“We include at least one museum in 95 percent of our tours,” says Lydia Griego-Hansen, co-owner of Destination Southwest. “We package our museum visits as exclusive, behind-the-scenes tours to meet the needs of a new generation of travelers who are well-educated and well-traveled.”
And many of NTA’s member museums—a virtual fleet of them—are related to ships. (We should note that some of the nautical connections are easier to fathom than others.)
Ship … duh!
Many member museums are not only related to ships—they are ships. And being on board is an enlightening experience for visitors.
“People are fascinated that Midway was a floating city at sea—population 4,500—whose average age was only 19,” says Scott McGaugh of the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. “Only 10 percent of the crew were pilots. Everyone else had city-like jobs below deck to enable the airport (flight deck) to operate.”
Authenticity is important, too, says Rhonda Davis of the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama. “Our curator and his staff have done a wonderful job interpreting each compartment aboard the battleship and submarine here. When you tour the ships, you get the sense that the crew has just gotten up to go get a cup of coffee.”
The experience of visiting a floating museum can vary by citizenship, according to Keith Snode of Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. “Domestic visitors often feel a connection to the history and legacy that inspires national pride,” he says. “Many international visitors don’t have the opportunity to visit military ships, which makes a visit to the Intrepid Museum very appealing.”
You can use this information to plot a course for museum ships:
Maritime Museum of San Diego is a waterfront museum offering more than 10 historical vessels dockside, plus bay cruises and tall-ship sailing.
All aboard School groups, adult groups, military groups and reunion groups experience 500 years of seafaring history, from sail to steam to submarine. Tours are led by docents who bring history to life through storytelling and re-enactment.
New to port “We have replicated the first vessel to reach America’s West Coast, galleon San Salvador, and made her available for day sails as well as part of a heritage tour of the California coast, which visits partnering museums and ports,” says Dr. Ray Ashley, the attraction’s president and CEO.
On the horizon Tall Ship Adventure Active Escapes, with overnight stays aboard the tall ship Californian, will include meals, kayaking and wildlife discovery. A redevelopment of the waterfront location, set for 2018, will include a theater, a restaurant and large-group meeting space. Exhibits opening soon include “Sea Monsters” and “The History of Rum.”
USS Midway Museum (San Diego) is a famous U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that is the most-visited historical naval ship museum in the world.
All aboard The self-guided audio tour, available in six languages, describes nearly 70 locations on board and is narrated by Midway sailors who lived or worked in each stop on the tour. The attraction has more than 30 climb-in helicopters, cockpits, aircraft, jail cells and crew bunks.
New to port Combat Information Center takes visitors back to Operation Desert Storm. And the Battle of Midway Theater (included with admission) opened a year ago.
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum (New York City) houses the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the world’s fastest jets, the space shuttle Enterprise and the only American guided-missile submarine open to the public.
All aboard Both domestic and international groups ranging from students to senior citizens visit the museum. The attraction hosts performing groups from around the world and offers an extensive list of educational programming.
New to port Open through the end of 2017, “Drones: Is The Sky The Limit?” explores the history of drone technology from World War I to its current applications.
On the horizon In 2018, the museum will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Intrepid’s commissioning, and former crew members will come from all over the U.S. next summer to celebrate the anniversary.
Pacific Battleship Center (San Pedro, California) houses battleship USS Iowa, which hosted three presidents (Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush) during nearly 70 years of service.
All aboard Visitors can walk the wood decks and see the ship’s guns, bridge, mess areas and the captain’s cabin, which holds the only bathtub installed on a battleship for a president. Groups can have an on-board picnic or special event.
New to port Guests can now head into the wild blue yonder with “Battleship FLIGHT—A Naval Aviation Experience.” They can also see a restored Korean War-era helicopter, “fly” it through virtual reality and “ride” aboard it on a flight simulator.
On the horizon An Engineering Tour, set to launch later this year, will venture into the ship’s engine room, boiler room and other off-route areas.
USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park (Mobile, Alabama) is home to two National Historic Landmarks, the USS Alabama and the submarine USS Drum, as well as to the Aircraft Pavilion, which features 28 historical aircraft, military vehicles and memorabilia.
All aboard “Many of our visitors are senior travelers, but we are seeing more and more schools traveling south during their spring breaks, touring historical sites on their way to our pristine beaches,” says Rhonda Davis, director of sales and marketing.
New to port “My favorite recently restored compartment is the operating room of the Alabama,” Davis says. “And we have opened a World War I exhibit, ‘The Great War,’ in the Aircraft Pavilion.”
On the horizon Several weekends a year, a uniformed Living History Crew conducts shipboard duties, relates historical stories to visitors and defends the ship during a simulated air attack.
Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum (Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina) includes the USS Yorktown and two other historical vessels; the Medal of Honor Museum; and the Vietnam Experience Exhibit. The attraction is in the Charleston Harbor, 11 minutes from the Charleston CVB.
All aboard Youth, senior, corporate and military groups can take self-guided tours or have an expert-led tour customized to their interest. Overnight experiences for student groups can include programs in history, marine science and aviation, as well as harbor tours and excursions to Fort Sumter.
On the horizon Annual events at the attraction include Fourth of July fireworks; Veterans Day (Nov. 11), when admission is free for veterans; and a Pearl Harbor Day memorial service on Dec. 7.
Very shippy
While not actual ships, a boatload of member museums are ship-related in obvious ways.
“Scotland is home to hundreds of brilliant museums, from tiny heritage museums set in traditional crofting homes to facilities with enough room to house a Concorde airplane,” says Maggie Anderson of VisitScotland. “And several have a special connection to ships or to maritime memorabilia.”
