Pearl River & Honey Island Swamp Museum

During the 2006 Centennial Celebration in the Town of Pearl River, townspeople gathered, donated and displayed family and town history in the Town Hall. People continually suggested that the Town invest in a museum. Ruby Gauley and Zereda Crawford took a tape measure to the location of the old train depot to see how much space was available, with ideas of building a museum in that location to resemble the train depot. Once a map from the railroad was presented to the Mayor to consider purchasing the land, the Town offered to build a museum next to the Senior Citizen Center, with the agreement that the Board would get grants for the museum to operate off of. In 2007, the building was erected for the museum and research began. Grants were applied for, and awarded by the state. In 2008 the museum began accepting donations for Charter Memberships in order to help with overhead costs. For years, many people volunteered their time and energy to help research and piece together what is now the Pearl River and Honey Island Swamp Museum and Research Center. The museum first opened its doors to the public on Saturday, July 7, 2012. With an early American kitchen, a swamp room, a plethora of family histories, logging, train, and Indian sections there is definitely something for everyone.