One of the best aspects of Essex is that it’s the home of the CT River Museum. Under the remarkably enthusiastic leadership of the Director Chris Dobbs, the museum has become an even more vital part of the Essex CT community. Most recently, Chris enticed the Onrust, a wonderful reproduction of Adriaen Block’s ship, the first ship built by Europeans in the New World to make Essex her home for the summer.
As I write this the Onrust is on her way from near Albany, on the Hudson River, and will arrive in Old Saybrook today. On Thursday she will make her way the river and tie up at the CT River Museum where she will be giving river tours for the summer before returning home to the Hudson River in the fall.
I am lucky enough to be invited to join her for the “last mile” as she comes up up the river tomorrow, Thursday, as she arrives for the first time at the CT River Museum. RiverFare, a special event at the museum, will be in full swing when she arrives so I am sure Onrust will cause quite a stir. I am really excited to be a part of her arrival and applaud Chris for bringing her to the museum. Totally cool.
The original Onrust was built by the Adriaen Block and his crew over the winter of 1613/1614 following a catastrophic fire that destroyed their ship. The Onrust site has an interesting short history of the original vessel.
In 2006, in Upstate NY construction began on a replica of this historic ship, using traditional construction techniques. This short video tells the story of the construction of this unique vessel. This video shows her on her maiden voyage down to Sandy Hook NJ. I am sure that there will be plenty more to tell so stay tuned for more updates on this lovely little gem.
Who knows, perhaps the sun will even come out after what seems like weeks of rain. Now that would really be an event.
One response to “The Onrust, coming to the CT River Museum”