by Jane Wolff
A
museum that has been in operation for any length of time accumulates a histo ry of its own. The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, North Carolina, in a sense, has two histo ries. Its origins, or Phase One, can be traced to the turn of the 1900s and an asso rtment of natural history specimens, a collection which served as a basis for the museum for half a century. With its vast beautiful ocean beaches, expansive salt marshes, and large sounds, North Carolina's central coast attracts marine and coastal scientists, tourists, and sailors. Several universities have established marine laboratories here, as have the federal and state governments. Laboratory staff and communi ty leaders maintained the collection and kept it open to the public into the 1950s when the muse um came under the direction of the state government. (To-
day the museum is operated under the NC Department of Cultural Resources.) Phase Two of the museum's history began in 1975 with the late curator/director C harles R. McNeil!, a 1944 grad uate of the US Merchant Marine Academy with two decades of service in the maritime industry. McNei ll's vision of creating a maritime museum was soon adopted by the community and others around the state. This was a defining course for the museum and certain ly a logical one for a state with an enormous coastline and rich maritime heri tage. For the past thirty years, the museum's mission has been that of documenting, preserving, researching, and exhibiting North Carolina's maritime history and coastal natural history. Before 1985, the collection was housed in whatever space was avai lable, usually relegated to an area at one of the
North Carolina Maritime Museum 315 Front Street Beaufort, NC 28516
Hours: Weekdays 9AM to 5PM Saturdays 10AM to 5PM Sundays lPM to 5PM Admission is free.
Information:
Ph: 252 728-7317 Director: Dr. David Nateman e-mail: maritime@ncmail.net; web site: www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/ sections/ maritime/
Membership Organization: Friends of the Museum Web site: www.ncmm-friends.org Branch Museums: On Roanoke Island 252 475-1750 At Southport 910 457-0003
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laboratories aro und tow n. Its last temporary faci lities were storefronts along Beaufort's waterfront. In 1980 the museum received a generous donation of land from Mrs. Harvey W Smith. (Harvey W Smith was well-known in the North Carolina menhaden fish ing industry-one of the United States' largest fisheries since colonial times.) With the assistance of funding from the state, the museum moved into its first permanent home. When visitors enter the all-wooden building, they are instantly captured by the special tone of the space with its 20- and 30-foot high beamed ceilings, great white shark mount commanding attention , and the wide stairway leading to the wi dow's walk. There is no particular route one takes through the 18,000 square feet of exhibi t space. Adjacent to the exhibit area is th e audi torium, a multi-purpose room where temporary exhibits are displayed, curators conduct programs for school and Elderhostel groups, and receptions and seminars are held. No space is wasted in this facility; a portion of the auditorium contains half of the museum's worldwide shell collection. The relationship between natural history and maritime history becomes appare nt as a display of North Carolina's Working Wotercraft blends into the Commercial Fishing: America's First Industry exhibit in the main hall . An exceptionally fine collection of wood and cloth waterfowl decoys is displayed opposite an orange diving/o bservation bell. Seated inside the bell, visitors watch underwater SEA HISTORY 109, WINTER 2004-2005