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Tuesday, June 4, 2002
Last modified at 8:23 p.m. on Monday, June 3,
2002
Keep museums in mind for kids
By Nicole Johnson McGill
Times-Union staff writer
When the days grow long
and hot this summer, and your children's eyes begin to glaze from too much
television and video games, take them to a museum. This summer's exhibits
in Jacksonville include a bit of history and encounters with live
butterflies and not-so-live dinosaurs.
The Museum of Science and History is the summer home of
lifelike and near life-size animatronic dinosaurs as it presents
"Dinomania!" The exhibit covers 5,000 square feet of MOSH's second floor
and features everything from the ferocious tyrannosaurus Rex to a baby
ankylosaurus. Other dinosaurs in the exhibit will include a pteranodon,
triceratops and a parasaurolophus.
Kids can also participate in several hands-on activities such as
operating a robotic duck-billed dinosaur skeleton or digging for fossils
in the dino dig box.
Location: 1025 Museum Circle on the Southbank. Hours: 10
a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday; and, 1-6 p.m.
Sunday. Cost: Adults, $6; seniors 55 and older and active military,
$4.50; children ages 3-12, $4. Contact: (904) 396-6674 or http://www.themosh.org/.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum has a Black History
exhibit that will continue through June. The documents include the muster
roll for the 9th U.S. Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers signed by over 50 of the
men, most with their marks. Two of the men -- John Denny and Brent Woods
-- later became the first blacks awarded the Medal of Honor.
Also in the exhibit is a 1981 letter by Rosa Parks and Alex Haley's
manuscript for his 1963 Playboy interview with Malcom X. The corrections
by Malcolm X are quite interesting and offer some insight into his
thinking at that time.
Other documents include writings of Booker T. Washington, Shirley
Chisholm and a 1985 passport application for Vanessa Lynne Williams, the
first black woman crowned Miss America.
Starting July 2, the museum willits Mars manuscript exhibit. This
will include photos from the Pathfinder mission, blueprints of the shuttle
Mariner, texts from Werner von Braun, Konstantin Tsilokovsky and Nikola
Tesla, and various other important documents from the early years of space
flight.
Location: 101 W. First St. in Springfield. The Sprinkles'
Children's Museum entrance is on the west side of the building.
Hours:
10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Cost: Free. Contact: (904)
356-2992 or visit http://www.karpeles.com/.
Tree Hill: Jacksonville's Nature Center, a nature preserve in
Arlington, has a new exhibit called "Flights of Fancy" which features
about 10 species of native butterflies. Visitors can have close-up
encounters with the colorful creatures in Tree Hill's new butterfly house.
The center also has completed restoration of its pyramid, which houses
a hands-on learning center, offices and gift store. A mural painted by
artist Dan Heslep depicts Florida's history, from with the Ice Age to the
present.
Location: 7152 Lone Star Road in Arlington. Hours: 8:30
a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Cost: $1 for adults and 50 cents
for children. Contact: (904) 724-4646 or visit http://www.treehill.org/.
The newest exhibit at the Jacksonville Maritime Museum
is a 1/16-inch-to-1-foot scale model of the S.S. Gulf America, an oil
tanker that rests under the sea 5 miles off the coast of Ponte Vedra
Beach.
The tanker was on its maiden voyage hauling 90,000 barrels of oil when
it was torpedoed by a German U-boat on April 10, 1942. Boaters from Ponte
Vedra quickly arrived on the scene. Only 24 of 41 crew members survived.
While you're at the museum, check out the 1928 Jacksonville skyline
mural and the model of the USS Saratoga. Also on display are artifacts
from the USS Columbine, a vessel ambushed by Confederate Capt. J.J.
Dickinson and his men in 1864 during the Civil War.
Rather than allow the vessel to slip back into Union hands, it was
burned at Horse Landing on the St. Johns River, 3 miles north of Welaka.
Some artifacts, including a lantern and scissors, were recovered in 1971.
Location: 1015 Museum Circle on the Southbank Riverwalk.
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Friday and Saturday; 1-5 p.m., Sunday. Cost: Free. Contact:
(904) 398-9011.
Nicole Johnson McGill can be reached at (904) 359-4427 or at nmcgill.
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