Pirates of New England held Over as Heritage Opens for the Season
Published on Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Heritage Museums & Gardens will open to the public on Tuesday, April 1 and will remain open through October 31. A new exhibit You can’t go to town in a bathtub: The 100th Anniversary of the Model T will be featured in the J. K. Lilly III Automobile Museum. A Short Life and Merry: Pirates of New England will be back for an encore season in the Art Museum. In late June a newly renovated American History Museum will reopen with Lost Gardens of New England and Cape Cod.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the most significant automobile ever made, Henry Ford's darling, the Model T. Over 15 million were produced and these inexpensive, versatile autos literally put America on wheels.
In production from 1908 to 1927, the Model T continually went down in price due to such advances as the assembly line and modern factories. Model Ts took the city folk to the suburbs, the farmers to the market, and pervaded culture in songs, movies and even American language. Have you ever heard of a Tin Lizzie or a Jalopy?
Mixing archival photos, family snapshots, and newsreel movies with the cars themselves, the exhibit will show how people adapted the "Universal Car" even more. See how Model Ts were modified to fight fires, run the families sawmill, and even become a snowmobile! The importance of the Model T is best stated by a farmer's wife interviewed in the 1920s. When asked why she had a brand new Model T but no indoor plumbing she responded "Why, you can't get to town in a bathtub"!
Pirates of New England explores how pirates went from welcomed mariners bringing in rare goods and hard currency, to the scurrilous criminals of Puritan execution sermons, to the fictional characters of literature, plays and swashbuckling movies. The reality of New England’s historical pirates is explored through objects they used: 17th century muskets, boarding axes and a cat-o-nine tails, the tankards and bottles that would have foamed with ale at wharf side taverns, and the law books and symbols of authority used
in courtroom prosecution of pirates. Visitors will experience what it was like to live on a pirate ship, smell real pirate treasure--trade goods like sandalwood and nutmeg, listen to songs about pirates, watch some old pirate movie clips and touch a genuine “piece of eight” coin. The true stories of New England pirates like Captain Ned Low, a vicious man who despite his cruelty never forgot a daughter left behind in Boston, or William Mayes who was hunted by Captain Kidd in the Indian Ocean but managed to take over the family business of operating a tavern in Newport—a tavern still open for business-will be told. It’s the lasting fascination with pirates, from seventeenth-century Boston to today’s casual appearance of the once-feared Jolly Roger on clothing, toys, and party kits that’s the subject of this year’s exhibit, A Short Life and Merry: Pirates of New England.
Heritage Museums & Gardens is located on 100 acres of beautiful gardens in Sandwich at the junction of Pine and Grove Streets (67 Grove St.) . The museum is open from 10 am – 5 pm seven days a week. Heritage has three unique buildings; the J. K. Lilly Automobile Museum, an American History Museum and Art Museum with restored and running antique carousel. Also on the grounds is a 200-year-old East Mill, Hart Family Maze Garden and labyrinth. A Gift and Garden Shop has been refurbished and has many new items. In early spring, 50,000 daffodils, tulips and hyacinths will bloom among the many paths and walks that weave through the grounds. The Carousel Café will open for the season on Mother’s Day. For more information and a complete schedule of events visit www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Judith I. Selleck
Director of Marketing
Email: jselleck@heritagemuseums.org
Phone: 508.888.3300 ext. 115