Meet the North Carolina Man Who Has Collected 600 Nativity Scenes

Rodney Gore has more than 600 nativity scenes on display at his home.

ByABC News
December 12, 2014, 11:00 AM

— -- Rodney Gore of Tabor City, North Carolina, is inviting people to see the 600 nativity scenes he has collected in the past 30 years.

“Like the shepherd said, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see,’" he told ABC affiliate WWAY-TV in Wilmington.

PHOTO: Rodney Gore has more than 600 nativity scenes, from around the world, on display at his home, Tabor City, N.C., Dec. 11, 2014.
Rodney Gore has more than 600 nativity scenes, from around the world, on display at his home, Tabor City, N.C., Dec. 11, 2014.

Gore, 73, just asks that people interested in seeing his museum call his florist shop first to set up an appointment.

The florist is using his home, carport and shed to help display the figures, which are made of everything from brass to wood.

“My family always fusses, ‘You’re buying too much,'" he told WWAY.

PHOTO: One of the 600 nativity scenes that can be seen at Rodney Gore's home in Tabor City, N.C.
One of the 600 nativity scenes that can be seen at Rodney Gore's home in Tabor City, N.C.

But the nativity scenes are an expression of his faith, WWAY reported. “I can never show enough love because without love, I have nothing,” he told the affiliate.

Several church groups have come to admire his work within the past couple weeks.

“I was just overwhelmed,” visitor Elizabeth Ehelers told the station. “It just was just beautiful.”

PHOTO: Rodney Gore, 73, appears here with a few of his more than 600 nativity scenes, Tabor City, N.C., Dec. 11, 2014.
Rodney Gore, 73, appears here with a few of his more than 600 nativity scenes, Tabor City, N.C., Dec. 11, 2014.