Steamboat Era Museum

Category: Kid’s Activities

  • Family Holiday Weekend at the Steamboat Era Museum

    Family Holiday Weekend at the Steamboat Era Museum

    The Steamboat Era Museum is hosting special activities for children and families during the July
    Fourth Holiday Weekend.

    On Thursday, June 29, the museum will offer extended hours for a special viewing of the new exhibit Children’s Lives Around the Northern Neck: 1880’s to 1930’s. Visitors will learn about what schools were like from Caleb, Eleanor and Henry: how they traveled to school, what subjects they studied and the textbooks they used. Kids can write their names on a vintage slate board, see period McGuffey
    Readers and discover the art of penmanship. There are also plenty of stories about fun, games and mischief.

    The exhibit includes film clips of school children in the 1920’s-30’s captured by local resident James Wharton. Visitors will also hear the stories of Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, Sallie Holley and others who helped educate Black children during Jim Crow. Not to be missed: the rules teachers had to follow in 1915 and the “computer of the day,” the Chautauqua Industrial Art Scroll.

    Extended museum hours on Thursday, June 29, are 4-6 pm. Admission is free and light refreshments will be served.

     

    On June 29, our Friday morning children’s program takes place from 10:30 am to noon. Participants will learn about life during the Steamboat Era in the Northern Neck and Chesapeake Bay, including our new exhibit. Kids can step aboard the Potomac pilothouse and turn the wheel and ring the engine order telegraph bell. The group will play children’s games popular during the Steamboat Era.

    Attendees will also make a wooden steamboat and test its buoyancy in the water. The fee is $5 per child. Adult(s) are admitted free for the tours. To make a reservation, call the museum at 804-438-6888.

     

    On Saturday, July 1, Edie Hemingway will be signing her new book, That Smudge of Smoke, from 10am to 3pm. Spanning 1929 through 2015, this middle grade novel tells the story of two 12-year-old children and how they navigate major changes in their lives. It is a multi-generational story of hope, friendship, family and of the far-reaching influence of history and music. Edie Hemingway is the co-author of two Civil War novels. Her middle grade novel, Road to Tater Hill won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award.

    That Smudge of Smoke is available in softbound and hardbound formats. Each book at this event will be imprinted with “Museum Edition.”

  • Friday Morning Kids Activities Begin at the Steamboat Era Museum

    Friday Morning Kids Activities Begin at the Steamboat Era Museum

    The arrival of a steamboat was a big event. Children loved to go to the pier to see it. Children who participate in the museum’s Friday morning activities will learn what it was like being a child during the Steamboat Era

    Friday morning children’s activities will begin June 24 at the Steamboat Era Museum. Kids from 4-12, accompanied by an adult, will learn about the history of how steamboats impacted the communities around the Chesapeake Bay. They will have fun imagining what being a child over a century ago was like.

    Children will learn about the Steamboat Era in the Northern Neck and Chesapeake Bay by viewing photos of children and adults from the Steamboat Era, turning the Potomac pilothouse wheel and ringing the engine order telegraph bell, playing children’s games popular during the Steamboat Era and making a wooden steamboat and testing it in the water

    The museum is also offering two new children’s scavenger hunts in 2022. A special hunt has been developed for younger visitors which includes a steamboat coloring page.

    Kid’s activities are every Friday from June 25 through August 19, 10:30 – Noon. The fee is $5 per child. Adult(s) are free for the tours. To reserve a space for Friday morning children’s activities, call the museum at 438-6888

  • Kids make steamboats at the Steamboat Era Museum

    Kids make steamboats at the Steamboat Era Museum

    18 kids from Chesapeake Academy, Northern Neck YMCA and museum visitors make a wood steamboat as part of the regularly scheduled Friday morning kids’ activities at the museum. For more information please call. 438-6888

  • Friday Morning Kids’ Activites Begin June 28 at the Steamboat Era Museum

    Friday Morning Kids’ Activites Begin June 28 at the Steamboat Era Museum

    On Friday mornings a special children’s program is open to children age 4 and up accompanied with an adult. The activities include a presentation about the Steamboat Era, a tour of the museum and, new this year, a look into the Potomac Pilothouse! Children make a steamboat and then test it in the water.
    Tours are every Friday from June 22 through August 16, 10:30 – Noon. The fee is $5 per child. Adult(s) are free for the tours.

    Call the museum to reserve a space for Friday morning children’s activities at 438.6888

    Photo 1:
    Children make a steamboat, decorate it and then test it in the water!

Steamboat Era Museum
X