ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — It’s a small building with wood siding, obviously a schoolhouse or a church now on piers on John Snook Road. It looks out of place with all the low-slung brick and concrete buildings around it.

Well, the building was built in 1919, says Gail Graham, who runs the Orange Beach Indian and Sea Museum for the town. She noted the former schoolhouse, which has been moved from site to site, was brought to its present location in 1999.

The museum is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to Graham.

The building also served as a church during its life, says Graham. Some of her family members, like her mother, Alma May Dietz, recalled going to school in the building, and others recalled having Sunday School functions in the building.

The Indian side of the museum also has a family connection for Graham.

“My great-great-grandmother’s family was Creek,” she said.

A visitor to the museum, located behind the Orange Beach City Hall Complex, Highway 161, will also find artifacts from the area’s period as a turpentine producer.

“People would make extra money gathering pine sap for turpentine,” explained Graham. To tap the tree, people would make a “cat’s face” scar on the trunk to collect the sap.

A favorite of children visiting the museum is the collection of spider crabs, which are found a mile or more under the Gulf. There are also stuffed bobcats and other native animals Graham says “were killed by cars around here.”

Managing the museum is something that is second nature to Graham. Listening to her describe some of the artifacts, her words bring back a time when Orange Beach and the Alabama Gulf Coast was a quiet fishing community.

“I think my daddy, Rabun Walker, instilled a love of nature in me,” she said. “He would always say, ‘Why kill something that is trying to make its way? Live and let live, get what you need and leave the rest.’”

The museum building has seen its share of changes.

“I was working for the city, and I remember seeing the building with no roof coming toward me on the road.” Curious, she inquired what was happening with the building that she says “got used for everything,” including storage.

Graham learned that the building’s owner had given it to Orange Beach, and city officials were trying to figure out what to do with it.

Graham used to help with the ball fields while working for the city, and when the idea to use the schoolhouse as a museum was hatched, she eventually became its caretaker.

Because the museum is so close to the coast, she’s had to remove artifacts before hurricanes.

“Preston Pouser told me to get the most valuable stuff out before Ivan,” she said. She noted that the building “made it,” but rain had worked its way into the bell tower.

Everything survived though, and the old building is standing strong.

“I still ring that bell for kids,” said Graham.