
DATE: Tuesday, November 25, 1997            TAG: 9711210108

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: THINGS TO DO 

SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

A GREAT PLACE TO VISIT, PIRATES OR NO

PIRATES BROUGHT US to The Mariners Museum. And by the time we left, my husband was wishing pirates had also taken me away.

We'll get to that.

First, the museum.

It's a great place to visit. I hadn't been here for nearly 20 years and all that time carried with me a vivid memory of paintings, photographs, artifacts and lots and lots of teeny, tiny models of ships, even some in bottles. They are still there, in all their stunning detail.

But this time, we had Emma with us. She likes teeny ships, too. For about 20 seconds. Then things had better get more interesting.

They do. Our nearly-5-year-old had trouble just getting past the lobby of this museum. There, in its full, golden glory, is a massive eagle figurehead carved in 1858.

Emma stared and stared, shuffling from one side of the bird to the other and craning her neck.

Finally, sighing, she said, ``I wish he were real so I could ride him.''

Not a chance.

Museum docents steer visitors to the left upon entering. A good idea, we saw, since the first gallery is a kind of time line of the evolution of boat building on the Chesapeake Bay, starting with Native Americans. Here are beautiful dioramas of ship building through the years as well as hands-on activities to keep youngsters busy.

We tied several kinds of knots used on boats. We worked a winch. Then Emma found the theater. We settled down for a 17-minute film about the challenges of life at sea, called ``Mariner.''

Then we arrived at our goal, an exhibit about pirates that you can visit through Jan. 4. Fascinated by the exhibit's logo - a skull and crossbones - Emma was ready for all things gruesome.

We checked out an iron treasure chest from the 18th century, she made a paper pirate hat, rubbings of a parrot and other pirate motifs, she climbed behind a large painting of Blackbeard, stuck her face through a hole in the fabric and gave us her ``evilest'' grin.

We contemplated for a while a full body cage suspended from the ceiling. Evidently, some captured pirates were first executed, then hung up to have their bones picked clean by scavenger birds.

``That's gross,'' Emma said. I agreed. Enough of bad behavior on the high seas.

Moving on, we looked at some ship models, marveled at the handiwork of August F. Crabtree in the Crabtree Collection of Miniature Ships and sailed ahead to a gallery called Thar She Blows! All about whaling, it has several nice, big, wooden puzzles of whales for youngsters to do and some more rubbings and stamping work.

Then came my great idea. To stretch our legs before the ride home, I suggested we take a walk on The Noland Trail just across the lawn from the museum's entrance. It leads around picturesque Lake Maury.

And so with just a fleeting glance at the map posted by the trail's head, we set out on what my husband now refers to as Mom's Forced March. I did not know, until at least an hour later when we ran into a museum staff member, that the trail is a full 5 miles long. By then we were too far in to go back.

With scenic overlooks and 14 bridges, even on a chilly evening at dusk, it is a beautiful hike. One I'm sure my family will thank me for.

Eventually. ILLUSTRATION: IF YOU GO

What: The Mariners Museum

Where: 100 Museum Drive, Newport News; take exit 258-A off I-64

onto U.S. 17 (J. Clyde Morris Boulevard), which turns into Museum

Drive after it crosses Warwick Boulevard.

When: Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Thanksgiving and

Christmas Day.

Admission: $5 adults, $3 students, 5 and under free

Call: 596-2222 for group reservations

Local's tip: This museum has an exceptionally elegant gift shop

and a research library open to the public.