August happenings at Customs House Museum and Cultural Center

CLARKSVILLE, TN – The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center would like to announce the upcoming exhibits, programs, and updates:

Exhibitions          

Suger’s Tiny Designs: Sweet Memories, Through August 3 | Kimbrough Gallery. Roxi Suger presents tiny designs and sweet memories of playing with dolls and making fashion statements. In the exhibition, Suger’s Tiny Designs, view iconic, vintage doll sets for all occasions and eras in fashion history.

The Time of Dolls, Through August 3 | Kimbrough Gallery, The Time of Dolls is an exhibition focused on dolls throughout different historical periods. The exhibition showcases dolls from the Customs House Museum’s Collection and those borrowed from patrons in the Clarksville community.

Freedom: The History of US, Through September 27 | Memory Lane, Freedom: The History of US is an exhibition developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, featuring select documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection. Since 1776, when the United States declared independence from Great Britain, the idea of freedom and our understanding of its implications have changed dramatically. This exhibition traces the evolving concept of freedom from the founding era to the election of Barack Obama. Accompanying the exhibit are items from the Customs House Museum’s collection. This exhibition is sponsored by F&M Bank and is part of the Customs House Museum’s celebration of America’s 250th.

Annual Staff Art Exhibition, Through September 29 | Lobby, The Annual Staff Art Exhibition features artwork and crafts from the talented museum employees. 

Framed & Dangerous: Acrylic, Oil, & Watercolor Paintings by Peach McComb, Through September 30 | Jostens Gallery, Tennessee artist Peach McComb works in a variety of media. She derives her inspiration from light, shadow, and noticing everyday things. She paints outside frequently, sketches daily, and uses those for larger studio work. Acrylic, oil, & watercolor paintings by Peach McComb will be on view in Jostens Gallery.

Cave Johnson & James K. Polk, Through October 7 | Harvill Gallery, James K. Polk was elected to the Tennessee state legislature in 1823 and then to the United States House of Representatives.  He became Speaker of the House in 1835, the only person to serve both as Speaker and U.S. president. Polk left Congress to run for governor of Tennessee, winning in 1839. Cave Johnson served as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives (1829-37, 1839-45), postmaster general of the United States (1845-49), and president of the Bank of Tennessee (1854-60). Exhibit includes borrowed artifacts and those from the collection. This exhibition is sponsored by F&M Bank and is part of the Customs House Museum’s celebration of America’s 250th.

Still Lifes, Shifting Narratives: The Hyperrealistic Paintings of Sharon Harms, Through October 22 | Bruner & Orgain Galleries, In the hands of Nashville-based artist Sharon Harms, the still life genre becomes anything but settled. In Still Lifes, Shifting Narratives, Harms presents a body of work that honors the still life tradition while reimagining its purpose by transforming the arranged object from passive subject into active narrator. The things Harms selects — anatomical models, vintage toys, typewriters, glass figurines, advertising ephemera — function simultaneously as personal relics and cultural artifacts, evoking individual memory and collective experience at once. They are chosen intuitively, not for their decorative potential but for their symbolic resonance and their capacity to mean more than they appear. The result is a body of work in which the still life is not an endpoint but a doorway to a space where the viewer is invited to complete the story. In this, Harms adds to the genre’s long conversation with storytelling through the symbolism inherent in inanimate objects. Her paintings ask what it means to arrange objects with such exacting care, and what those arrangements quietly confess. The answer is that nothing in her work is simply still.

Piecing the Past: Quilts from the Collection, Through October 25 | Crouch Gallery, A selection of quilts and quilting materials/items from the collection will be on display as well as unique items on loan from the Clarksville community.

Programs     

Blue Star Museum Program, Now through September 7, 2026 | Free admission to U.S. active-duty military personnel including National Guard and Reserve and their families (up to 5 members, limit 6 admissions to include the card holder). The free admission program is available for those currently serving in the United States Military–Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard–including Reservists, National Guardsman (regardless of status), U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps, and up to five family members. Qualified members must show a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card for entrance.

Sundays at 3:00: From 1820 to Present: My Family’s Montgomery County Story, with Lawson Mabry, Local Businessman and Real Estate Developer, August 2 | 3 p.m. | Turner Auditorium | Free to the public; does not include museum admission, Descendant of a multi-generational Clarksville family, Lawson Mabry shares stories about his remarkable family, including the story of Anna Marrast Mabry. She married Dr. John Christy Barr in 1907 at Noah Springs, TN, on what is now Ft. Campbell Army Post. Anna is later well known at Ft. Campbell as Stockade Annie, continuing to visit soldiers long after the family’s property became part of the post. Register here.

Homeschool Fieldtrip Day, August 4 | 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. | K-12 students with adults, School tour admission is $3 per student and $5 per adult for non-member homeschool families. On the first Tuesday of each month, local homeschool families are invited to experience a day of self-guided exploration and learning. For more information, contact Curator of Education Stephanie Stafford at stephanie@customshousemuseum.org.

Storytime & Craft: DOGust National Dog Month, August 6 | 10:30 a.m. | All ages, with adult | Free with membership or paid admission, In honor of National Dog Month, we’ll read books about dogs and make playful puppies as a craft. *All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.

August Art Walk, August 6 | 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.| Free to the public, The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center is excited to take part in the June Artwalk on August 6, offering free admission and new exhibits.

Flying High – A Night in Capri, August 8 | 5 p.m. – 11 p.m.| Oak Grove Racing, Gaming, & Hotel, Flying High is the Customs House Museum’s annual premier fundraiser, and we’re excited to partner with Traditions First Bank–thank you for being the title sponsor of Flying High 2026! If you have questions regarding this event, visit our Flying High FAQ page or contact us. TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW. BUY HERE. All proceeds directly support the Customs House Museum’s mission to inspire, engage, and educate our community through exhibitions, programming, and preservation. The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your support of Flying High helps us create award-winning exhibits, provide educational experiences for all ages, and care for the artifacts in our collection. Flying High 2026 will take place at Oak Grove, Racing & Gaming Hotel.

Sunday Studio: Cross-Stitching with Laicee Blackwell, August 16 | 2 p.m. | Ages 16+ | Free, with registration required; does not include Customs House Museum admission. In partnership with APSU’s Community School of the Arts, our Sunday Studio class is a creative workshop series for adults. Join us to learn some beginning techniques for plastic canvas cross stitching. Play with color, pattern making, and leave with a finished piece. All materials will be provided. No experience needed. Take home a treasured artwork! The workshop is free and includes all materials. Register here

Storytime & Craft: National Crayon Collection Month, August 20 | 10:30 a.m. | All ages, with adult | Free with membership or paid admission, We’re celebrating National Crayon Month by reading books about crayons and making color matching crazy doodles as our craft. *All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.

Family Art Saturday: Painting – A Great Wave, August 29 |10 a.m. – 12 p.m., 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. | Ages 3+, with adult , Free with membership or paid admission | Family Art Studio, This August, we’re creating a painting in the Family Art Studio of “A Great Wave.” As always, this is perfect for artists of all ages — no experience needed, just bring your imagination! *All parents are expected to participate with and supervise their children.   

Celebrate America’s 250th at F&M Bank Huff & Puff Express Model Trains, Exhibit open daily | Trains run Sundays 1 – 4 p.m., Wednesdays 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., Fridays 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. and the last Saturday of each month 1 – 4 p.m.We’re celebrating America’s 250th on one of the region’s largest model railroad layouts, which is interactive for kids of all ages. The circus is in town for the summer, too, so visit and clown around with our model trains. The model train exhibit is open every day, with themes that change each season.