On the closing day of the exhibit, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010, at 2 pm and at 3 pm curator T. Robins Brown will lead a gallery tour of Moving Bricks on the Hudson, the Haverstraw Brick Museum’s Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial exhibit.  The show highlights the sloops, schooners, towboats, tugs and barges that transported bricks on the Hudson in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  Visitors will discover the stories of the captains, crew, and boat builders that were part of the maritime enterprise that carried up to 1,000,000,000 (yes, billion) bricks annually.  The exhibit brings together for the first fascinating illustrations and items donated or loaned to the museum by descendants of brick boatmen and from other individuals and museums including the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia, the Peabody Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts, the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, and the Historical Society of Rockland County.  A slide show documents the dangers of transporting brick by water.  A delightful short film of 1903 gives viewers a speedy trip on the Hudson River from Haverstraw to Newburgh.  A unique three-foot model of a barge with cutouts on loan from the Reynolds Shipyard Corp. allows visitors to inspect the structural system used to carry the very heavy brick cargo. 

Through Jan. 31 the exhibit is open during the museum’s regular hours, Wed., Sat.,  and Sun, 1-4 pm.  Children are welcome.  A gallery guide for children encourages them to find fascinating items in the exhibit and they can also build a “tow” with model boats.

The mission of the Haverstraw Brick Museum is to collect, preserve, research and exhibit materials and cultures of the brick making industry within the Hudson River Valley.  The museum is located at 12 Main Street, Haverstraw, NY.  For directions and other information, please visit the museum’s website at www. haverstrawbrickmuseum.org or call:  845-947-3505.  For additional information about the gallery tours, please contact Brown at [log in to unmask]