It was the best of times, it was, well... the best of times!  2017 was a year of leaps forward, leaps in exhibits, events, education and excitement (all good "e" words).

2017 saw WEE WINN travel from her home of the past several years in Building 28 to her new home in the A. Sidney Dewolfe Herreshoff Room after having been refurbished for display by a group of immensely talented volunteers.  She's an amazing little yacht and an excellent example of the Herreshoff genius for innovation coming to fruition in 1892.

Our signature annual events are the Frostbite Bash, the HMM Independence Day Celebration and the Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta, all of which saw solid growth over 2016.  Our sponsors really stepped up and embraced these events - they are fantastic companies run by good people and we hope you'll consider doing business with them if you aren't already.

Education took a big step forward with the new Herreshoff S.T.E.A.M. program, and you can read more about that below.  

Excitement, for us, was seeing three schooners are our dock on July 4th.  It was having Governor Raimondo visit the museum not once, but twice.  It was having Panerai sign on as the title sponsor of our regatta, and it was setting an all-time HMM record with our just-wrapped Annual Appeal.  We're teeing up some pretty exciting things for 2018 too, so stay tuned!

A good friend and supporter donated his steam launch to HMM, and it arrived on Monday the 18th!  The launch is a slightly modified replica of HMCo. design number 94 built in 1882 as a launch for the US Fisheries Commission yacht ALBATROSS.  DRAGON was built by Doug Park at Redd's Pond Boat Works in Marblehead, and while she is a new build, she is actually powered by an original HMCo. steam engine - the engine, oddly enough, that powered HMCo. design number 95, a launch that was also built for the US Fish Commission.

DRAGON will do double-duty here at HMM as both a display within our new Steam exhibit and a floating demonstration of the workings of an original wood-fired steam launch.  We'll offer Bristol Harbor tours, although passengers will have to bring their own firewood!

In the yacht restoration business it is an understatement to say there can be a great deal of interest in the pedigree of the boat to be restored.  Though the vessel may arrive looking more like a pancake than a runabout a glance at the engine or the paint behind the speedometer can set the Chris Craft aficionado into throws of ecstasy. The loyalty of the Lawley fans can be limitless.  L. Francis? -  fanatical.  And then there are the Herreshoffs of Bristol whose admirers seem never satisfied with "a" boat built by Herreshoff but "which" boat.  If the "which" becomes "that" through the presence of a small brass plate the floodgates open to the entire provenance of the vessel with model, drawings, dates, build time, cost, and owners; the rich fabric that makes up the vessel's story.  However, there can be some murky times before getting underway if that key is missing.

Quite a number of Herreshoff built boats have come through the restoration program at IYRS and, thankfully, have arrived complete with builder's plate and/or a definitive history that can send the team through the Herreshoff archives to help bring it back to its original T.  Others are not quite so fortunate and we will touch on the run down the avenues of hearsay, legend, family remembrance, or perhaps newspaper clippings to find THE boat during the race to finish it. Finally, the construction of a twenty six foot launch of truly tantalizing but elusive pedigree will be discussed to illustrate how the Herreshoff legacy can step in to save your hide even when the trail runs cold.

Reception begins at 6pm /  Lecture at 7pm

Members: $10 /  Non-Members: $18

Purchase tickets  online or by calling 401-253-5000. 

If you're fortunate enough to be invited to one of several weddings being held here at the museum, you'll find a newly revamped waterfront wedding venue!

We installed new planters last summer, and we've just wrapped up a resurfacing project.  

New lighting and a brick walkway to follow in the spring, all thanks to a grant from the Champlin Foundations, a terrific organization that has allowed us to  complete several infrastructure projects  including  the new  fence and wall along Hope Street and new overhead doors.   Our friends at RIDOT even got in on the fun by taking the opportunity to replace a storm drain pipe running under the waterfront that had collapsed.

Captain Nat Herreshoff believed very strongly in an individual's right to privacy and, as a professional, that he had sole ownership of his secrets unless he chose to publish them himself.  He believed that the individual, through ability and industriousness, had the right to make progress in his chosen profession unfettered by theft and unapproved disclosure of his ideas and creations.  This brought him into conflict with a  "dishonorable " press eager to learn and divulge the details of his latest project. 

Read On...