Thomas Catlett Skinner’s office was a loft overlooking the dry dock at the Newport News shipyard. Frequently he would gather his tools and wander through the yard, stopping to observe and document the many scenes unfolding before him. 

Have you ever gotten the sense that something is following you around? Maybe there is a phrase, word, song, or something else that just keeps popping up in unexpected places, and you’re not sure why? That happened to me recently, and the product is this blog post!

Able, courageous, and experienced, Franklin Buchanan was perhaps the most aggressive senior officer to join the Confederate Navy. His strategic flair, discipline, and heroic qualities made him respected and admired by all those around him. After being put in command of CSS Virginia, Buchanan led efforts that resulted in the Confederacy’s greatest naval victory before being appointed as the first Admiral in the Confederate Navy and selected to command the naval defenses in Mobile Bay, Alabama. As Admiral, he oversaw the construction of multiple ironclads and was on board CSS Tennesee during its battle against David Glasgow Farragut’s Union Fleet in 1864.

CSS Nashville played an important role in the Confederate search for European recognition.

For a while, the images of the Black men who built our Museum remained anonymous, despite our efforts to try to identify them. All we really had to go on was that they worked here. So that is where we started.

History is filled with ages that are tied to the innovation of materials: The Stone Age, The Bronze Age, and The Iron Age. We are currently in The Plastics Age. Plastics have changed so much in our daily lives. Plastics are around us all the time.

The Civil War’s second major amphibious operation was the capture of Port Royal Sound on November 7, 1861.