MARBLEHEAD — The Marblehead Museum is up and running again after being given the go-ahead when Phase 3 of Massachusetts’ reopening plan kicked in July 6, and there are plenty of new tours on the horizon for the three-property campus.
“It’s very exciting to finally be open again after such a long time,” said Amy Durbin, associate director of programs and operations at the museum. “We closed the week of St. Patrick’s Day, so it’s been a long time coming. We’ve worked hard to stay in touch with our members and people who get our email blasts to keep them up to date along the way, and now we’re happy to have everyone back.”
The museum — which is made up of the Jeremiah Lee Mansion, the J.O.J. Frost Gallery and Carol Lynch Education Center, and the Grand Army of the Republic and Civil War Museum — has been open for two weeks now, and traffic is slowly returning.
The museum has put in place new protocols for its tours, including moving to an online reservation system and keeping touring groups to no more than four people. Tours begin on the hour every Tuesday through Saturday, with the first coming at 10 a.m. and the last at 3 p.m. Each tour lasts approximately 45 minutes.
Also, the museum has introduced a new discount for Marblehead residents this season, giving them 50 percent off the normal ticket price.
“We think it’s a great way to bring in the local community and also thank them for supporting us by visiting,” Durbin said. “And it seems to be working because we’ve had a lot of residents come visit us in the first couple weeks.”
Along with the local discount, the museum is experimenting with a number of new tours and experiences to entice both new and returning visitors.
“We’re working on a number of new things for this season,” said Durbin. “Our tour guides are working on new stories to tell during their tours, and we also have a new series of self-guided tours that we’re working on in the Jeremiah Lee Mansion gardens.”
Those garden tours, which are designed to give people new museum experiences without having to go inside the buildings if they’re uncomfortable, will include a tour that Durbin is in the process of beta testing. Dubbed “The Health and Wellness Tour,” it will focus on a trip through the gardens with lessons about certain plants, yoga techniques and much more. Other outdoor tours that are in the works include a “Frolic in the Flowers Tour” that is more family friendly and also a “Changing Landscape Tour,” which will focus on how the gardens have adapted and changed over the years since the late 1700s.
In addition to the outdoor garden tours, the museum is working on testing out two new indoor tours — a social-history tour and an American Revolution tour. With all of these new initiatives, Durbin hopes to provide an exciting and new experience for all who come to the museum.
“I think this is a great way for us to reintroduce ourselves to a lot of our members and people who have been here before, and it also provides great new experiences for people who haven’t ever been here,” Durbin said. “We’re really excited about all of these new things we’re doing, and we hope that our visitors will like them as well.”
