South Street Seaport Museum in New York City has a new exhibition Maritime City. lt showcases 540 deliberately-selected objects from the Museum’s collections of 80,000 works of art, historical artifacts, and archival records, representing a wide range of time periods, themes, and materials.
The exhibition spans the first three floors of A.A. Thomson & Co. building—the newly-renovated, historic 1868 warehouse,located at 213 Water Street. Recognized for its architectural significance within the South Street Seaport Historic District, the building was restored by the South Street Seaport Museum and renowned preservation firm Beyer Blinder Belle.
The opening of Maritime City and the reopening of the A.A. Thomson & Co. building will be accompanied by a range of dynamic public programs designed to invite visitors of all ages to make a deeper connection to New York’s rich maritime heritage.
As you walk through 540 deliberately-selected objects from the collections and archives of the Seaport Museum, you will discover how the waterways, people, and industries of the Greater New York area—including all the boroughs, Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley—led to the creation of a truly diverse city. By sharing the material culture of New York and its people, the objects on display highlight stories of the working class people employed by ships, shipping lines, and other local industries throughout history, as well as the emigrant workers and immigrant families that came through the port as their first stop in America.
In Maritime City, you will experience a celebration of communities that have come together to grow New York. For four centuries, the port of New York has connected people to the world through the exchange of goods, ideas, languages, and cultures. Indigenous Lenape people were the first stewards of the waterways, creating trade routes connecting Manahatta to the sea. In the 17th-century European colonists, enslaved Africans, and migrants built on this foundation to give birth to a restless and ambitious city. Later waves of immigration, would grow a world capital formed by its oceanic links to the world. Just as the history of New York is woven from many stories, Maritime City employs artifacts to present a tapestry of a global metropolis shaped by the sea. The South Street Seaport Museum interprets these origins, a museum for a maritime city.
Maritime City is scheduled to open to the public in March of 2025. Reserve your admission tickets now to secure your place and join the Seaport Museum’s mailing list to receive updates and announcements.
About South Street Seaport Museum Admission Tickets
Regular admission to the Seaport Museum is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, and $5 for children under the age of 18. Admission for Seaport Museum members is free. Tickets are available for purchase online and in-person. Museum Admission tickets grant access to the 1885 tall ship Wavertree and 1908 lightship Ambrose at Pier 16 as well as all exhibitions on view in the introduction galleries inside Schermerhorn Row located at 12 Fulton Street. Admission tickets for March 12 and later will include entry to the forthcoming Maritime City exhibition in A.A. Thomson & Co. located at 213 Water Street. In addition to regular admission, Pay What You Wish admission is available for purchase in-person at any check-in station at the Museum. seaportmuseum.org/general-admission