Newport News museum reopens after extensive upgrades.
After a year-long renovation, the Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News is delighting visitors with a fresh look and new exhibits and activities. “We are thrilled to finally throw the doors open and welcome our community back,” says Howard H. Hoege II, the museum’s president and CEO.
Updates to the Museum’s main concourse put the Lancaster Eagle (the figurehead from the USS Lancaster, built in 1858) at center stage. A new observation area in the Batten Conservation Lab allows visitors to watch conservators working on delicate artifacts in real-time. Also on view, the USS Monitor’s 120-ton revolving wrought-iron gun turret. A new exhibition, Speed and Innovation in the America’s Cup, explores the technological advances that allow the world’s fastest sailboats to fly across the water. And this fall, the. high-definition Explorers Theater will reopen.
“The entire Mariners’ team has worked exceptionally hard in our galleries over the past year,” says Hoege. “The improvements we made will allow us to engage with and serve even more people in ways that we think will be fascinating and fun.”
Families will enjoy the Bumblebee Learning Garden, the Ship Model Gallery, Toys Ahoy!—a collection of historic games and toys—and an interactive scavenger hunt. Outdoors, visitors can stroll the award-winning Noland Trail, a five-mile woodland loop surrounding Mariner’s Lake.
Admission is $1, free for members, with timed tickets available for purchase online. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. MarinersMuseum.org
This article originally appeared in the October 2021 issue.
