Gotta love a field trip

We ventured out on our first field trip to the Marine Museum in Newport News. For History, the girls are studying the Age of Exploration as we study the lives of varying explorers. When I thought back to what I remembered about explorers, Christopher Columbus is the most prominent one that comes to mind. But, it was interesting to study about those that came before Columbus.



Mariner's Museum - Leif the Lucky

Leif Ericson (a.k.a. Leif the Lucky) was the first to land in North America approximately 500 years before Columbus. Who knew? He settled in Vinland on the northern tip of Newfoundland (which is modern-day Canada)

Leif was the first explorer that the girls started to read about in our first few weeks of history. What was so exciting about this museum was as soon as we pulled up to the entrance, guess who was there to greet us? None other than Leif himself! (in statue form that is). It was definitely a God-ordained moment to intertwine our curriculum with this moment for our field trip.

 

I had searched and searched for a museum that showcased explorers and had a difficult time finding something other than the Colonial Period-type places in the MD/VA/DC area. To happen upon this museum in my internet searching efforts was a real treat. They had an entire permanent exhibit dedicated to the age of exploration.

After reading several books about many of the early explorers, it was neat to see the statues, the tools for navigation, replicas of the ships, and artifacts from the days of exploration. We also appreciated taking our time and being able to read and take in what we wanted to look at (just another homeschool perk! No lines, crowds, buses, chaperoning, rushing through exhibits, etc.)

Columbus Ship - Santa Maria Model

After we took in what we wanted to see for the explorers, we decided to go through the rest of the museum. They have a wonderful international small boat exhibit, an exhibit of August Crabtree’s boat models (he carved several of Columbus’ boats), and a special showcase of the USS Monitor which was partially salvaged and is being held under conservation at the museum. The actual gun turret that was pulled from the water after being wrecked in 1862 (later found in 1973) is at the museum. We thought that was pretty cool.

We thought the whole day was pretty cool… for a field trip.  

Replica of one of the Titanic Rescue Boats