Clarksville, TN – The Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is located in Historic Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee. Come explore an entire city block featuring large gallery spaces filled with fine art, science, and history.
Some of the events in October at the Museum are Familiars: Interactions: Paintings by Judy Lavoie, Still: Ceramics by Anne Beyer, Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Start Your Engines! A Celebration of Racing in Montgomery County, Artsville Fest, Little Explorers: Dino Delight.
Customs House Museum Exhibits
Interactions: Paintings by Judy Lavoie
October 5th – January 2nd | Jostens Gallery
A wide variety of themes inspire Judy Lavoie to paint. Interesting textures inspire her, as do delicate colorful flowers and brightly lit landscapes. “By exaggerating colors, or sometimes altering them from reality, I aim to preserve a moment in time, recreating the subject in my own way.”
Still: Ceramics by Anne Beyer
Through November 28th | Harvill Gallery
Anne Beyer’s work is inspired by the relationship between the natural world and the human psyche. In this exhibit, she explores the relationship between handcrafted wood-fired ceramic forms and digitally designed 3D-printed objects.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
Through November 7th | Lobby
Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th and pays tribute to the history and culture of the Hispanic and Latin American communities. This year’s national theme is “Be Proud of Your Past, Embrace the Future.” This exhibit features a variety of Hispanic and Latin American cultural objects, clothing, and traditions.
Familiars: The Art of Beverly Parker
Through October 27th | Crouch Gallery
Beverly Parker’s background in darkroom developing and printing provided a bridge to experimenting with other photography processes. Parker taught advanced darkroom and alternative processes at APSU through the Community School of the Arts. She is a co-founder of the Downtown Artists Co-op.
Start Your Engines! A Celebration of Racing in Montgomery County
Through October 31st | Bruner, Orgain, Hand & Kimbrough Galleries
Sponsored by Tri-Star Beverage and MPG Transport
The Museum expands its Challenge & Champions exhibit with this multi-gallery exhibition showcasing Montgomery County’s auto racing history and the local legends that formed the sport. Start Your Engines! highlights race cars, art, historical memorabilia and video footage of personal stories from locals who established auto racing in the area.
Museum Events
Artsville Fest
September 30th – October 2nd
The Museum is proud to be a hub at the inaugural Artsville Fest put on by ArtLink and LOCAL Clarksville! Stop by the Museum’s Courtyard on September 30th–October 2nd to enjoy live music, art, entertainment, live performances, great food, and more! Seasons: The Museum Store will be open during the festival. On Saturday, visitors can show their Artsville Passport to receive 25% off Museum admission. No other discounts apply.
First Thursday Art Walk
October 7th, 5:00pm–8:00pm
The Museum will have free admission during First Thursday Art Walk Clarksville from 5:00pm–8:00pm. Cousins Maine Lobster Food Truck will be set up in the Museum courtyard serving decadent snacks.
Historic Greenwood Cemetery Walking Tour with Artifact Stories
Every Saturday in October, 10:00am–12:00pm
The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center is once again hosting our popular historic walking tour of Greenwood Cemetery, one of Clarksville’s oldest active cemeteries. Take a spooky stroll through the winding paths of Greenwood to hear tales full of local history and intrigue. New addition: expand your tour with a close-up showing of eerie Museum artifacts. This optional addition will be hosted at the Museum immediately following the cemetery tour. Tickets must be purchased in advance and will be available very soon!
*Artifact Stories portion is not available on October 23rd.
Fifth Saturday Donation Day
October 30th, 10:00am–5:00pm
Fifth Saturday is Donation Day! Visit the Museum before heading down to Fright on Franklin – costumes are welcome! Any month with five Saturdays, on the fifth Saturday any monetary donation to the Museum is your admission. All donations directly support the Museum’s mission.
Museum Programs
Little Explorers: Dino Delight
October 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, drop by between 10:30am–12:30pm
Ages 2 – 5, with adult
Free with membership or paid admission | Hudson Room
Preschoolers pretend to be paleontologists by using trowels and paintbrushes to excavate dinosaur skeletons buried in a sandpit. Toddlers enjoy playing in a sensory bin that contains mini-dinosaurs, dinosaur eggs, and more. Walk realistic dinosaur models around on top of “mud” to make trace fossils, then create an imprint of a dinosaur skeleton in “mud” to take home! Examine and compare the models to illustrations in a full-color book and discover lots of cool things about dinosaurs!
*All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children. Activities may include items that are a choking hazard.
Discovery Saturday: Halloween Science
October 9th & 23rd, drop by between 1:30pm–3:30pm | 1st grade and above, with adult
Free with membership or paid admission | Family Art Studio
Get in the Halloween spirit with fun hands-on science! Create a “magic potion” to make a chemical reaction happen. Explore the properties of a non-Newtonian liquid by immersing your hands in thick green “ooze.” Have a pumpkin-themed sensory experience and try your noggin at pumpkin math.
*All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.
Family Art Saturday: Block and Ink Printing
October 30th, drop by between 10:00am–12:00pm & 2:00pm–4:00pm
Ages 5 and above, with adult
Free with membership or paid admission | Family Art Studio
Special guest Hortensia Rodriguez will assist in creating unique illustrations with block printers she has designed in this month’s Family Art Saturday. Children’s books created by Hispanic illustrators will also be on display. Please dress in clothing okay to get splatters on.
*All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.
Museum Discovery Quest
Free with membership or paid admission | Developed for school-age children
Free Take It N’ Make It Activity
Explore Museum exhibits with your family in a creative way with Museum Discovery Quests – entertaining, self-guided “scavenger hunts” that pique kids’ curiosities and captivate their attention. Several different themes are offered, and all of them include a free Take It N’ Make It activity packet for kids to make a fun project at home.
Sign up for a Perks Pass to win a free prize from Seasons: The Museum Store after finishing three Quests. Available Quest themes:
- Start Your Engines!
- Tools & Simple Machines
- Structures
Huff & Puff Express Model Trains
Exhibit open daily | Volunteer Train Crew members run trains Sundays, 1:00pm–4:00pm
and Wednesdays, 10:00am-12:00pm
Enjoy one of the largest model railroad layouts in the region boasting a miniature castle, UFO and scenic landscape. Interact with the miniature world by making automobiles move and helicopters fly. The model train exhibit is open daily and themes change every season.
Seasons: The Museum Store
Book Sale
Offer good through Octoberober 31st, 2021
Children’s books, historical reads and local lore are all on sale this month in Seasons. All books are 25% off; members enjoy 30% off.
About the Customs House Museum
Located in the heart of historic downtown Clarksville, Tennessee, the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is the State’s second-largest general museum. The original portion of the building was constructed in 1898 as a U.S. Post Office and Customs House for the flourishing tobacco trade. Incorporating a number of architectural styles, the original structure is one of the most photographed buildings in the region.
With over 35,000 square feet of the region’s best hands-on activities and special events…people of all ages agree – the Customs House Museum is well worth the stop!
Regular museum hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm Tuesday through Saturday, and 1:00pm to 5:00pm on Sundays. Adult admission is $7.00, Senior Citizens and College ID $5.00, Ages 6 to 18 $3.00, and under six years and Museum members are free.
The Customs House Museum is located at 200 South Second Street. For more information, call 931.648.5780 or visit their website at www.customshousemuseum.org