The Columbia Historical Museum directors approved curator Michael Bailey’s request at their May board meeting for the West Columbia museum to participate in the Brazoria County Passport Program. The Summer Museum Passport Program will kick off Saturday, June 1, 2024, at the Lake Jackson Historical Museum which will be open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Residents of Brazoria County are being encouraged to visit as many of the county’s museums and historical sites as they can this summer.
Bailey said that museum visitors can acquire a passport for free that they can have stamped each time they visit one of the many museums in Brazoria County. Prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the summer program, according to West Columbia’s museum curator.
Lake Jackson Historical Museum Youth Education and Programing Coordinator Jordan Weaver told The Facts reporter Whitley Ebner, “Some of the other participating locations will be here (in Lake Jackson Saturday) as well with their own tables, promotional material and activities for the public.”
Thirteen museums in Brazoria County will be taking part in the Summer Passport program and will have passports available for anyone interested in participating after Saturday’s kickoff in Lake Jackson. Stamps can be earned at each participating museum to add to visitors’ passports.
“Their goal for the passports is to get 10 out of the 13 available stamps,” Weaver told The Facts. “Once they have 10 stamps, they can submit their passport to win a raffle prize, which will be announced at the closing event August 17 at the Freeport Historical Museum.”
The final closing event for the Summer Passport Program will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on August 17, 2024, at the Freeport Historical Museum where there will be free admission during the event.
In addition to the museums in Lake Jackson and Freeport and the Columbia Historical Museum, 247 East Brazos Avenue in West Columbia (open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays), other participating locations where stamps can be added to the passports include: the Alden B. Dow Office Museum in Lake Jackson, the Alvin Historical Museum, the Brazoria County Historical Museum in Angleton, the Brazoria Historical Museum in Brazoria, the Brazos Valley Railroad Society Museum, 208 W. Smith Street in Brazoria, Brazosport Museum of Natural Science, the Jackson Plantation Historical Site in Lake Jackson, the Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site at 10510 FM 524 near Brazoria, the Stephen F. Austin-Munson Historical County Park near Angleton, the Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site in West Columbia and the Rosenwald School behind the museum in West Columbia.
For further information about the Summer Passport program, contact the Columbia Historical Museum at (979) 345-6125.