Monterey Depot Museum Awarded For Vlog Series

The Monterey Depot Museum has been awarded for its efforts to keep museum engagement going during the pandemic.

The museum received an award from the Tennessee Association of Museums in the A/V video blog category for “On the Road with Dale Welch.

Monterey Cultural Administrator Rafferty Cleary said Welch’s impact from recording the historical knowledge only he has will impact generations in Monterey.

“I’m more excited about the fact that we’ve got these things saved and archived on YouTube account,” Cleary said. “And on our Facebook because they’re here forever now and I think that’s extremely important for this town.”

Cleary said he and Welch came together to find a way to share Monterey’s history when doors could not open. He said the vlogs will continue because people around the Upper Cumberland connected with these videos.

“We took Dale out to different locations around the Monterey area,” Cleary said. “And just detailed history behind the places that we went. Crazy George’s Bridge was one of the ones we did, the Old Walton Road, we went out to that area and Dale did a story out there.”

Cleary said they even filmed inside the museum to highlight exhibits when doors could not open.  Cleary said Welch is not just the Putnam County Historian, but a tireless researcher who volunteers his time to the Depot Museum, six days a week.

“He is constantly involved in writing stories about the Civil War or about ancestry,” Cleary said. “He’s constantly at work, he is a wealth of knowledge.”

Dale Welch said he has been studying since childhood and local history has always been his passion. Both men said the award and the video series became possible thanks to their teamwork together.