Living History
Maritime Museum of San Diego’s award-winning living history programs are designed as a hands-on exploration of history, literature and group problem solving.
- 5th Grade – Prelude to the Revolution 1774
- 4th Grade – Gold Diggers 1851
- 5th Grade – Voyage of Hope 1874
- Overnight Sail Option
- Teacher Program Resources
5th Grade – Prelude to the Revolution 1774
Overnight or Day Program
Set sail on the eve of the American Revolution! Re-live the turbulent year of 1774 experiencing the struggle of merchant mariners sailing the triangle trade route between New England and the Caribbean. Embarking on a voyage of the imagination, students will role-play with our maritime instructors, raising sails, loading cargo and protecting the vessel from pirates. Navigating their way through the political storms of the era, students will face frustrations that inspired American colonists to revolt. Ultimately, they will choose their own destiny and find out what role they will play in the war for America’s freedom.
Day Program
Grades: 5-6
Length: 5 hours
Times: 9:30am – 2:30pm
Class Size: 26-60 students; 4-12 adults. (Students bring their own sack lunch, no food provided for Day Program.)
Cost: $54 per student, $20 per adult. Teacher is free.
Overnight Program
Grades: 5-6
Length: 18 hours
Times: 3:00pm – 9:00am
Class Size: 26-60 students, 4-12 adults, maximum number of participants 70.
Cost: $100 per student September to January/$125 per student February to June, $50 per adult. Three teachers free per program.
4th Grade – Gold Diggers 1851
Overnight or Day Program
The adventure begins in 1851 in San Diego Bay. California has just become the thirty-first state. Students have just heard the news of the discovery of gold and decide to try their “luck” in the diggings of Northern California.
Students must negotiate with an agent for passage to San Francisco. Once aboard, students prepare the vessel by moving cargo and setting sail. They may, however, be surprised by the persuasive attempts of a variety of historic characters extolling the virtues of their “hidden agendas. Upon conclusion of the voyage, students must decide on their own destiny. They must elect to remain aboard and adapt the life they have come to know as sailors, or to jump ship to face the uncertainty of the gold fields.
Day Program
Grades: 4-6
Length: 5 hours
Times: 9:30am – 2:30pm
Class Size: 26-60 students; 4-12 adults. (Students bring their own sack lunch, no food provided for Day Program.)
Cost: $54 per student, $20 per adult. Teacher is free.
Overnight Program
Grades: 4-6
Length: 18 hours
Times: 3:00pm – 9:00am
Class Size: 26-60 students, 4-12 adults, maximum number of participants 70.
Cost: $100 per student September to January/$125 per student February to June, $50 per adult. Three teachers free per program.
5th Grade – Voyage of Hope 1874
Overnight or Day Program
This program offers many challenges to youngsters during an 18-hour imaginary voyage from Great Britain to the West Coast of the United States, via New Zealand. Students relive the lives of 1870’s emigrants who have signed aboard as sailors “before the mast” in exchange for passage.
Through role-playing and cooperative learning techniques, students are immersed intellectually, physically and emotionally in shipboard activities. These include hoisting barrels and sails, riding a boatswain’s chair, singing chanteys, standing night watch, swabbing the decks and dealing with a demanding, yet fair, Captain and crew.
This award-winning living history program is designed as a hands-on exploration of history, literature and group problem solving.
Day Program
Grades: 4-6
Length: 5 hours
Times: 9:30am – 2:30pm
Class Size: 26-60 students; 4-12 adults. (Students bring their own sack lunch, no food provided for Day Program.)
Cost: $54 per student, $20 per adult. Teacher is free.
Overnight Program
Grades: 5-6
Length: 18 hours
Times: 3:00pm – 9:00am
Class Size: 26-60 students, 4-12 adults, maximum number of participants 70.
Cost: $100 per student September to January/$125 per student February to June, $50 per adult. Three teachers free per date.
Overnight Sail Option
Available for classes that have completed the Overnight Program
Sail from the past into the present! After your imaginary voyage on our Revolutionary War, Voyage of Hope or Gold Diggers overnight program is complete, join our modern Captain and crew aboard the Tallship Californian for our Graduate sail program! Put your student’s newfound sailing and teamwork skills to the test as you take the Californian out for a cruise on San Diego Bay. This program is available only to students who have concurrently completed our overnight program. Lunch included, program ends at 12:00.
Length: 3 hours
Times: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Class Size: Minimum 26-Maximum 40
Bring extra parents for the sail
Cost: $75/person