One of those is Riverside Museum, Glasgow’s museum of transportation that was named European Museum of the Year in 2013. Berthed outside the striking building that’s set on the banks of the River Clyde is the tall ship Glenlee, free to enter. Other maritime museums in Scotland are Trinity House Maritime Museum, The Scottish Maritime Museum and Maggie Law Maritime Museum.
Two non-nautical notes: Opening in 2018, The Victoria and Albert Museum of Design Dundee will be the first museum in Scotland dedicated to design and the only V&A museum in the world located outside of London. And because of interest in the Jacobite story spurred by the “Outlander” TV series, the Prestonpans Battlefield Museum has opened so that visitors can learn about Bonnie Prince Charles’ first victory, in 1745.
Another museum that presents a nation’s past is the Canadian Museum of History, which includes a strong current of ships, says Stephanie Fortin, the attraction’s tourism and marketing officer.
“The museum tells 15,000 years of history on this land, and exploration by rivers and using boats is intertwined throughout,” she says. “The First Peoples used boats for transportation, fishing and defense. Later, Vikings and Europeans arrived by ship, and when the Europeans settled, they travelled by canoes and boats to further explore and to trade with First Nations people.”
On July 1, the museum, in Gatineau, Québec, opened the Canadian History Hall, which explores the country’s history through the perspectives of the diverse people who laid the foundation and who led contemporary struggles that enabled Canada to emerge as a prosperous and independent country.
Groups are learning about a narrower but enormously significant time by visiting the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Because the war was waged on all the Earth’s oceans, there are seafaring stories depicted throughout the museum, including exhibits and experiences centered on submarine warfare, the U.S. Merchant Marine and the D-Day beach landings.
New to the museum and its expanding campus is a fully restored patrol torpedo boat that was used by the U.S. Navy in World War II. Anchored 11 miles from the museum campus on Lake Ponchartrain, PT-305 is available to groups for tours, rides and exclusive charters.
The story of the most famous PT boat, captained in World War II by a future U.S. president, is chronicled at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston. PT-109 was rammed and cut in half by a Japanese destroyer during WWII, and the museum exhibit shares the story of Kennedy and his crew’s six-day struggle for survival through journal notes, newspaper clippings and other documents, along with the coconut JFK used to pass a message through enemy lines.
PT-109 was not recovered, but groups visiting the museum May through November can see The Victura, JFK’s sailboat, displayed in front of the library on a point overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Purchased when he was 15-years-old, this handcrafted wooden boat was sailed by Kennedy the rest of his life.
Ships abound
Not to push the theme too far (but darn close), you could make a maritime case for nearly any museum. Let’s take a look at the nautical connections of more NTA-member museums.
The Strong National Museum of Play Among its comprehensive collection of toys, dolls, games and hands-on activities, this attraction in Rochester, New York, holds a large number of toy ships and boats from multiple eras of American history. The museum’s ship-centric activities include a playable giant-sized version of the game Battleship and a full-size fishing boat from the 1950s that is part of an exhibit detailing America’s fascination with outdoor sport. And in “Reading Adventureland,” visitors set sail on an adventure in the whimsical dragon-headed boat Courageous.
International Spy Museum Located in Washington, D.C., this museum features the largest collection of international espionage-related artifacts ever placed on public display. Spying includes not only tracking down intel, but also the art of misleading foes by planting lies and pushing propaganda. “The well-known phrase ‘loose lips sink ships’ originated during World War II as part of American propaganda against careless talk,” says Lori Scott, the museum’s sales executive. Scott also has intel of her own: “In the fall of 2018, the museum will move to a new D.C. location: L’Enfant Plaza, two blocks south of the National Mall.”
Salem Witch Museum The focus of this Massachusetts attraction is the famous witch trials of 1692, but the exhibit “Witches: Evolving Perceptions” teaches about the nature of witch hunts by providing more recent examples: the McCarthy Trials, Japanese Internment during World War II and the ’80s AIDS epidemic. And the museum’s seafaring connection? It’s a panel dedicated to “swimming a witch,” the reprehensible test for detecting a sorceress by tossing a suspect into the ocean and seeing if she would float (guilty) or sink (innocent).
Corning Museum of Glass New to the Corning, New York, attraction is a glass barge in the Erie Canal. The boat is not made of glass, explains Sally Berry. “It’s a floating hot shop used to blow glass. It commemorates the movement, by barge, of the Brooklyn glass works up to Corning in the 1800s,” she says. “Next year is the sesquicentennial of the Erie Canal, and we’ll provide live, hot-glass-blowing shows all along the canal.” Groups won’t get onto the barge, but the canal is narrow, and the demonstrations will be easy to view from shore.
Museum of Flight Located in the original Boeing Aircraft factory in Seattle, the museum showcases more than 160 airplanes and spacecraft and offers flight simulators, dozens of interactive exhibits and family activities. A new exhibit, “Apollo,” recalls the drama of the 1960s American-Soviet space race to the Moon and will host the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit “Destination Moon” in spring 2019. And yes, the term “airship” is mentioned throughout the museum’s world war galleries.
While not every museum is a floating repository of knowledge, each holds a cargo of information that visitors are eager to embrace. “Museums play such an important role in a tour,” says Destination Southwest’s Griego-Hansen. “Not only do you hear about history, but you actually get to see it.”
Top photo: USS Yorktown at South Carolina’s Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum
Photo by Jim Vickers
