The ultimate plans for the yard include moving all the exhibits to the yard, restoring the original style of machinery and operating the yard again. Contracts will be sought for building wooden sailing craft so that visitors can observe nineteenth century building techniques in progress. Its site, on the Kennebec River, is as ideal today as it was almost a century ago. Two ways are planned for construction. One for new construction and the other as the berth for the downeast tug SEQUIN.
Hampton Roads Museum Expanding The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum is undergoing a major expansion and reorganization program. This excellent small museum houses the history of the first naval shipyard in the United States. It is located at Gosport, (now Portsmouth) Virginia. The plans call for a new and larger building and a reorganization of its collections. The waterfront on which it is situated is being converted to a park which should help it attract visitors. Nearby and open to the public, the lightship PORTSMOUTH is maintained as a museum ship by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Mariners Museum Announces New Acquisitions And Personnel The Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia, has announced that William Wilkinson has joined its staff as Associate Director. He will assume the Associate Directorship in June upon the retirement of Harold Sniffen. Mr. Wilkinson was formerly the Registrar of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Museum has also just begun its long planned expansion and remodeling program. Their two most recent acquisitions fit nicely into the plans. First is the gift of papers, designs, photos, models and drafting board of Francis Gibbs. Gibbs personally donated these artifacts and a gallery in his name is scheduled to open in May. Mr. Gibbs designed the S.S. UNITED STATES. Also just acquired is the Seven-Foot Knoll Lighthouse from the upper Chesapeake Bay. It is a Screw-Pile type lighthouse like the Hooper Strait lighthouse. The SevenFoot lighthouse is cast iron and circular while the other is wooden and octagonal. Both are architectural rarities. Another new gallery will be the Crabtree exhibit now being re-designed to incorporate the latest in museum display know-how.
33-