The final phase of the Bayou Teche Museum is scheduled to begin this summer, and the New Iberia Museum Foundation would like to offer residents a piece of the road that paved the way — literally.

A fundraising effort to help get the museum running is under way. Bricks are being sold for $100 each and installed on the sidewalk outside of the museum’s doors. Each brick is engraved with the inscription of the buyer’s choice.

Becky Owens, member of the museum’s exhibits committee, said the museum has completed two phases of brick sales. Each phase consists of 200 bricks.

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“More than 400 bricks have been sold, and the second phase has already been sent to the company to be made,” Owens said.

Owens said the group still has bricks available and that six have already been purchased from the third phase of 200.

Money collected from brick sales will be used toward the museum’s opening expenses, she said.

Sample bricks and order forms are available at Paul’s Flower Shop at 110 Weeks St. in New Iberia.

According to the order form, bricks may be engraved in memory of a loved one, to celebrate accomplishments, anniversaries and occasions. Bricks also make for a unique gift idea.

The museum’s construction is scheduled to resume its final phase later in the year with the help of a $600,000 grant received from the Department of Natural Resources’ Atchafalaya Basin Program.

That phase will include the completion of a new roof, the interior of the building and an add-on to the museum’s rear.

“We have several items that have been donated to us in storage, and we are looking to get more things,” Owens said. “We are really interested in anything relating to New Iberia, Iberia Parish and the area’s Spanish history from original descendants.”

The exhibits committee also is interested in items related to the area’s industries, as well as the boating history on Bayou Teche.

“In the front of the building we are going to have a history of the building itself,” Owens said. “We’d love something from when the building was used as Sportscenter or the Dreyfus building.”

Owens said the building was built in 1898 as Dreyfus and remodeled in 1930 when it became the Sportscenter.

Dr. Andy Reaux is part of the museum’s collections committee and said donors have three options.

“Lending allows the owner to donate the item for a few months and later renew the length of the donation if they’d like,” Reaux said. “They can also donate their items to the museum, which is fully tax deductible.”

The third option is a monetary donation.

Anyone interested in donating items or making a monetary contribution can contact Reaux at 364-2811.

For bricks, call Paul’s Flower Shop at 365-1428.

The projected opening date for the museum is August 2008.