of the main foyer - center's mostly on the College's sports history. A few displays focus on other aspects of the College's story like it's medical program. I had to view the exhibit hall rather quickly while repeating "Don't touch that!" as I followed behind my toddler's pinball-like trajectory, so I didn't get a chance to read many of the placards.

Display of WF's medical school artifacts

       The main foyer houses a diorama of the original campus replete with a stationary miniature train, which my toddler loved. It also houses a 'Rolls Royce golf cart' which was made for one of Mickey Mantle's charity golf tournaments. The tricked out cart with cooler and stereo tape deck was acquired by one of Mantle's teammates, a WF alumnus who donated it to the Museum.

       I had read about the Museum's collection of photographs of the Town's two train wrecks and I figured my toddler would be interested in those since he likes making his own toy trains wreck. After asking one of the Museum staff about the photos he brought out the book containing them, at which point my toddler became his own train wreck as he fell to the floor in a screaming meltdown. I decided that was a good signal to leave.

      The Museum is definitely not for young children and may not be that interesting to older children either unless they have a passionate interest in Wake Forest history. The Museum's target audience is definitely WF alumni interested in better understanding their alma mater's beginnings.