Age of Exploration

Heading back into the museum, you find a huge statue of Leif Erickson guarding the entrance to the Hall of Exploration. This is quite the place to start, with sections on cartography, weapons, and technology mainly from the 15th through 18th centuries. I've always enjoyed maps, so it's a thrill to see a variety of old charts hung around, mostly reproductions, true, but nifty nonetheless.

The ship models are quite well done, including (somewhere) a model made in the 1400s of the Spanish ship Nina. Navigational instruments and weapons of the age are displayed on the walls and in cases.

Towards the end of the exhibit is a small "play" area. I call it a play area because it contains a number of books filled with those marvelous antigue maps. I sat down to peruse them, and probably could have spent a significant portion of the morning paging through them.

The Exploration Hall was my favorite section of the museum.

More of the Mariners' Museum

Introduction
Chesapeake Bay Gallery
Monitor Restoration
Age of Exploration
Defending the Seas
Collections Gallery
Great Hall of Steam
Crabtree Collection of Miniature Ships
Other Galleries
Gift Shop and More

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