Karen Kistler

karen.kistler@salisburypost.com 

 

SALISBURY — The Rowan County Museum’s History Club has a long history of gathering, providing opportunities for people to hear and learn about people and the community.

Even though the History Club’s name actually has “club” in it, there’s no true membership involved or anything like that, said Aaron Kepley, executive director of the Rowan County Museum.

“It’s just people in the community who are interested in history getting together for about an hour and hearing an interesting speaker,” said Kepley.

People do not need to contact the museum to let them know they will attend the meetings, which have been taking place for more than 20 years.

“People just show up,” said Kepley, noting there is no registration required and it is free for the public to attend.

The next History Club meeting will be held on March 11 beginning at 7 p.m. at the museum, 202 N. Main St., Salisbury. David Whisenant will serve as the guest speaker.

As noted on the museum’s Facebook page, Whisenant will share information about his book, “Chasing the Story: The Stories and Events that Shaped the Life of a Veteran News Reporter.” 

These memoirs tell the story of his 32-year career as a television news reporter, sharing stories of major events that he covered as well as “reflecting on personal challenges he has faced including the death of his father and his advocacy for mental wellness. Through engaging anecdotes and heartfelt storytelling, the memoir offers a unique glimpse into the life of a journalist and the stories that left a lasting impact on him.”

Kepley said that by attending this event people “get to have close access to somebody who has been a community figure for a long time. You get to hear directly from him about his story and you also get to do that in a room full of like-minded individuals who are there for the same thing.”

April’s History Club will feature the history majors from Catawba College as they present their undergraduate thesis papers.

“That’s always a cool one,” said Kepley, an opportunity he would have liked to have had when he graduated from Pfeiffer.

“I wish I would have had that opportunity to present my thesis like that in a public forum,” he said.

The students who are there presenting their theses are nervous, he said, but added that “everybody who is there is just so excited to hear what they’re doing and to learn about what is important to them and kinda where historic scholarship could be headed.”

Kepley said that it’s mostly him that selects the speakers for the club events, adding that sometimes people make recommendations. However, usually at the half-year point, he said he will plan the next six months of speakers.

“I look around at people in the community who are doing research, who are writing books, who are just interesting people that I think somebody will want to hear from and it can be almost any topic but we really like it whenever we are able to connect back to Rowan County,” he said.

Kepley has served as director of the museum on two different occasions, initially serving from 2016 until he left in 2022 and as of Feb. 1, is officially back in the role of director.

During his years, there have been quite a few different topics covered, but he said that one of the most powerful ones he could remember was a club meeting that fell on Sept. 11 in either 2018 or 2019. Andy Walker from Across the Pond Bed and Breakfast on North Fulton Street, was the speaker.

Walker “was instrumental in helping rebuild the Trade Center area after 9/11 and he came and he did a talk on that and that was extremely powerful because he was there, he saw it, he dealt with the people right there in the aftermath of Sept. 11,” said Kepley.

On the museum’s website, it says that the History Club meets the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. from August through May in the Messenger Room at 202 N. Main St., Salisbury. Light refreshments are provided.

When asked what he hopes people will learn from these events, Kepley said he hopes “they will take a curiosity back into their daily lives and look deeper into the world around them, into our community and try to understand it a little bit better.”