Columbus Santa Maria

2011 Opening Weekend

2011-03-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

The ship opens on Fri. April 1, 10 am-3 PM. Opening ceremonies are Sun. April 3 starting at noon...all ship tours that day are 99 cents. Join us for the ceremony: cannon fire, the Sea Cadets posting our American flag and patriotic music, followed by the salty harmonies of the Hard Tackers at 1 pm as they sing sea shanties. Free coloring books for the kids! Also on Sun. April 3, we'll have the author Susan Levine signing her new children’s book “Packard Takes Flight”. Books are available for purchase at our visitor/education center.

Questions? 614-645-8760 or 614-645-0351.

2010 Season End

2010-11-01T08:27:00.001-07:00

The Haunted Santa Maria was a big success. Cold weather and high winds kept people away on Thursday but Friday and Saturday had good crowds from opening until closing. Many people came from out of town. At least a few were from out of state.

This capped a very successful 2010 season with the highest ticker sales since the early 1990s (when the ship was new).

The pirate weekends were huge draws as was Columbus Day weekend.

The 2010 season also saw renovation to the quarterdeck and poop deck (the deck on top of the cabin). This will make the decks water tight for the first time.

Haunted Ship

2010-10-27T09:33:00.001-07:00

The Haunted Santa Maria runs evenings October 28-30. This is one of the few family friendly haunted attractions in central Ohio. There are no chain saws and the guides hand out glowing bracelets to "protect" young children. Some small children may be scared, anyway. There are usually long lines so come early and dress warmly. We do try to get everyone through. Last year we stayed open an extra hour to accommodate the crowds.

Did Columbus Die Thinking That He had Discovered a Route to Asia?

2010-10-05T13:20:00.001-07:00

Most history books say that Columbus died thinking that he had discovered a route to Asia. This is not correct. Columbus was perfectly aware that he had never reached the Asian mainland. For years he was convinced that he was in the islands that Marco Polo described as being off the coast of China. While governor of Hispaniola he took some side trips, exploring, trying to find a route through the pesky chain of islands. After he was relieved as governor he convinced King Ferdinand to send him on a new voyage of exploration, again trying to find a route through the islands.

Columbus came close to finding a passage. He spent Christmas, 1502 in the mouth of what would become the Panama Canal. If he had only stuck around another 400 years...

Later he realized that this was a larger land mass than simple islands. His new theory was that he had found the site of the original Garden of Eden.

Amerigo Vespucci suggested to a European map maker that this land mass was big enough to qualify as a new continent. Because of this, the first map to show the new large land mass named it America - a latinized version of Amerigo. After it was realized that the islands to the north were yet another continent-sized mass, America was renamed South America and the new one named North America.

Talk like a Pirate

2010-09-08T13:21:00.001-07:00

Talk like a Pirate Day will be celebrated on the Santa Maria on Sep 18 and 19.

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Who Went With Columbus?

2009-05-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post has an article on the colonists who Columbus took with him on his second voyage. Columbus founded a city named La Isabela, named after the Queen of Spain. The city was not a success and was soon abandoned in the quest for gold. Most of the site was bulldozed in the 1950s but a cemetery survived.

In the past few years, sophisticated chemical studies of the skeletons, especially their teeth, have begun to yield new insights into the lives and origins of Columbus's crew. The studies hint that, among other things, crew members may have included free black Africans who arrived in the New World about a decade before the slave trade began.

West African remains have also been found in mid-16th century colonial sites on the Yucatan Peninsula.

The researchers note that bones, teeth and DNA yield no clues as to whether someone was a slave or not. Columbus was known to travel with a slave, but it is also possible that the crews included free Africans picked up in the Canary Islands or African migrants to Spain.

"The people on that expedition were reasonably well known by Spanish historians; there were [African] servants of households, but they didn't bring African slaves," said Kathleen A. Deagan, a University of Florida historical archaeologist and author of two books on La Isabela. "There were African sailors on those early expeditions, foot soldiers -- that kind of thing."

Anthrax in the New World

2009-03-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

Prior to 1492, the Americas had been a separate ecosystem from Europe and Asia for thousands of years. Columbus's voyage of discovery started an exchange between the continents. The exchange of food groups led to the elimination of hunger worldwide but it also led to the exchange of diseases. European diseases decimated the native American population.

One long-standing question is which diseases were exchanged and which ones were already present on both hemispheres? New evidence shows that anthrax was already in America before Columbus. More details here.

2009 Ship Opening coming up

2009-03-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

The ship has been uprigged and will open Sunday, April 5. Opening festivities will include cannon firing and sea chanties.

MissionBlog1

2009-03-19T22:09:00.001-07:00

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2009-03-19T21:16:00.001-07:00

Linda, the Executive Director for the Santa Maria is taking three youth with her on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. They leave March 20. She will post video of the volunteers during the trip. This is a combination of helping the poorest of the poor by building concrete block homes and an educational tour. While in the Dominican Republic they will visit some of the Columbus sites.

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Santa Maria

2009-03-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

The Santa Maria up rigging is this Saturday, March 21, 2009 starting at 8 am. About a dozen volunteers will attach the sails and raise the yards, props will be put in place and the decks cleaned and readied for the season opening on April 5.

The Santa Maria opens for her 18th season on April 5. We will have a flag ceremony accompanied by cannon fire. The Sea Cadets will present the colors at noon followed by a performance of Sea Shanties by the Columbus Folk Music Society.

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Uprigging 2008

2009-03-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last year's uprigging courtesy of Terry Smith.

Picture for this year's volunteer certificate

2009-01-08T22:10:00.000-08:00

An Elizabethan Wreck

2008-11-14T20:26:00.001-08:00

This is the site of a shipwreck from 100 years after the Santa Maria. The section on artifacts is interesting. Some artifacts were unchanged between 1492 and 1592. The sounding weights are an example. Other items like the cannons are quite a bit more advances.

November Maintenance

2008-11-10T23:28:00.001-08:00

The ship will be undergoing maintenance in November. We need volunteers to help.