Carrie Fellows speaks at 200th anniversary of Macculloch Hall.
A class act is leaving town.
Carrie Fellows, executive director of the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown since 2009, departs next week to become executive director of the Hunterdon County Culture and Heritage Commission in Flemington.
“The county is looking at what makes Hunterdon a wonderful place to live, and history and culture are big parts of that. It will be challenging and fun to play a role in re-making the brand of the county,” Fellows said.
Jock Clark, president of Macculloch Hall’s board of trustees, said Fellows took the museum “to the next level professionally. Under her leadership we have improved the quality and broadened the scope of our exhibits.”
While the board searches for a successor, Alice Cutler, a past president and trustee for 25 years, will serve as interim director, reprising a role she played prior to Fellows’ hiring.
“She brought a great deal of professionalism and dedication to Macculloch Hall,” Cutler said of Fellows. “I was interim director in 2009 when she was hired and I showed her the ropes. Now five years later, she is training me to fill in as interim director once again.”
Clark credited Fellows with establishing classroom and educational programs that connect museum exhibits with students from public-, private- and home schooling organizations.
A popular lecture series and summer garden concerts also began during Fellows’ tenure. And she secured $20,000 from the Morris County Preservation Trust for a two-year historic preservation and rehabilitation study, just under way, Clark said.
CHANDELIERS AND BAGPIPES
“I am most proud of bringing a really wonderful museum into the 21st century, programmatically, technologically and organizationally,” Fellows said, calling her years there “were always challenging, but always beautiful.
“I’m going to miss looking at this gorgeous building and the decorative arts every day. How many people can walk into a building and look at a 1768 chandelier?”
Fellows won’t miss her long commute, however. She and her husband, Mark Texel, director of the state Division of Parks and Forestry, bought a house near Flemington last year.
Macculloch Hall is the former home of George and Louisa Macculloch, who were a Morris County power couple of the early 19th century. George created the Morris Canal, and a boys school. Louisa helped start a charity that continues today, as Cornerstone Family Programs. The couple also were instrumental in getting St. Peter’s Episcopal Church off the ground.
One of Fellows’ first major undertakings at Macculloch Hall was a 200th anniversary celebration in 2010. Some 30 Macculloch descendants were welcomed by a bagpipe procession from the church.
These days, Macculloch Hall and its garden give visitors glimpses of several bygone eras. In addition to sharing vestiges of the original owners, the museum houses the largest collection of original works by Thomas Nast, the muckraking 19th-century illustrator who lived across the street.
Holdings also include presidential memorabilia, rare rugs and antique porcelain, all collected by the late W. Parsons Todd, the museum founder and former mayor known as “Mr. Morristown.”
The museum mounts about four exhibitions a year, which together draw between 3,800 and 5,300 visitors, Fellows said.
“She has raised Macculloch Hall to a higher level than it was, and leaves it in great shape for her successor to build upon,” Jock Clark said.
Fellows, who holds degrees in English, history and American studies from William & Mary and the University of Massachusetts, came to the Morris County Heritage Commission in 2006 from Corning, NY, where she was curator for the historical society.
She also has served on the board of the Morris County Tourism Bureau.
“She will be missed by our history community, but the accomplishments she leaves behind will be a testament to her hard work,” said Leslie Bensley, the tourism bureau’s executive director.
Alice Cutler won’t have much time to miss Fellows.
The interim director will be busy right away: Macculloch Hall is presenting a fundraising tour of eight homes in Morristown’s historic district on Oct. 19, 2014.
READ MORE ABOUT MACCULLOCH HALL
Carrie Fellows re-lives history as a re-enactor in this video, in scenes shot at Macculloch Hall.
