Billy Graham Library (Charlotte, NC)

The Billy Graham Library is located just outside of the city limits of Charlotte, North Carolina, off of the Billy Graham Parkway. Admission is free, but timed, and the grounds incorporate his childhood home, and the grave of his wife.

The first thing you'll notice as you drive up is someone stopping you as you enter with your "Parking Pass". I took the pass from the guard, and hung it obediently on my rear view mirror. As I got out of the car, I heard relaxing medatative music as a gently curving trail led between a silo, garden, house, and a barn with a glass cross on it. Upon entering the "barn" which was actually the library and getting the timed ticket, the exhibit started with a talking cow. Yes. A talking cow. She went through the early days of Billy Graham when he helped to take care of his family's dairy farm. The next part made me realize what this museum was going to be about.

The second part was a short film about three peoples' lives were before they realized their lives needed a major life change. Hmm... I wonder what changed their life? The following two rooms have films about the early life as an Evangelical minister. The third room has an interesting living exhibit using light and sound to enhance certain artifacts from the life that Graham and his wife led together. The artifacts are chosen wisely and reflect accurately how much religion was a part of her life before Billy. The fourth room explains, through a prerecorded segment, how Billy Graham took full advantages of the advents media presented during the 1940s and the 1950s. As I left that room, a docent indicated that a lot of the rest of the museum would be about the man behind Rev. Graham: Jesus.

Through the rest of the museum, the items on the walls covered his co-preachers with his church and values that a Christian should live by. In the middle of these rooms were various gifts and programs from his preaching throughout the world. As the museum ends, there is an awesome encompassing room with a Berlin Wall diorama that explains how Billy Graham broke the "Iron Curtain" to bring his message to communist Soviets.

I went to the Billy Graham Library mostly because it just seemed interesting, and I know how important religion is in more of the parts of the United States except for the areas I grew up. Although I was hoping for more of a historical look at the Evangelical movement in the United States, the conversion experience was something to admire too. The curators carefully chose the items to put on display to be of interest to visitors who may not be Christians. The scripture on the wall was a little bit repetitive, but they are important to the mission that Evangelists.

The house outside of the library was the house that Graham grew up in. It was picked up, moved, and made to look as it did as Graham was growing up. There wasn't much to the house, just a small velvet-roped walk through.

It was a great museum to go to, but it probably shouldn't be advertised as a museum/library and more as a cultural center. I suppose it was a museum of Evangelist religion, but I still think the designation could be debated. This does not take away from the experience. The curators chose film, audio, captions and items very carefully and each room and case follows through to the next. The museum gets major points for being well staffed and with the audio, keeps the people moving through at a good pace in the beginning which is important to allow the crowd to disperse quicker and have more people have more room to walk. It is a cautious recommendation for the Charlotte, NC area, as if you have strong religious feelings that do not align with Billy Graham you may not like it.