The Great Lakes Shipwreck Exhibition
The “Great Lakes Shipwreck Exhibition” is open to the public at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center from February 1st to April 25th, 2016 from 10am to 6pm daily. The exhibition features 11 sections including discovery and exploration, shipwreck artifacts, shipwreck stories, historic map gallery, and many more!
The purpose of the exhibit stemmed from recent discoveries at Presque Isle and led to the development of the Pennsylvania Archaeology and Shipwreck Survey Team (PASST) and the establishment of a Conservation Science lab at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. Both projects fall under the umbrella of the Regional Science Consortium, which is dedicated to promoting research and providing state of the art facilities for local Colleges and Universities.
The exhibition has also served to create a collaboration of “stakeholders” concerned with the preservation of our Maritime Heritage. These stakeholders include PA Sea Grant, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, The Erie Maritime Museum, Erie County Historical Society, Divers World, PA DEP Coastal Zone Management, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). Funding for the exhibit was provided by Penn State Behrend.
This project also supports the local effort to secure a Marine Sanctuary designation from the federal government and adds a focused effort to provide data to the on-going Marine Spatial Survey project of Lake Erie waters. According to David Boughton, Maritime Education Specialist with PA Sea Grant, “This project is an excellent way to engage students in a real world project that conveys Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills and at the same time supports the on-going research to survey 132 known shipwrecks in our quadrangle and learn the science of preserving artifacts from archaeology sites at Presque Isle.”
For more information, please contact Dave Boughton at dbb11@psu.edu or (814)720-0746.