JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Trish Patterson tried.
Relentlessly.
But she just could not crack the safe – that is, she could not figure out the combination – in the “Treasure!” exhibit at the Hands On! Regional Museum in Johnson City.
Still, she did not go away crying.
The executive director of this museum, Patterson just skipped away to another display in this multi-media presentation, organized by NRG! Exhibits of Washington State.
Seven thematic areas are covered in this exhibit, as visitors are invited to go on a treasure hunt for underwater valuables – and learn how people search for buried treasure.
There is much to read on many panels.
In fact, Patterson figured this exhibit might be the wordiest one to be set up in the museum’s rotating exhibit gallery in years.
PIRATES AND GOLD
Panels discuss pirates and how they would nab loot.
“A pirate is someone who robs people at sea,” one panel says. “Pirates board other ships and plunder them for the valuables on board. The ‘Golden Age’ of piracy was during the period around 1560 through the 1730s.”
In one hands-on activity, kids can aim a cannon at a screen and try to sink a pirate ship.
Still, “Treasure!” is not just about ships and the sea.
One storyboard explains the “San Francisco Gold Rush” of California in the 1840s and 1850s.
“Hundreds of thousands of people moved to California,” one panel says. “Most did not find gold but some did and a few became wealthy.”
A few years later, another gold rush happened along the Klondike River near Dawson City, in the remote Yukon Territory of Canada.
MODERN TREASURE HUNT
Kids of all ages can come and learn how to find treasure. Using a metal detector, you can scan across a pit and find various metal objects in the “Treasure!” exhibit.
You can also learn how to use a magnetic compass and to read a map. And then, there’s the modern game of geocaching.
Geocaching is a game that uses the Global Positioning System, one panel says. “Players gather up a few little odds and ends and put them in a watertight container. Then they hide the container somewhere, record the coordinates using their GPS receiver, and post the coordinates on the Web.”
This is like a modern treasure hunt.
And geocaches are hidden all over the world, according to this exhibit. “Usually,” a panel says, “they are hidden on public land or on private land with the permission of the land owner.”
‘WHOLE FAMILY’
The “Treasure!” exhibit should appeal to adults as much as it does to kids, Patterson said, calling this display “a true hands-on experience.”
What’s more, it’s timely, said Kristine Carter, the marketing manager for Hands On!
“Treasure hunting has found its way into popular culture through books [and] movies,” Carter said. “And modern treasure hunters use some exciting technology. This exhibit is something the whole family can enjoy together.”
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