This Veterans Day Weekend! The Virginia Beach Surf & Rescue Museum is proud to open a new exhibition! As a former United States Coast Guard Station, the museum has always shared many facets of USCG history. This time around, we are excited to share the story of the Coast Guard's Rescue Swimmer Program. Most [...]
It is a maritime tragedy of such proportion that you might mistake it for something straight out of the 19th Century. A massive ship breaking into pieces, almost an entire crew lost within plain sight of rescuers, and all unfolding only about 30 miles off shore. It didn’t happen in the 1800s, though. It [...]
It's a normal Summer afternoon. A beautiful day. We've already had a steady stream of visitors into the museum. I share the front admissions counter with one of our volunteers. Without notice the front door swiftly, smoothly, gently, opens all the way. Our door swings outward, and the entrance fills with the August heat [...]
The museum has a ghost in the Lookout Tower. We don’t debate this fact any longer. A character has been seen in the tower by folks strolling on the boardwalk since the very first year the institution opened as a museum; 1981. Many dozens of sightings, perhaps it’s more than a hundred now, have [...]
I work with a Millennial. That’s a conversation starter that’ll get an immediate reaction. Those reactions will be widely varied, of course, depending on the age of the folks you're tossing it out to. I confess to entertaining myself at times by making the statement when I’m with folks, how shall I put it, [...]
This Veterans Day Weekend, the museum debuts new exhibits created by a Veteran; US Navy Veteran Alison Nitti. Alison began working with the museum as an Intern in the Spring of 2019. Alison's first task was researching two subjects, forever linked by history: The tragedy of the Marine Electric sinking, and the United States [...]
The Virginia Beach Surf & Rescue Museum is currently posting full time career opportunities. A position at this institution offers a rare and special chance to genuinely give your talent, your skill, your enthusiasm, and your commitment to preserving an important historic icon that's been standing on the shore of Virginia Beach since 1903. [...]
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never...” Don’t say it. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind. I know what they are about to say, having heard it so many times before, and hearing it again is just long, sharp fingernails on an old blackboard to me. “...I’ve never come [...]
Labor Day Weekend is the natural end point of the summer season. Just like the bookend weekend, Memorial Day, the entire oceanfront becomes an event venue. Tens of thousands of visitors flock into the resort district in a frenzied summer’s end celebration. The weekend’s anchor is a major ticketed concert event right on southern [...]
Parks Schmidt with Veteran Randy Ferguson Parks Schmidt loves history. He recently began interviewing Hampton Roads Veterans, gathering their stories and experiences to share with future generations. Knowing that a big part of the museum's Save Our Stories campaign is about supporting our Oral History Project, Parks reached out to Intern with [...]
Welcome USLA! It's wonderful to have Virginia Beach hosting the United States Lifesaving Association's Championship competition for 2019! From Wednesday, August 7th, to Saturday, August 10, Surf & Rescue professionals from around the nation will be competing in a wide range of events. Please join us on Friday, August 9, as we share an [...]
As I sit at my desk, I can look out onto the beach and watch as people stroll by on the Boardwalk or set up their chairs on the sand. Recently as the weather has gotten warmer, I have seen more and more beachgoers sporting bathing suits as they go by. A few brave [...]
