This year, your gift means more than ever.
Even while closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we’ve been hard at work translating programs, tours, exhibits, and events into online formats, all while taking care of the home and collection.
The loss of admission revenue, field trips and bus groups, and the cancellation of two major fundraisers means your gift is more important than ever to keep our mission going strong.
In 1929, just months before the stock market crash that began the Great Depression, a dedicated group of women opened the Polk Home to the public to preserve and share the legacy of the 11th President. We’ve weathered hard times before. With your support, we look forward to creative solutions to continue sharing Polk’s story for the future.
Kitchen Garden
With generous support from the Tennessee Historical Commission, the Maury County Visitors Bureau, the City of Columbia, and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, we have nearly completed installation of a period kitchen garden on the site. Your gifts will allow us to maintain the garden and develop new programming around foodways, ecology, and 19th century life and labor.
Distance Learning
Now more than ever, it is critical that we can engage students and adults alike with virtual programming.
Your gifts will allow us to upgrade and expand our equipment so that we can offer quality educational programming even when guests can’t come to us, during COVID-19 and well beyond.
Since 1994 Polk’s America has explored the life and times of James K. Polk with a monthly lecture series. In the past year we’ve grown this longstanding program with exciting new guest speakers, a partnership with the Maury County Public Library, and a fantastic new podcast.
We need additional support to cover transportation costs for out of town speakers, new sound equipment for the lectures, and new equipment for producing the podcast.
