Lopez Museum Celebrates Island Maritime History

The water that surrounds us has shaped our history, and shapes it still. The Lopez Island Historical Museum will celebrate our maritime island heritage in a new exhibit that opens to the public on Saturday, May 7th. There will be a reception for members on Friday, May 6th, 5:00 to 7:00pm.

Museum Director Mark Thompson-Klein said the exhibit, which will be in place the rest of this year, is in keeping with the Museum's master plan to use half the showroom for a permanent Lopez timeline exhibit, the other half for exhibits that change each year so there's always something new to see.

The maritime theme will be carried out in areas that illustrate transportation and navigation, fishing, the island's canneries and kelp plant, shipwrecks, and smuggling.

Other new displays include a stuffed saw-whet owl and a juvenile male trumpeter swan that was found, very near death, by Natalie Roush. After it died, she put it in her freezer until it could be delivered to a taxidermist. Thompson-Klein said there are other surprises in store for Museum visitors.

Jeremy Snapp, owner of Lopez Ship Supply and publisher of Northwest Legacy, Salt of the Sea and other books, has loaned the Museum a ship's wheel for the maritime exhibit. The big wheel came from the Tongass, a cannery tender that the late Delbert Gaddis worked out of Barlow Bay.

"You cannot resist putting your hands on it and giving it a spin," said Thompson-Klein, adding that it's perfectly okay for visitors to do so.

He said the Museum has plenty of artifacts, photos, and other items in storage to keep exhibits refreshed for a long time.

"We keep rooting in the boxes and coming up with all kinds of cool stuff," he said.

The Musuem will be open for the season beginning May 7; hours are Weds.-Sun., 12-4pm.

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