‘Augmented Reality Experiences’ to be Unveiled at Oakley Cabin African American Museum and Park in Brookeville on June 8

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 4, 2024

The Oakley Cabin African American Museum and Park “Augmented Reality (AR) experiences” will be unveiled at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 8, at the park in Brookeville. The Oakley Cabin will have the first augmented reality experiences created for any historical site in Maryland and will usher in a game-changing way for people to use 21st-century technology to experience 19th-century historical sites.

The cabin and park are located at 3610 Brookeville Road in Brookeville.

The Montgomery County Department of Technology and Enterprise Business Solutions (TEBS) XR Montgomery program worked with Montgomery Parks and the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation’s Historic Preservation Program to create the AR experiences, which overlay digital elements over real-world backgrounds.

Visitors will be able to use their mobile phones to see digital recreations of the community of freed Black tenants who lived at Oakley Cabin in the reconstruction period after Maryland emancipation in 1864. Visitors can use manipulatable 3D models to explore digital scans of the interior of the cabin, to interactively place elements of daily life in the exterior of the cabin and to recreate a third cabin in the community for which only a foundation exists today.

The AR experiences are accessible in seven languages: English, Spanish, Amharic, French, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Text is available for the hearing impaired. Some experiences will allow those with physical limitations to virtually see the interior of the two-story cabin.

Expected at the ceremonies to unveil the AR experiences are Montgomery County Planning Board Chair Artie Harris, Maryland State Delegate Bernice Mireku-North, Montgomery Parks Director Miti Figueredo and TEBS Director and CIOO Gail Roper.

WHAT: Unveiling celebration for the Oakley Cabin African American Museum and Park Augmented Reality (AR) experiences.

WHEN: Saturday, June 8. 11 a.m.

WHERE: Oakley Cabin African American Museum and Park, 3610 Brookeville Road in Brookville (for news crews only); 19801 Georgia Ave. in Brookville for the public with shuttle service to the park.

WHO:

• Artie Harris, Montgomery County Planning Board chair
• Bernice Mireku-North, Maryland state delegate
• Gail M. Roper, TEBS director and chief information officer
• Miti Figueredo, Montgomery Parks director
• Christie Ciabotti, acting division chief for park planning and stewardship
• Anita Neal Powell, founder of the Leroy E. Neal African American Research Center and author of African American Heritage: A Journey Through History
• Matthew Logan, executive director, Montgomery History

Note to assignment editors: Advance press tours and b-roll available upon request

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Media Contact: Mitsuko Herrera 240-777-2928

For updates and link to press release, see here: http://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Media_Detail.aspx?NaID=5829