Camden Shipyard and Maritime Museum - Not Open

It is really annoying to me when cultural sites post that they are OPEN when they are NOT. Today, I looked up the Camden Shipyard and Maritume Museum on the web and it said it was open on Thursdays from noon to 4:00 p.m. I called the listed number a half dozen times but it went straight to the mailbox which was not functioning. Since I live less than a half hour away, I decided to make the drive though I was warned off by my sister who passes through that area frequently on her way to and from her jobs working for catering companies. She said the address was near what they call "Five Points" and it is an infamous drug selling corner. She told me took around carefully before I got out of the car.

I drove there at about 1:30 and, indeed, there was someone loitering about who looked like he was waiting for a car to summon him for a transaction, so I drove around the corner, passing several despairing (possibly strung out) people on the sidewalk and the steps of adjacent buildings. The web site said you could park in a lot at the back, but I drove down a trash strewn alley and did not see a lot, so I went back out front and parked. I tried all three doors, two of them with ramps and one with high steps (hard on my knees). It seemed to me none of the buzzers were working. No one came to any door even when I tried knocking when the buzzers didn't seem to work. Finally, after tripping on some vines across one of the paved paths from a door, I gave up. Fortunately a police car was parked at the corner which was reassuring to me. I drove around the block past rows of abandoned houses, some boarded up, others with blck and gaping holes where windows and door had been.

Years ago, I went to college at Rutgers in Camden, and had many explorations there, so I wasn't surprised by the degradation the city has endured. But each time I go, there is a new tragedy. The last time I went, the library had been abandoned and destroyed. The library on Broadway had been so beautiful I had taken children from the summer programs I worked in at the time, to visit it. I remembered the block glass upper balconies and the marble busts of great writers in the niches between alcoves where people could read in peace and quiet. It was a graceful and beautiful old building allowed to rot and ruin.

Camden is like a sick and dying creture, set upon by scavengers. It is so sad, and sad for the people who still try to live there. The Camden Shipyard and Maritime Museum is in what was once an old and beautiful Episcopalian Church. I imagine inside you can still see the beauty of the stained glass windows. I am glad the church was at least put to a good and cultural purpose and not allowed to fall to ruin like the library, BUT that said, ALL ventures whether cultural or profitable, shops or museums, should post if they are open only by appointment. It is always wrong to post that you are open if you are probably not going to be open.

too tired to go into the whole volunteer situation now, but a lot of places that run on volunteer labor cannot be certain of their staff, so they should post by appointment only and at least make sure the telephone works!!

Jo Ann