New Smyrna Celebrates: Planning, Partnerships, and Public Participation in Local Heritage

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Public and Our Communities: How to Present Engaging Archaeology" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The City of New Smyrna Beach, Florida celebrated its 250th anniversary in June 2018. New Smyrna contains archaeological evidence that traverses the late 18th-century British colonial era and spans into the 20th-century. The community, however, overwhelmingly undervalues and underappreciates this heritage. In order to infuse heritage awareness and appreciation into the community, the author developed three Archaeology Discovery Stations for the 250th event. The purpose of the stations was two-fold: 1) integrate engaging, participatory archaeology activities into the 250th anniversary event and 2) reinvigorate partnerships between the New Smyrna Museum of History and archaeologists in Florida. This paper evaluates and reflects upon the successes and failures of three facets related to the 250th event: 1) the public archaeology content; 2) the public’s participation in and reaction to archaeological content; and 3) the status of partnerships between the New Smyrna Museum of History and local archaeologists.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• The Public and Our Communities: How to Present Engaging Archaeology

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 411