President’s Desk

Dear mar­itime colleagues,


AHOY to all our friends, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers!
Did you know 95% of what comes and goes to this coun­try comes and goes by ships? Did you know, unlike Euro­pean nations, the Unit­ed States lacks a nation­al mar­itime muse­um, ship trusts and poten­tial gov­ern­ment sub­si­dies? Our nation­al mar­itime past is defined sole­ly by local and region­al orga­ni­za­tions. Your his­toric mar­itime lega­cies and adven­tures are alive and well here at our S.H.I.P. – Sea­far­ing. Her­itage. Inno­va­tion. Pro­gram­ming orga­ni­za­tion — The Mis­sis­sip­pi Ship­build­ing and Mar­itime Cen­ter. Our Mis­sis­sip­pi Ship­build­ing and Mar­itime Cen­ter con­tin­ues to embrace ener­gy and enthu­si­asm as we build-out 3,000 sq ft of exhib­it space and is pro­ject­ed to open lat­er this year!! Dreams real­ly do come true! Over hun­dreds of years, peo­ple here on the Mis­sis­sip­pi coast have made their liveli­hood through their con­nec­tions to the water. Thanks to the skill and inge­nu­ity of these hard­work­ing men and women, Mississippi’s mar­itime indus­try has impact­ed the region, nation and world. Root­ed in val­ue, rel­e­vance, authen­tic­i­ty and stew­ard­ship, our mar­itime muse­um is poised to open a new chap­ter in its history.

We are based at the his­toric Pascagoula High School. Our build­ing is rec­og­nized by the Mis­sis­sip­pi Depart­ment of Archives and His­to­ry. Our mar­itime o r g a n i z a t i o n is d e v e l o p i n g inter­pre­tive exhibits to engage vis­i­tors in dis­cov­er­ing our region’s long mar­itime his­to­ry. Slat­ed in the Pascagoula’s for­mer high school’s band hall and met­al shop space, our exhibits will help vis­i­tors con­nect with the community’s past, present and future while inspir­ing them to become involved with our mar­itime vision: “Col­lec­tive­ly pre­serve and pro­mote our ship­build­ing and mariner his­to­ry while engag­ing and strength­en­ing the future mar­itime work­force of Mississippi’s mar­itime and ship­build­ing her­itage.” Please enjoy this newslet­ter filled with our most recent mar­itime achieve­ments. I hope you enjoy our updates and take part in our excite­ment as we move our mar­itime orga­ni­za­tion to a “New Mar­itime Era of Exhi­bi­tion!” We appre­ci­ate you as a val­ued part­ner, your belief in our future mar­itime suc­cess and pas­sion for our gulf coast Mis­sis­sip­pi mar­itime his­to­ry preser­va­tion and pro­mo­tion. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with any ques­tions or val­ued input.
Many mar­itime blessings,

Lor­ren West
Pres­i­dent

Your return on invest­ment ensures pre­serv­ing and explor­ing the deep south’s mar­itime his­to­ry, envi­ron­ment, and cul­ture of the entire Mis­sis­sip­pi mar­itime region, and mak­ing these resources avail­able to all. Our Mis­sis­sip­pi Mar­itime Muse­um and Activ­i­ty Cen­ter in Pascagoula, Mis­sis­sip­pi will be broad­ly rec­og­nized for pro­vid­ing an engag­ing mar­itime guest expe­ri­ence, for cre­at­ing trans­for­ma­tive edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram­ming, and as a vital com­mu­ni­ty part­ner ensur­ing phil­an­thropic efforts are enjoyed by all.

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