A treasure trove of maritime history is again on display in Manitowoc.
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum reopened this morning for the first time in months, according to Executive Director Cathy Green.
“We are so excited to be opening our doors again. It’s been a very long year,” Green told Seehafer News. “We’ve gone from being closed last spring to being open in the summer on a limited basis and then closed thru the winter.”
Green said a positive that came out of the shutdown was it allowed the museum to think about how they’re operating, such as “the programs we’re offering and how we can reopen, not only safely but how to carry out our mission as best we can.”
The local museum official says they have a new exhibit opening too, called Ironboats.
“This is a collection of photographs from Chris Winters, who is absolutely a fantastic Wisconsin Photographer and he spent over a decade photographing those old freighters, including the last one that was built in Manitowoc,” Green explained. The exhibit will be on display throughout the summer.
The U.S.S. Cobia is of course the crown jewel of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and Green explains because scout groups weren’t able to be part of the overnight groups on the World War II submarine they were able to do a lot of painting and restoration during the winter downtime.
“The boat’s looking great & our sub Bnb program is going strong,” Green said. “In fact it’s picking up quickly. So, I encourage anyone interested in doing an overnight on the boat to contact us soon.”
They are changing up the way they’re doing those tours due to safety protocols and generally the museum is following both state and CDC guidelines with respect to mask-wearing & social distancing.
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is open today from 5:00 PM and with the spring hours effective Thursday through Sunday.
Cathy Green says they’re hopeful of extending summer hours to 7-days a week for museum exhibits and the popular roof-deck Sub Pub.
