Mission
South County Museum illustrates our past, which gives meaning to our present and illuminates our path to the future.

Vision
South County Museum will preserve the history and heritage of rural and coastal life in southern Rhode Island for the education and inspiration of people of all ages and for all times.

Statement of Purpose
SCM is a research and educational institution, focusing upon history and culture, guided by generally accepted principles and standards of museum stewardship, archival management, and historical research.  It assumes as its responsibilities:

(1) to collect, research, preserve, catalog and document artifacts from its collection and the community that promote understanding of the way of life of past generations;

(2) to focus its efforts on the primary categories of tools and artifacts used by the workmen, craftsmen, and artisans and donated by the museum founders and benefactors over the decades, namely:

• farms and in rural communities;
• village industries, including blacksmithing and printing;
• clothing and related fabric arts, home crafts, and cottage industries;
• maritime occupations and pastimes in the Schmid Marine Gallery;
• horse-drawn vehicles; and,
• items related to prominent Washington County families, the William Sprague Family, Canonchet Farm, and Narragansett Pier in its heyday;

(3) to exhibit artifacts and produce interpretive living history displays and participatory programs drawing on the collections and the working village industries model;

(4) to maintain craft and trade shops, a general store, a school house and a small-scale working New England farm to illustrate life in an historically accurate village setting;

(5) to promote the study of history, genealogy, culture, and heritage by making its research facilities available to the community and by supporting other New England historical organizations and their members through reciprocal agreements and joint projects; and,

(6) to act as a central repository and archive for written, printed and graphic paper documents relevant to Rhode Island history and culture, especially that of Washington County towns in which no local historical society exists.