Museum Reopening

On the 9th of July 2020 the Custom House Maritime Museum will reopen its doors as outlined in phase three of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s plan. We are excited to share with you gallery revisions and museum renovations on which we have been hard at work during the period that we have been unable to open.

As we prepare to welcome the public back into the museum, we want to invite you to experience our new exhibition: Entertainment for Man and Horse: Victuals, Libations, and Distractions in an Early American Tavern. This exhibit is focused on the social role of the local tavern in early American history in places like Newburyport. The title of the exhibit comes from a common phrasing used on tavern signs in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While perhaps sounding somewhat comical to modern ears, the word entertainment here means accommodation.