Current programs include two small exhibition galleries in the cottage which contain artifacts that span the twentieth century and explore the history and use of boats: military, commercial, and recreational, as well as antique engines.MCBM offers docent tours daily, including Saturday and Sunday. The museum also has a small but content-rich library for researchers and the curious. Outreach programs include visits to classrooms and lectures at civic and community meetings and events and outreach exhibitions at secure satellite spaces.

MCBM’s most active program is the preservation and restoration of antique boats. The Museum has restored five excellent examples of 1930’s mahogany recreational boats and stores more than a dozen valuable antique boats to be restored.

MCBM maintains a large restoration facility and teaches visitors who have an interest.MCBMenvisions the restoration program to expand to the point of becoming a service to the maritime museum field and to serve the educational needs of students interested in maritime fields of study.

MCBM currently serves residents of Martin County, particularly schoolchildren and retirees, as well as many visitors to the area, in the limited space available. School tours are limited to eight to ten schoolchildren at a visit because of the small scale of the galleries.

Growing numbers of visitors to the present location, expanded attendance atMCBM’s lectures and programs, and emerging collections, have strained the current facilities.MCBM has made enormous strides over the past twelve months in charting a course for the museum that leads to a new location with professional spaces for an expansive Maritime & Classic Boat Museum that will take its place as a significant cultural institution for the many current and potential audiences.

Program Projections for the New Museum

Yachting Exhibition
Semi-Permanent Installation which includes Evinrude Gallery, Whiticar boats, tools, and artifacts, possibly a half boat for sport fishing exhibition.

Maritime History Exhibition
Semi-Permanent Installation which includes a fabricated Sharpie (small schooner) and didactic materials and artifacts on life in the past four centuries with emphasis on the 1880’s to 1930’s.

Exhibition Series
Changing exhibition gallery drawn from partnership/sister museum collections and private collections.

Maritime Art Gallery
Changing exhibition gallery which showcases exceptional historical and contemporary maritime art from public and private collections.

Boat Model Gallery
Changing exhibition gallery that focuses on international history of transportation and boats.

Archive Gallery
Showcase archival materials and photographs from our and other public and private collections.

Open Collections Storage
Allow scholars and visitors to view restored antique and classic boats in storage.

Preservation and Storage
Appropriate storage for care of collections: paper, art, photographs, boat models, tools, navigational tools, wooden, steel, aluminum, and fiberglass boats with rigging, etc.

Boat Building Area
Sail boat building from kits in partnership with the U. S. Sailing Center. Also involved in the restoration of boats, restoration of antique engines, and the restoration of models.

Library
Books, archival materials like captain’s logs, letters, maps, etc. Rare books and materials limited access.

Education
The education department’s goals are multi-level: to teach history, math, science, environmental conservation, boating safety, geography and navigation; to enhance formal schooling goals through reading, literacy, vocabulary, and other academic disciplines; with tours, classes, workshops, after-school programs, and school partnerships.

Classrooms
Featuring summer Camps, seasonal Camps, classes and workshops, and lectures and symposia.

Auditorium
Films: maritime adventures and documentaries, and partnership. programs.

Other Programs
Rendezvous and other festival events; launches, boat model races, exhibition openings, and gallery walks; pavilion and sidewalk tours; binocular astronomy.