Mariners' Museum and Park
Newport News, Virginia
mariner.org/

I can think of one (old stomping ground) which I know survives:  The 'Lion' Bridge at Mariners' Museum.  I can recall hearing in the early 60s some older guys (like 16 and 17) talking about racing their cars 'between the lines'.  Only later did I learn that they were saying 'between the lions'.  Once I saw the bridge, I realized that it was a natural drag strip: two lanes separated by a median; one set of lions at the north end to mark the start of the race; another set at the south end to mark its end; and a long stretch southward on River Road to slow down.  The evidence was there:  plenty of black marks on the pavement as tires spun  at the start of the race... 'getting rubber'  in the parlance of the day.  '... when I get rubber in all four gears ...'  (Beach Boys, Little Deuce Coupe, 1963)

- Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 04/28/03
Thanks, Dave!

The Mariners' Museum and Park was one of our favorite places to visit as a family.  From feeding the ducks to touring the Museum itself, we visited often.  It was always a treat, with always some new treasure to find.

- Carol Buckley Harty of NC - 05/01/03

Look back at your photo of you and your sister posing at the monument at MM. Then look at the attached photo taken ca. 1945.  Like I said, every family has one.

Clockwise from lower right:  My grandmother (housecleaning, as usual); my mother (a rare smile); my aunt; my weird Great Uncle Bob (very aloof, not much to say, hard man to know ... wait ...  that's not Bob, it is one of the statues. (In a nasal voice, imitating Emily Litella: "Nevermind"); my grandfather (also a man of few words; worked in the shipyard for 50 years)

- Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 05/17/03
Thanks, Dave!

Images taken by Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 12, 2003
Thanks, Dave!

http://www.gammongallery.com

Used by permission - 08/27/05

Thanks so much, Jerry!

Both Lions on the west end
of the bridge. Lake Maury, Newport News, VA.

THEN:

I am going to try to attach a picture for you to add to the right place.  It was taken as you can see
by the Lions Bridge and  I believe I was about 7.  Not sure.  I tried to restore the picture the best I could. 
It is hard to believe that I will be 66, 11/23.  Time does slip away. 

- Sandra Ray ('61) of VA - 09/28/07

How precious!  Thanks so much, Sandra! 

THEN:

Carol,
 
I found this picture of our Dear Mother, Jane Ray, and wanted to share it with you to add to the Mariners' Museum page.  I am sure this was taken in the mid 40's at the Lions Bridge.  We still miss her so and hard to believe that she passed 13 years ago.
 
Again, thank you for all the work you do for us.  Your site is awesome. 
 
- Sandra Ray ('61) of VA and Angela Ray Smith ('64) of VA - 10/17/07

AWWW! Thanks again, Sandra - and Angie! 

By Mark Erickson, Daily Press, February 11, 2004

Conservators are putting the finishing touches on the historic USS Monitor propeller which has been undergoing treatment at the Mariners' Museum since it was recovered from the Cape Hatteras, N.C., shipwreck in 1998.

The 9-foot wide, 1,800-pound cast-iron screw has shed more than a quarter ton of marine encrustation during the long treatment process.

It will go on public display at the museum on March 5.

The Mariners' is located at 100 Museum Dr. Regular admission is $8 adults, $6 children 6-17. Additional fees are required for a program of lectures,
 

tours, living-history presentations and other events scheduled March 5-7 in conjunction with the anniversary of the battle. Call 596-2222 for more info.

The USS Monitor propeller will go on view March 5 at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News after nearly 6 years of conservation treatment.

Also opening March 5 is "Ironclad Evidence: Stories from the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia," a new exhibit showcasing artifacts, documents and images related to the pioneering ironclad ships and their history-making clash in the March 9, 1862, Battle of Hampton Roads.

At the risk of wearing out my welcome, please permit to share a small tribute to the Mariners' Museum, along with
a photo of a memorial statute taken last year. It is the original
of a miniature on display
at the Mariners' Museum.

No Sign of Legendary Cat in Monitor Cannon

Was there a black cat aboard the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor, placed inside a cannon by a superstitious but desperate sailor as the vessel was sinking?

Conservators had hoped to verify the legend as they worked this month to extract concrete-like sediment from two cast iron, smooth-bore cannons salvaged from the ship's turret.

A crewman who had survived the sinking off the North Carolina coast more than 140 years ago maintained that he stuffed the feline into one of the 11-inch-wide, 17,000-pound barrels.

And did he stuff his new wool coat and boots into the carriage of the other cannon, as he said? The answer is leaning toward "No" on both counts.

No trace of a cat — nor a coat nor boots — have been found in the barrels, said David Krop, assistant conservator at the Mariners' Museum where the 13-foot Dahlgren guns are being restored.

"Schoolchildren are always asking 'What happened to the cat?'" said Justin Lyons, a spokesman for the museum.

Crewman Francis Butts wrote in an 1885 magazine article that — as he passed buckets through the turret to bail water from the Monitor — the cat sat on the breech of one of the guns "howling one of those hoarse and solemn tunes which no one can appreciate who is not filled with the superstitions which I had been taught by the sailors, who are always afraid to kill a cat."

"I would almost as soon have touched a ghost, but I caught her, and placing her in (a) gun, replaced the wad and tampion," he said.

Krop has emptied most of the sediment out of the barrels and screened it, and a scan of what remains at the bottom of the guns didn't point to much.

Coal found in the bores likely poured in when the turret, where the guns were mounted, turned upside down as the Monitor sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras on Dec. 31, 1862. Otherwise, the finds were seashells and other evidence of marine life.
 

08/28/05
 

Carol,

Several weeks ago the Daily Press found one of my photos of Lake Maury at www.hrtownsquare.com that I had posted and requested that I permit them to use it in the paper. It was in the paper on Wednesday Aug 29th along with several others. It was not very large and the colors of the Fall leaves were not as pretty as the original picture.
 

Here is a file of several that I took last year when the leaves had changed and thought someone that had seen it would enjoy the larger imaging. It really does make a nice screen saver. I had fallen while running on the trail and used this time with my arm in a sling to snap some beautiful photos. No special effects or cameras were used. As I told the Daily Press "God did all the handiwork; I just happened to catch it on my digital camera".

Go out this Fall and walk or run the trail and see all of this beauty first hand.

F.A. Saunders (HHS 64 Crabba!!!)