Project Overview

The project includes, refitting restroom facilities, the addition of handrails along interior ramps between exhibits and the construction of an addition to house an elevator which will provide access to the Hayden O’Neil Learning Center, a multi-purpose education space on an upper level, and the Barrier Island Gallery on the lower level. Both these areas currently can only be reached by stairs.

It’s all part of a master plan for the Museum’s 14,000-square-foot building, a process that engaged a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including Board members, government, nonprofit, and business leaders, and donors, members, and volunteers. The resulting ten-year plan identified the need to increase accessibility for patrons, rearrange exhibits to provide for a more effective traffic flow, relocate the retail area to attract more sales, and increase exhibit space. But last year the organization’s board of trustees identified accessibility as its most pressing need. As a result, we launched the Elevating Access project.