A Day at the Museums

One of the places on my list of places to visit was Hull. There are a number of museums there and I think that was what caused that to be on my list of places I want to visit. A few weeks ago we read about William Wilberforce in Mystery of History Vol. 4. We talked about the slave trade and made interactive maps. I love the Scholastic Interactive 3-D Maps. I just wish they had it for more things.

Here are the Slave Trade Maps we made a few weeks ago.

J could not understand why they call it a triangle of trade when it is more like a square.

Well, after studying William Wilberforce, I decided it is time to go to Hull and to the William Wilberforce House Museum. Thursday is one day that we have nothing. Thursday we have no activities at church, clubs, football, nothing. Did you hear that nothing. Oh, my husband has small group but that it not until 8pm. Thursday is our day for outings.

We took the train. We are able to get a direct train with minimum stops and be there in 1 hour and 20 minutes. For many places the train really is the best way to go. We get our money's worth out of Family and friends card. We arrived in Hull. My husband went with us and he figured there was a but that would take us close to the William Wilberforce House. I was just going to walk the 30 minutes. We found a bus and my husband asked if that was going to Guild Hall. It was. He went to pay and they said no need. I think it was because they thought we were getting off at City Hall which was the next stop. We were on for two more stops.

As we walked to the museum we saw this monument.

The museum is free. It is in the house where William Wilberforce was born. It begins telling bits of Wilberforce's story. Then you go to the 2nd floor and there are bits of Africa and then the slave ships.

I have to say that it was very sobering to be there. To read some stories and see some of what it was like.

William Wilberforce was not a very big man but he has a passion and he worked hard for that passion. It was good and right to do.

We probably spent about an hour there. It was very informative but like I said, it was also sobering.

Next door is the Streetlife Museum. Since all the museums are free we decided to go there.

Here is a street car. It reminded me of the ding dings in Hong Kong Island. There they were called ding dings because of the sound of the bells that rang as they went down the street.

There were trains and also some shops as if you were walking along the streets of Hull.

I had packed a lunch. I am usually so impressed with the fact that most places have a place for lunch that I was surprised that all three museums we visited did not have a place for us to sit and eat. We ended up sitting on a bench in a shopping centre. It was just a bit cold to be outside.

The last museums we went was the Maritime Museum which is located in the Victorian Dock Offices. The building has a view of the docks. I imagine that at one time you could see all the ships arriving with cargo from all over the world.

There was a display on the boat Truelove. Truelove was built in Philadelphia and was captured during the American Revolution and became a fishing boat. Because of the name there were all kinds of souvenir type things created.

To keep themselves busy on the whaling boats. The men where encouraged to decorate whale teeth. Some were very details and some were excellent artists.

There were models of ships and artwork of various boats throughout the museum.

The museum covered the two floors. The building itself was impressive.

The museum is located in Queen Victoria Square and so there is a monument there of Queen Victoria.

We spent about 5 hours there. We found a yummy milkshake shop. The shop just sells milkshakes more kinds than you can think of. We took the train back and arrived home before dinner.

It was a fun day. I am glad that we were able to do it. Now to plan our next outing.

Beth