This Small Museum

The Marine City Museum building was built in 1847 as a school by Eber Brock Ward for his sister Emily to become a teacher. Since then the building has been relocated and repurposed as the village hall, a church, a firehouse, event venue, hospital, a library, and finally its current purpose as the Marine City Museum in 1983. An annex was added to the museum in 1992 to house the museum’s growing collection.

My First Day

When I walked into the museum I was greeted enthusiastically by a kind woman named Helen. She immediately took me into the office when I said I was there to volunteer. She was so excited that someone my age was interested in the museum. Most of the volunteers are in their seventies. Helen sat me down and I explained that I was getting a master’s degree in Museum Studies. She took down my information and gave me a key to the museum on the spot.

Then came the inevitable questioning by the rest of the volunteers. They wanted to know how I was connected to the town. Oh boy, am I connected. Besides growing up about ten minutes from the town and graduating from the local High School, my family has lived here for generations. It didn’t take long for us to realize that I was related to a few of the volunteers. One of them even lives next to my paternal Grandmother.

Lastly, I was given a tour of the museum. For such a small museum they sure had packed a lot into it. Just about every wall would look right at home in an I spy book. I was told about the city’s history in the shipbuilding business. The details of which quickly went out of my head. Those facts have been slowly seeping back in the longer I volunteer there. There were also a lot of family-specific items. There’s also a lot of items that don’t have a specific tie to the town, other than being used here. Their purpose as I was told is to show the kids what it was like to live way back when.

Click www.marinecitymuseum.com to check out the Museum’s website to see events and their schedule.