Brady Jefcoat was what you would call a Renaissance man.

He could build just about anything and he was interested in just about everything.

Well, one day, Brady came across an old photograph and he decided to take it home and so began the Brady Jefcoat Museum of Americana and we sent Rob Holliday to Murfreesboro to check it out.

[old timey music] - [Rob] If someone ever tried to create eBay in one physical space, it might look a little something like this.

- Stamp machines.

- Washboards.

- Lawnmowers.

- Curling iron.

- Antique radios.

- Chandeliers.

- [Man] Dr. Pepper.

- [Rob] But this isn't a collection you scroll through, you stroll through it, and that could take a minute.

- There are approximately 17,000 individual items here in the museum.

- Yes, 17,000 items# It's enough to fill three floors of this former high school.

Even the stairwells have parts of the collection on display, but the size and variety of those contents are only part of the appeal.

- We have hundreds of collections here from one man.

Anything that interests Mr. Jefcoat, he collected - [Rob] Mr. Jefcoat, Brady C. Jefcoat to be precise, was this museum's namesake, and he built his collection long before anyone had heard of the internet.

- He went to yard sales, he went to auctions, he went to the state fairgrounds a lot on Saturdays and collected some things there.

- [Rob] Did he ever.

This collection that took decades to assemble includes items that stretch back centuries.

This water clock dates to the 1600s and this English Tudor canopy bed from the 1800s.

But this is the Jefcoat Museum of Americana, after all.

So the overwhelming majority of things here are from the United States.

[twinkling music] - [Colon] He liked musical stuff a lot.

- [Rob] And the dozens of music boxes, photographs, and radios that fill several rooms are proof.

If you think CDs and eight tracks are vintage, check out these metal discs for music boxes and wax cylinders.

[indistinct singing from wax cylinder] - [Colon] This is a wax cylinder machine that was made by Thomas Edison.

- [Rob] There are also dozens of butter churns, irons, mostly manual, but also some electric models, telephones, and toasters, dishes and door knockers, and plenty of antique wooden laundry equipment.

- When you turn the wheel, it's rotating the agitator up and down and changing directions.

A very big advancement over a washboard.

- The kitchen part of the basement down here I find interesting.

The Scandinavian tile cook stove, it's mint condition.

It's beautiful.

- [Rob] Throughout its collection, the Jefcoat Museum provides a window into multiple phases of American life before the modern age.

In business and the home, and even uh... Business at home.

Most items are pretty ordinary, but there are a couple that have had brushes with fame.

- This courtship couch over here was on the movie set "Gone With the Wind", the House of Ill Repute scene in "Gone With the Wind".

- [Rob] And this hall tree once held the hat of President Harry Truman while he was staying at the Blair House in Washington.

That wasn't the only interaction Mr. Jefcoat had with the nation's capitol.

- The Smithsonian wanted bits and pieces of his collection and so did the state museum.

But his stipulation was, "Display all of my collection all of the time."

- [Rob] And that's how all 17,000 items wound up in northeastern North Carolina at a place that could accommodate every piece and give visitors a sense of what life was decades and centuries ago.

- It's quite fascinating how we take for granted modern day appliances.

It's worth the trip to come to Murfreesboro, North Carolina to see this vast collection in history and the stories behind each item.

[old timey music] - [Deborah] The Brady Jefcoat Museum is at 201 High Street in Murfreesboro and it's open on Saturdays from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM and on Sundays from 2:00 to 5:00.

For more information, visit their website at thejefcoatmuseum.org or give them a call at 252-398-5922.