JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Extension cords snake through historic halls while rock ‘n’ roll and R&B mix with the whine of power tools at the Old Capitol Museum.

Installation of exhibits and finishing touches on the building’s restoration are readying its return as a key public player on Jackson’s attraction front.

The Old Capitol’s first official function will be the Jan. 6 opening of the 2009 Legislative Session. That’s also the 170th anniversary of the first legislative meeting in the domed building in 1839, then known as the State House.

Construction delays have pushed the opening to the general public to Feb. 7. Activities for young and old will launch the 19th century building into its next era.

On the exterior, where stucco has been applied and scored to resemble the limestone base, staining still awaits. Other finishing touches to doors and windows also are on the to-do list.

And inside, exhibits are taking shape that’ll welcome the Old Capitol’s next function, as a museum telling its own story — its structural history and the history that happened inside — and as a living example of historic preservation.

“This is the new Old Capitol,” said Clay Williams, museum director. “The exhibits people remember are gone. Everything is new.”

Williams can’t wait to move back in. This restoration to its mid-19th century appearance is its most accurate to date.

The $16 million project, which includes building restoration and design, fabrication and installation of new exhibits, is funded by a state bond bill with additional money from a National Park Service grant.

“That theme of historic preservation is very important to this building. That’s just one of the main themes. The building itself is a model of historic preservation,” Williams said.

For years it was the state’s history museum, now the old Capitol exhibits will enlighten visitors about the National Historic Landmark’s structural history, its Greek Revival architecture, the push to save it and examples of other important buildings in the state that have been rescued or lost.

The new exhibits are by Portland, Ore., company Formations. Their work also includes the award-winning Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, a remake of the Louisville Slugger Museum and factory tour and a natural history museum on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

“Oh, I just wanted the job so badly,” said Formations president and design principal Craig Kerger. “It was just such a gorgeous building and I thought, what an opportunity to tell a story in such a magnificent architectural structure.”

Kerger said, “from a style standpoint, we’re trying to be very respectful in colors and materials to match and reflect the Old Capitol’s look and feel.”

“The exhibits are very engaging. They’re interactive — lots of tactile and hands-on opportunities, and some nice, strong audio and audiovisual moments to explain this complex story,” Kerger said.

That will reach out to the different types of learners in the Old Capitol’s audience.

“Some learn by reading, other ones learn by hearing or watching a video. And then there are those who have to touch something, manipulate something really for the light bulb to go on in their head,” Kerger says.

Getting visitors involved in the story line is the goal.

A recreated governor’s office will have a projector with vignettes of governors from the period it served as the State House, 1839-1902. Furniture bought at auction in New Orleans provides the period environment. At that time, the executive branch was essentially in a corner office in the basement, as the first floor was then known. The building’s major rooms, the Senate and House chambers, are on the next floor up.

“This was during Jacksonian democracy, when the people ruled,” Williams said.

The Senate ceiling has a new look, based on historic photographs. LED lights will illuminate mirrors in the recreated gas light reflector. Desks, chairs, mannequins and speakers will recreate debates in the room.

“The idea is to make the Old Capitol alive with action and activity,” Williams said. “This is where government happened.”

The House Chamber, which former Archives and History director Elbert Hilliard called “the most historic room in the most historic building in the state,” will continue to be used as an official state auditorium.

“It’s been a long three years,” says Ruth Cole, who looks forward to getting back to the welcome desk as the Old Capitol’s morning hostess. “I missed it terribly, to not be out, talking to the wonderful visitors.”

The Old Capitol averaged 50,000 visitors a year before it closed in late August 2005. The staff hopes to swell that number to double upon reopening.

“If we don’t have that, I’ll be disappointed,” Williams said. “I’m anxious to get back open and back to a normal routine. We’re so close, I can taste it.”