Stimpson Dr. Peter 2016
Bold vision for local museum

By Jeremy Styron jeremy.styron@news-herald.net  Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 10:57 am  




Exhibit to display physician’s ‘extensive’ seashell collection

Dr. Peter Stimpson, a physician in the city of Loudon, arranges items in his seashell collection. Stimpson, in partnership with the Loudon County Visitors Bureau and Jim Purdy, owner of the former Loudon High School building, is working on plans to open what could be the largest viewable seashell museum exhibit in the world.



Loudon County, nestled hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean in landlocked Tennessee, could soon be home to the world’s largest publicly viewable seashell collection.

Dr. Peter Stimpson, a physician in Loudon, hopes to make that vision a reality by working with Loudon County Visitors Bureau officials and the owner of the former Loudon High School building to open a shell museum and display he described as an “extensive� collection of rare and hard-to-find shells from across the globe.


“After I’m gone, they need to be somewhere, so this will be a good way to do it,� Stimpson said about the shells, which are stored at his home and office.


Stimpson holds 3,000 world records related to the size of the shells, and he has the second most records of any collector in the world. He said he has collected an estimated 60,000-70,000 shells as part of a hobby that began in the early 1980s.


“I found out later on there were seashell clubs; I didn’t know that,� Stimpson said about how he became interested in collecting. “Later on, I found out that there were seashell dealers; I didn’t know that. There’s a convention we have once a year. I learned about that, didn’t know that. And so I’ve been at it to the point now that there probably isn’t a seashell person in the world who wouldn’t know who I am now.�


Although he typically doesn’t collect the shells personally, he gathers items from various dealers and fellow collectors.


“I have (collected shells), but the only thing I’m going to find is junk,� Stimpson said. “The stuff I’m looking for is very rare and very hard to find, and, in my case, sometimes very big.�


Clayton Pangle, outgoing executive director with the Visitors Bureau, said county officials and the high school’s current owner, Jim Purdy, wanted to open the seashell museum as an attraction for visitors and provide a unique educational experience for area students.


“There’s been an undercurrent of a support group that’s wanted to help him for years with the idea that this would not leave Loudon County,� Pangle said. “It could be used as a resource to help display here for education purposes of kids and any tourists it might attract.�


Pangle said the museum will most likely be the largest open display in the world when it is completed sometime next year.


“There’s lots of shells in the Smithsonian and so forth, but they’re up in the attic hidden. They’re not out,� Stimpson said.


Purdy, owner of The Grove Wine and Spirits and a local trucking company, purchased the former high school building about three months ago and plans to renovate the doors and windows and clean up the facility.


“Pete’s a longtime friend of mine, and I know he’s had a desire to show all of these shells,� Purdy said. “And I saw an opportunity — I’m more or less a business man — I’ve got real estate in Loudon County, so I thought this was something I can buy and remodel it and fix it to suit his needs.�


Purdy attended high school in the old facility in the mid-1950s.


“That’s kind of a world record. Not many guys went back and bought their high school,� Purdy said with a laugh.


He plans to add a covered entranceway and make the 10,000-square-foot facility handicapped-accessible. Purdy and Pangle estimated the building renovations should be completed in the first quarter of 2016, with the museum opening later that year.


“This has the potential to bring a lot of people to downtown Loudon,� Purdy said. “Of course, I’m in business here too. If we can bring people in, it would be good for the whole city.�


Pangle said he was not concerned about the location of the museum, which will be housed at Fort Hill Street just northwest of downtown Loudon. He said visitors will be able to find the museum with “proper directional signage. He pointed to Sweetwater Valley Farm as a successful attraction that was located just off the beaten path.


“If you’ve been to downtown Loudon recently, you can see (it is) having a rebirth, and a lot of activity has recently started coming to Loudon again as a downtown area,� Pangle said. “And this will benefit from that activity, but, in turn, the shell museum will be a driver all year round for people to come here for the purpose of seeing the seashells and in turn helping the businesses out downtown.�


The seashell exhibit also has the potential to be a draw from an educational standpoint and could garner a lot of interest from educators in elementary school through college, Purdy said.


“The museum will have educational value,� he said. “We’ll invite the schools (to) bring buses of kids in here. I think it will draw a lot of interest out of the schools.�


The exhibit will be called the Stimpson Seashell Museum, and Stimpson recently secured the museum’s status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.


“We want them to be out, to be seen,� he said about the shells.
Posted By: NS Administrator - 05-17-2016
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