Photo: Gov. Pat McCrory (center) stopped by to visit with DNCR CREST team members Adrienne Berney (far left), Reid Thomas (second from right) and LeRae Umfleet (far right) during a recent tour of flood damage in Windsor.
The recent heavy flooding in Bertie County caused flood waters to rise up to four feet high in the Craftsman and Farmers Museum in downtown Windsor. Much of the museum’s collection of antique farming implements and tools were submerged under water and in need of care and cleaning.
Enter the Cultural Resources Emergency Response Team, or CREST. The team of employees from the N. C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources worked with the museum’s staff to clean hundreds of artifacts including saddles, tools and even a few carriages.
Fortunately, no major artifacts were destroyed by flood waters, and the CREST team was able to clean and restore items that had been submerged.
“It’s not necessarily the first thing people think of in a disaster, but so often our cultural and historical treasures are also at risk following events such as floods or hurricanes,” said Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz. “This fantastic team is trained to recover and restore artifacts of any kind after almost any type of disaster. I am so very proud of the vitally important work that they do in protecting our state’s heritage.”
The CREST team is able to deploy members across the state immediately after a disaster to assist with repair and restoration at libraries, museums and historic sites. CREST members arrive with special supplies to triage, clean and repair artifacts, and have had specialized recovery training that includes soot removal, photograph salvage, freezing techniques, and textile cleaning for temporary or long-term conservation and storage.
CREST also offers training in artifact recovery to interested groups. To connect with CREST, please contact Adrienne Berney at 919-807-7418 or adrienne.berney@ncdcr.gov.