TripHip - Travel Tips and Advice for Traveling on a Budget

The Mariners Museum was founded in Newport News, Virginia in 1932. Since that time, it has grown to be one of the largest maritime museums in the world. Permanent galleries feature the history of the Chesapeake Bay (with as its signpost a first-order Fresnel lens), and the history of maritime exploration (the "Age of Exploration"), "Defending the Seas," (history of the US Navy) and the "Great Hall of Steam" - gigantic models of various steam ships, and, in a separate building, the Boatbuilding and International Small Craft Center. There are also a couple of galleries reserved for rotating exhibits.

The newest addition to the Mariners Museum is a wing that features the Monitor Center.

The USS Monitor, the ironclad ship which arrived in the nick of time at Hampton Roads in March, 1862, to fight against the confederate CSS Virginia (aka Merrimac), and save the wooden-hulled Union ships in the harbor from total disaster, sank off the North Carolina coast just nine months later, on December 31, 1862.

The wreckage of the Monitor, and the graveyard of 16 of its crew members, was found in 1973. The site was declared a National Marine Sanctuary, but over time it was discovered that the wreckage was collapsing, so NOAA launched a project to recover as much material as they could from the wreck - including the famous revolving turret.

The artifacts were brought to the Mariner Center to be prepared for display, and the Monitor Center was built to house that display, as well as feature information about the Civil War itself, of course. Within the Monitor Center are replicas of the turret, and of the gun deck, as well as the huge tanks where the actual turret, and an engine, and other materials, are being conserved. A lifesize exterior mockup of the CSS Virginia (aka Merrimac) is also in place. Outside the Monitor Center is a life-size replica of the Monitor. It's only drawback is you can't go inside it - it's an exterior replica only!

Anyone with an interest in marine history, or Civil War history, will want to visit the Monitor Center.