OCHLOCKNEE, Ga. — The historic Pope Store Museum will host a series of fundraisers beginning March 7 to raise money necessary to implement a planned garden restoration.

Michelle Dean, owner of the former Pope home and museum executive director, said the property’s multiple gardens would be restored one by one in six phases, each with a corresponding fundraiser.

“It’s a matter of if the money comes in, but it’s going to be dedicated to the garden projects,” Dean said. “We will finish each phase based upon how the fundraisers go.”

Dean said she was awaiting official quotes from three contractors who are prepared to undertake the multi-stage restoration project, but estimated it would cost approximately $50,000.

The executive director said she hoped the initial $5,000 project would be completed by March 2 in time for the museum’s inclusion in a traveling exhibit hosted by the Atlanta High Museum of Art.

The garden restoration project plans were created by University of Georgia students last year.

Dean also said the museum would be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places once the garden restorations are completed.

“They said yes, congratulations, now finish the work on the house and get back with us,” Dean said of the National Register.

The first fundraiser will come in the form of an $8 dinner that will consist of chicken pilau, bread, sweet pickles, coleslaw and dessert.

Plates can be picked up at the Cairo farmer’s market Thursday, March 7 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Tickets for the event may be purchased in-person from Dean at the museum or at (850) 459-9620, Dark Horse Java Coffee, American Legion Post 122 or online at popesmuseum.com.

A later fundraiser will come in the form of an Easter weekend open house event April 20.

“It’s going to be more of an outdoor activity,” Dean said. “We’re going to have easter egg races and fun games for the kids.” 

All funds from the April 20 fundraiser will go to further garden restoration projects.

Dean purchased the abandoned home January 2017 and has been restoring it ever since, leading tours of the historic grounds, the oldest extant outdoor folk art museum in the nation, by appointment.

The widow of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme recently donated an original Pope mural named “Four Planes in a Golden Sky” to the museum following his death in 2017.

Recently the museum, named after former resident and folk artist Laura Pope Forester, was invited by the High Museum to be a feature destination for a new traveling exhibit beginning in March.