Please consider a tax-deductible gift to the Mathews County Visitor & Information Center (MCVIC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Your gift to MCVIC helps us continue our work in serving the community of Mathews County, and provide more programs that will draw revenue to our local economy. 2021 was a great year for Mathews’ tourism economy – $16.7 million in visitor spending was infused in our local economy just last year.
Since 2005, MCVIC has been run by a group of local, talented and dedicated residents serving on the Visitor Center Advisory Board, an Executive Director & Retail Manager, and over 35 volunteers that help run community events, operations in the gift shop, the visitor information desk and Chesapeake Museum. MCVIC and promotes local events, and even plans and/or sponsors annual activities such as the Easter Egg Hunt, Autumn on Main, Music on Maples, Yard Sale, Tour de Chesapeake, Christmas Parade and tree lighting.
We are funded by the County of Mathews, grants and donations, and generated revenue from events and commerce. Your gift will help us continue our mission to serve the community and visitors of Mathews, and provide support to our organization during these difficult economic times for our country.
Our Home in Sibley’s General Store
MCVIC has also been the tenant and steward of the Historically Registered Sibley’s General Store Building (1898) on Main Street since purchasing the building in 2008. To date we have invested lots of time, passion, and resources into maintaining and renovating the historic structure. Your gift can be earmarked specifically to our Sibley’s General Store Fund for future capital expenditures to preserve this iconic structure in our downtown.
Currently, MCVIC is at the tail end of a major capital campaign to Save the Sibley’s General Store building. Sibley’s is in dire need of a new foundation, and with your help, we will reach our goal to begin construction in 2023. To read more about the Save Sibley’s project, click here.
Sibley’s serves a critical role in our local history and contributes to a series of iconic structure in our community: it was one of the last remaining general stores in operation in Virginia when it closed in 2003; it stands as one of the tallest, oldest buildings on our Main Street; it is the only building of Victorian architecture in downtown; it exudes the charming facade that it embodied when it was built in 1899. Sibley’s General Store is also one of three buildings that contribute to the Sibley’s and James Store Historic District established in 2010 on the National Register of Historic Places. The District consists of the Old Thomas James Store (c. 1820), The Old Store (c.1840, connected to the rear of Sibley’s by a hyphen) and Sibley’s General Store (1899). These three properties sit in order from new to old on Main Street, literally showing the evolution of rural commercial architecture, and the evolving growth and socio-economic significance of the general store over a 200-year period in Mathews.
More than ever, we seek meaningful community and an opportunity for authentic connection. Sibley’s General Store has always been at the center of our collective life together, and with proper restoration of this building, will continue in that role for decades to come.
Thank you for supporting the Mathews Visitor Center and helping us continue to grow stronger in our community!
