The Mariners Museum - VA
Written: Oct 20 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Informative, Interesting, Lots To Do
Cons: Can Get Crowded - Go at an off time
The Bottom Line: This Museum is interesting, informative and reasonably priced ($2 - Adults). I say go!
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| mrsrgm's Full Review: London Museums |
While on vacation in Virginia Beach in October, we had time to explore the Mariners Museum. My husband and I both love ships and sea stories (pirates, lighthouses, ect.) and judging from the brochures, this seemed like the place to go. We were not disappointed.
The museum is located in a beautiful park with nature trails and geese walking around. It would be a fun place to go with the family without ever entering the museum. The museum is the crown jewel of the area though and not to be missed.
When you first enter the museum there is a large - very large - golden eagle directly in front of you. This eagle was the masthead on an old ship and in the picture the eagle was very very small compared to the ship, so the ship was enormous. To the left there is a large - very large - statue of Leif Erikson. He leads to one of the many model ship exhibits. My husband longs to build model ships some day, so he really enjoyed the exhibits. Each one told the type of ship and the time it would have sailed. It also told, in many cases, how long it took to build the models.
Of all the model ship exhibits, the best one by far was the Crabtree Display. These ships are so intricate in detail that there are magnifying glasses built into the cases so you can see the tiny details on each model. It was fascinating.
There are also many figureheads from ships hanging around the museum. These are large and interesting to look at and some of them have stories from the vessels they were on.
While we were there there was an exhibit of "Women and The Sea". There were stories of women who ran lighthouses, women who waited for their men to return and women who sailed with their captains or with pirates. They had old letters and furniture and clothing. In one area - where they told about women who dressed like boys in order to sail - they had a trunk of old clothing and a mirror, so you could try it and see how you looked. Children seemed to enjoy this area very much - dressing like sailors.
There is also a great Chris Craft museum with four or five of the boats on display and a Titanic area (big surprise) that was well done and even had marconis set up for people to try the distress code for themselves.
We were there a total of 6 hours (we like to read the fine print) and saw everything there was to see. There is a "vending" area with tables and vending machines - just the usual soft drinks, ect - but nice for people to take a break.
There was too much to see to detail here, but it was definitely worth the trip.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
mrsrgm
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Reviews written: 43
Trusted by: 5 members
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