Whydah Museum, Provincetown

Visited this museum the day of total eclipse of the sun. The lady in charge stood outside the museum and looked at sun with her special paper glasses. I was with my son and we had just paid for and toured the museum. It was Ok, shabby, and without joy. I asked the lady in charge if she sold the glasses inside. She folded the glasses back up, put them in her pocket and said, "Nope," then went back into the museum. I suppose it's appropriate that a Pirate Museum has a mean, angry lady in charge...but this was a bad experience in an otherwise perfect day in Provincetown.

If you're looking for a Disney Experience, take your utterly clueless self to Disneyland. This is a genuine historic nautical Museum (rated by New York Times as one of the top ten museums in America). So if you don't like the place then you have to ask what's wrong with you. I love that it is relatively dark, and a bit gritty grimy like a decaying shipwreck at the bottom of the sea, exactly the way it should be! This is an exhibit of hundreds of pieces of genuine authentic artifacts and treasures recovered from the only fully authenticated golden age pirate shipwreck ever discovered on planet Earth. The museum and collection is privately owned, and it is an absolute privilege that the owner should allow any of us to even see a single piece of this amazing find. They do have a second Museum in Yarmouth for people who like the Disney-ish atmosphere and are not mature enough to appreciate the scientific aspect of their discovery.

This was my first time on Cape Cod and this museum was the most impressive museum on the Cape. Did you know that National Geographic did an entire special on Barry Clifford's nautical findings of the only recovered Pirate Ship in history? What's even better: Did you know that the treasure of the only recovered Pirate Ship is on display at this museum? The Whydah ship (pronounce "wi-daw") has a romantic story behind the life of the sailor Sam Bellamy who choose piracy for a profession and the woman that he met in Cape Cod and was on his way back home to when disaster struck. This museum has so many actual historical pieces recovered from the shipwrecked Whydah and from the local region that you will get a real education for such a modest fee. The proceeds of the admissions strictly go into exploration and restoration of this vessel. This was a great museum for all ages and all budgets. Truly memorable!

This is a great museum for seeing pirate materials. But if you get a chance, also check out the one in Yarmouth. They are by no means the same museum--each have different materials and highlights.

Interesting museum about a sunken pirate ship. Teacher get in for a discount. We visited while waiting for half our group to come back from private whale watching