Historic Beaufort house to become visitor center

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) — A two-century old home in Beaufort is being transformed from a museum house where visitors see how it looked in the past to a center where visitors can view museum exhibits and learn about other local historic sites.

The Beaufort Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/oztI3r ) that the Historic Beaufort Foundation has already begun work on the changes at the Verdier House built in 1804.

Foundation executive director Julie Good says tourism at house museums nationwide is down, and the changes should allow the foundation to direct visitors to other sites.

Next month the house hosts an exhibit on an artillery unit that defended Beaufort in the Revolution. It then hosts a state museum traveling exhibit on Robert Smalls, a slave who commandeered a Confederate steamship in Charleston during the Civil War.

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Information from: The Beaufort Gazette, http://www.beaufortgazette.com