Happy National Maritime Day! Never heard of it? That's OK -- we hadn’t either, before Friday morning.
The creation of this clearly monumental holiday was announced at the opening of the National Museum of American History's new permanent exhibit "On the Water." The museum celebrated the opening with a ceremony to honor the project's contributors and benefactors.
"On the Water," designed to educate visitors about America's rich and varied maritime history, includes documents, artifacts, models and videos from the 17th century to the present. Be sure to keep an eye out for the beautiful oyster plates in the "Baltimore: Oyster City" section and the real gold from Sutter's Mill.
The exhibit is broken up into seven time periods, each of which focuses on a specific influence, such as fishing or immigration, on American maritime history. Highlights include a large model of a tobacco ship, an actual engine room from a 1920s buoy tender, and a lifesaving car used to rescue shipwreck survivors.
The artifacts and models strewn throughout the exhibition are pretty to look at, but we often found ourselves asking, "But what the heck is this?!" Yes, we saw the placards filled with endless amounts of information surrounding every display -- but that's the thing, it was sort of ... endless. Just tell us what this thing is, already.
Each historical period also includes audiovisual and interactive activities for those who like to get hands-on. Our favorites were the true/false quiz about pirates (unfortunately, they didn’t really say "Arr") and the monitor that played Titanic songs (Celine Dion was fortunately missing from the playlist).
So when DC becomes the typical humid hole this summer, just remember you can jump on board this exhibit, enjoy the AC oasis, and at least pretend you're out at sea. Arrrr.
National Museum of American History
14th St. and Constitution Ave. NW
10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. daily
free admission
