Texas Maritime Museum plans hands-on exhibits in interior overhaul

Tracking ships, reshaping a miniature coastline and deciding what to pack for a journey to America could become part of a visit to the Texas Maritime Museum under plans to overhaul its interior.

Executive Director Michael Abels outlined the proposed renovation during a Donuts With the Director gathering for members, donors and guests. Plans call for new hands-on activities, expanded historical exhibits and a weather exhibit supported by a $50,000 grant from the AEP Texas Foundation.

The museum is targeting May 1 for a grand reopening, though Abels cautioned that construction could affect the schedule. The presentation did not specify a year for the reopening target, a construction start date or a total project cost.

The changes would give visitors more opportunities to explore how maritime activity has shaped Texas, from immigration and military history to shipping, energy and coastal weather.

One proposed addition, an augmented-reality sand table, would let visitors reshape sand as a projector displays water and higher elevations across its surface. The activity is intended to help children understand erosion and how changes in terrain affect the movement of water.

Another planned activity would challenge children to decide what to take when immigrating to a new country. Using labeled blocks representing belongings such as clothing, photographs, and jewelry, participants would have to choose what fits in a suitcase and what must stay behind.

The museum is also exploring an Automatic Identification System display that would allow visitors to view vessel-tracking information. Abels described a setup showing local waterways and broader shipping activity, connecting information on the screens with vessels visitors might see from the museum’s observation area.

Existing activities would be incorporated into the redesign. The museum plans to retain its dugout canoe and knot-tying station, bring back a wickiup, and relocate the ship’s wheel near the yardarm activity.

That arrangement would allow children to take different roles in a simulated shipboard exercise, with one participant at the wheel while others work together at the yardarm.

The AEP-supported weather exhibit would examine the connection between coastal weather and maritime activity. Proposed features include a touchscreen with historical hurricane information and news coverage, along with a live camera view from the museum’s observation area.

Museum staff is seeking historical weather coverage from a local television station. The AEP Texas Foundation would receive naming rights for the exhibit, Abels said.

An AEP representative attending the gathering said the educational connection between weather and maritime activity helped support the museum’s grant application.

The overhaul also would broaden the museum’s historical coverage. Abels said plans include expanding interpretation of the Texas Navy and adding exhibits addressing Texas’ role in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, subjects he said are not currently represented.

Exhibits on early mariners, the 1554 shipwrecks and La Belle would remain. Other planned subjects include Texas ports, commerce and immigration, building on the museum’s earlier exhibit about immigrants arriving through Texas ports.

Second-floor plans include energy topics such as solar and wind power, along with shipbuilding, recreational boating, commercial maritime activity and navigation.

The redesign also would change how some artifacts are displayed. Abels said plans include limiting light exposure and rotating selected objects off display rather than keeping them on exhibit continuously.

The public-facing changes follow more than two years of internal work, according to Abels. Staff and board members revised policies, procedures, bylaws and the employee handbook, developed a strategic plan, rebuilt the membership program and established financial controls.

Staff also revised the emergency preparedness plan and used it to secure the museum within 48 hours ahead of Hurricane Beryl, he said.

Fundraising changes included reviving the Maritime Ball and redesigning the patron party after an earlier wine festival failed to meet expectations. Abels said staff also increased grant-writing efforts and sought additional artifacts, including rare items related to the Texas Navy.

The planned exhibits are intended to encourage visitors to spend more time exploring the museum and give them reasons to return, Abels said.