Posts

Showing posts from May, 2017

"Ocean Liners: Glamour, Speed, and Glory" at The Peabody Essex Museum Explores the Golden Age of Ocean Travel

Image
When Lynda Rose Hartigan, Deputy Director of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, delivered a few words during a recent preview of the museum's newest exhibition it was like she had been in my head poking around. "Truly still among the largest moving structures ever built, ocean liners allow people to dream and aspire to a cosmopolitan lifestyle they might not otherwise experience on land."  Whoa. The woman had been reading my mind! For years I've fantasized about the ultimate dream vacation that would start with me being welcomed aboard an enormous ocean liner (note that I said 'ocean liner' and not 'cruise ship') preparatory to experiencing a leisurely sail across the Atlantic watching the waves go by from a well-placed deck chair, enjoying leisurely Afternoon Teas in a classy and comfortable lounge, and dressing up for dinners served in an elegant dining room filled with lots of other nattily dressed strangers. I would spend ti