The South Street Seaport Museum will begin a year-long observance of its 50th anniversary tomorrow, Saturday, April 29, with a day of festivities (from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm) that will include free admission to all of the Museum’s exhibits, Street of Ships: The Port and Its People, The Original Gus Wagner. The Maritime Roots of Modern Tattoo, and The Architecture of Trade: Schermerhorn Row and the Seaport; family fun activities on Pier 16 (on the East River waterfront, between John and Fulton Streets), tours of the historic vessels Ambrose and Wavertree, and a ceremonial ringing of the 110-year-old bronze bell aboard the Ambrose, at 1:00 pm. Admission to all of Saturday’s events is free of charge.
Jonathan Boulware, Executive Director of the Museum
On the occasion, Captain Jonathan Boulware, Executive Director of the Museum, remarked, “We are absolutely thrilled to be here celebrating our fiftieth anniversary. More significant, perhaps, than other 50-year-marks, this one comes on the heels of the triple blows of 9/11, the Great Recession, and the floodwaters of Hurricane Sandy. Today, fifty years after our founding, and almost five years after Sandy, the Seaport Museum is reborn. Programs are growing. Funding is in place at long last for Sandy repairs, and the magnificent fleet of historic ships is in largely good repair for the first time in decades.
“The Seaport Museum lives and does its work in the very heart of old New York, the Street of Ships that saw trade, immigration, and cultural exchange during a period when New York was the busiest port in the world. Here, among the 19th century buildings and ships, we celebrate New York as it was and bring to life New York as it can be, a city of tolerance, of trade, of ambition, and of resilience. Today we mark fifty years and we look to the next fifty in the greatest city in the world.”
The Seaport Museum’s 50th anniversary will be marked throughout the year with the opening of new exhibitions, including Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914 (opening June 2017), artistic and musical performances, lectures and book talks, walking tours, and a formal 50th anniversary cocktail reception aboard the 1885 ship Wavertree in September.
For more information, please browse: southstreetseaportmuseum.org