Photo credit: Jeff AdkinsHave you ever seen a shrimp-peeling machine or sailed on a Biloxi Schooner ? You can do both ( and draw more ) at the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi .
Established in 1986, the museum brings the history and heritage of Mississippi ’ s Gulf Coast to life through hundreds of unusual artifacts, photos and videos. The master museum was housed in early Coast Guard barracks that were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. After, it underwent an extraordinary $ 8 million renovation .
“ Our new build opened in 2014, and visitors are greeted by a 120-year-old sailboat called the Nydia in the Grand Hall. The museum was built around it to appear like a ship in a bottle, and it is lit up at night – it ’ s actually something to see, ” says Corey Christy, outreach program coordinator for the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum. “ The Nydia has an matter to history. It was owned by Baldwin Wood, a valet who lived merely down the street from the museum, and it was a very fast, successful race gravy boat. ”
Photo credit: Jeff AdkinsSee more: Float Away With Quapaw Canoe Company
Priceless Maritime and Seafood Exhibitions
After exploring the Nydia, museum visitors can experience exhibits about shrimp, oystering, recreational fish, wetlands, managing marine resources, charter boats, marine blacksmithing, wooden boat construction, web do, historic photography and more .
“ We attract more than 20,000 people each class from all over the United States, ” Christy says. “ The museum encompasses 300 years of history, from 1699 when the french landed here through Biloxi ’ second flower as the Seafood Capital of the World in the early 1900s to present day. ”
The museum ’ s automatic pistol shrimp-peeling car from the 1920s is a popular attraction. Although no longer in mathematical process, visitors can watch video of it peeling between 800 to 1,000 pounds of shrimp per hour .
Photo credit: Jeff Adkins
“ The machine replaced 150 workers peeling runt, which is amazing to see, ” Christy says. “ In the early region of the hundred, women and children did a lot of that sour before the child labor laws, and we have great photos of that adenine well. This machine was put into practice in 1949 and the industry inactive uses exchangeable ones today. ”
A 16-year-old son from Louisiana invented the automatic pistol shrimp-peeling machine .
“ Visitors think it ’ mho neat that it was invented by a kid from nearby, ” Christy says .
Another boastful draw at the museum is the Hurricane Gallery, which depicts the annihilating effects of hurricanes on the Gulf Coast .
“ It talks a draw about Hurricane Katrina, and in 2019, we had a temp exhibit up for the 50-year anniversary of Hurricane Camille – the first base mega storm that made landfall in many years, ” Christy says. “ It caused tons of destruction, specially in our area. ”
The Hurricane Gallery besides displays maritime-themed art created by local artists. Beginning in March 2020, it will feature the work of photographer William Colgin, who photographed mod seafood workers .
Photo credit: Jeff Adkins
Sail on a Schooner
While visiting the museum, visitors can wander outside to get a closer count at two 65-foot masted Biloxi Schooner replications floating in the nearby waters .
“ Biloxi Schooners were the major boats used when the seafood industry was at its peak here in the early 1900s, ” Christy says. “ They were designed to float in our shallow waters, and they were like the workhorse of the seafood industry for crabbing, shrimping and oystering. ”
Individuals can schedule a nonspeaking sail for $ 30, where they can board a schooner and take a 2.5-hour sail. Groups of 20 or more can tied charter the boat and take it into the Gulf.
Read more: What is the Maritime Industry?
Photo credit: Jeff Adkins
“ We have so much to see here that it can be overpowering, ” Christy says. “ early amazing artifacts include six life-size wooden boats, an oyster car, an ice-chipper machine and a beacon lens that was destroyed during Katrina but has been restored. You can distillery see where it was hit. ”
During the summer, more than 400 children ages six through 12 participate in the museum ’ south weeklong sidereal day camps. They go fishing, sail on the Biloxi Schooners, learn how to throw a form final, bait hooks, take plain trips to other locations along the Gulf Coast and compete to see who can catch the biggest or most pisces .
See more: Museum’s Exhibits Honor Mississippi’s Agricultural History
Annual Events at the Museum
One of the museum ’ south biggest annual events is the Billy Creel Memorial Wooden & Classic Boat Show every May. The boat show includes Schooner sails, local art vendors, children ’ mho activities, food and the largest gather of historic, antique, classic and contemporary vessel on the Mississippi Gulf Coast .
Every October, the museum hosts its annual Heritage Hall of Fame Induction, which honors and celebrates area fishermen, boat builders, factory workers and others in the seafood industry .
“ We have several all-you-can-eat seafood events throughout the year, besides. credibly the cool is our New Year ’ s Eve consequence, where we drop a boastfully oyster ball at midnight, ” Christy says. “ The event includes food and drinks, live music, a firework show, and we send everyone home after the oyster ball drop with coffee and doughnuts. Some museum events tend to be stodgy or uncomfortable, but we create a loosen atmosphere here where everyone feels welcome. ”
Photo credit: Jeff Adkins
A Biloxi native, Christy says he feels it ’ s important to plowshare the area ’ second nautical history with future generations .
“ Biloxi and the Gulf Coast wouldn ’ thymine be what they are today if it weren ’ thyroxine for our maritime and seafood history, ” he says. “ The museum even goes beyond that and talks about the influence the military has had on us, the impact of tourism on us and everything that built this target. It ’ mho where we came from. ”
If You Go
The Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum
address : 115 E. 1st St., Biloxi, MS 39530
web site : maritimemuseum.org
Read more: Australia Maritime Strategy
Hours : Monday-Saturday 9 ante meridiem to 4:30 post meridiem, and Sunday 12 to 4 p.m .
entree : $ 10 for adults ; $ 8 for seniors ( senesce 60 and improving ), military and abdominal aortic aneurysm members ; $ 6 for students ( ages 5 to 15 )
