Herreshoff Marine Museum/America's Cup Hall of Fame

Herreshoff Marine Museum/America's Cup Hall of Fame The sites include history on the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company & The America's Cup Hall of Fame Visit, join, and be a part of a great tradition.
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The Museum, bordering beautiful Narragansett Bay in Bristol, Rhode Island, is one of the nation's most important historic maritime treasures. Immerse yourself in exhibits about the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, the America’s Cup, and the fabulous people and yachts that gained fame around the world. Participate in our extraordinary events and expand your horizons.

Today in Herreshoff history: September 7, 1909Bristol's boys and men will finally get the public bath house they have al...
09/07/2026

Today in Herreshoff history: September 7, 1909

Bristol's boys and men will finally get the public bath house they have always deserved! Extensive reporting on the plan appeared on front page of the Phoenix on August 17, and on September 7th the Phoenix reports that the work being done by HMCo. is "progressing well." We suppose the women and girls will just have to keep jumping of the HMCo. pier as they always had.

Though unrelated, this public bath house brings to mind another project undertaken by HMCo. some years later, in the form of a swimming pool for Mount Hope Farm. Now you too can examine the plans for the pump and filtration system of the Mount Hope pool of 1938 from the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection at the MIT Museum! Exactly what you'd always expected to find in the HMCo. collection of plans, we are sure.

📸 Most likely Katherine (Katie) Kilton Herreshoff pictured mid-jump off the South Wharf at HMCo. in the 1890s; image from the HMM archive

The regatta winners got something pretty fun this year: custom Yeti cups engraved with the iconic Herreshoff script ⛵️An...
09/03/2026

The regatta winners got something pretty fun this year: custom Yeti cups engraved with the iconic Herreshoff script ⛵️

And, well... you all REALLY liked them.

So, we're making it official.

Custom Herreshoff script Yetis are now available for purchase in the museum store, because apparently one for the winners wasn't enough.

Order online or in store today!

Today in Herreshoff history: September 3, 1909Herreshoff sons A. Sidney, Nat Jr. and A. Griswold are headed back to scho...
09/03/2026

Today in Herreshoff history: September 3, 1909

Herreshoff sons A. Sidney, Nat Jr. and A. Griswold are headed back to school at MIT for the fall semester, following in their father's footsteps. Meanwhile, the Phoenix reports in its own "throwback" column that forty years prior in 1879, the United States School Ship CONSTELLATION under command of Captain F. B. McNair had arrived in Bristol for a tour. The officers were then treated to a ride on JAVELIN (HMCo. #52) and a sail on one of Captain Nat's catamarans (likely LODOLA), experiencing the full spectrum of the Herreshoff genius for - and obsession with - speed.

📸 JAVELIN (HMCo. #52) later served as flagship of the U.S. Naval Academy fleet; image from the HMM historic photo archive

Today in Herreshoff history: September 1, 1903📸 Notice appears in the Phoenix that The Herreshoff Company is being sued...
09/01/2026

Today in Herreshoff history: September 1, 1903

📸 Notice appears in the Phoenix that The Herreshoff Company is being sued over a runaway launching incident. The vessels in question are HMCo.'s own INGOMAR (HMCo. #590) who is charged with having trespassed on the yawl JANET on June 24. According to the article, INGOMAR swung into JANET shortly after the former's launch, crushing the latter's cabin and breaking spars. L. Francis described the launching in The Wizard of Bristol but JANET is absent in his memory of the event: "'Ingomar' was built in the north shop and so had to be launched on greased ways. She took the water at good speed, perhaps ten miles an hour or more, and, after performing a graceful circle in the harbor, returned to nearly where she was launched still running stern first, and ran her stern up on the north wharf but did little damage to either herself or the wharf..."

Today in Herreshoff history: August 27, 1903N.G.H. sailed in RELIANCE with her great skipper, Charlie Barr, for all the ...
08/27/2026

Today in Herreshoff history: August 27, 1903

N.G.H. sailed in RELIANCE with her great skipper, Charlie Barr, for all the Cup races, leaving ROAMER in charge of Mr. Into, her mate, who, along with some 150 other big yachts, chased along as spectators. As a viewing platform ROAMER was ideal, just as N.G.H. had planned her to be. Agnes could climb the stairway from the aft deck where, as the unofficial family photographer, she could get off a perfectly clear shot with her camera in any direction. A pipe rail all around kept the area safe and no doubt made it a favorite perch for the other “Roamers” desiring a good view. The more sedate among them, however, weren’t deprived, as they could stay on the main deck under the shelter of the awnings—or look out from inside the many-windowed cabin.

📸 RELIANCE ghosting along on another light-air day earlier that summer, photographed by Stebbins during trials on May 21 1903; image courtesy Historic New England (ID No. GUSN-280349)

Today in Herreshoff history: August 26, 1903With their father’s help, the three older Herreshoff boys, Sid, Nat, and Gri...
08/26/2026

Today in Herreshoff history: August 26, 1903

With their father’s help, the three older Herreshoff boys, Sid, Nat, and Griswold, had built themselves a lovely little motor launch the previous winter that they named NEON—a 21-footer shaped like a stretched-out Whitehall rowboat—and convinced their father to bring her along on the end of a towline off ROAMER’s stern. In NEON they explored Roundout Creek after ROAMER moved farther upriver and dropped anchor off Kingston. On August 24, NEON came into play once more while ROAMER lay at anchor at Sandy Hook awaiting the Cup Races. N.G.H. records the day: “Off in RELIANCE in forenoon to try sails. In afternoon, ran over to Atlantic Highlands [in ROAMER] to get provisions then to the mouth of the Shrewsbury River and anchored. All the party went in NEON and the dinghy up the Shrewsbury as far as Seabright and returned at 6-10. Got underway and ran up to Sandy Hook for the night.” Two days later, on August 26, they repeated this same run, going all the way to Galilee but using ROAMER’s electric launch for the passenger overflow instead of the dinghy.

📸 The elegant little NEON, photographed by Agnes with two of her brothers aboard; HMM
📸 The only known photo of ROAMER's electric launch underway, photographed by Agnes with Nat Jr. at the helm off Marblehead in 1902; HMM

Today in Herreshoff history: August 25, 1883Notice is given of the launching of the steam yacht MAGNOLIA (HMCo. #104) t...
08/25/2026

Today in Herreshoff history: August 25, 1883

Notice is given of the launching of the steam yacht MAGNOLIA (HMCo. #104) the previous Saturday, August 23. Her owner Fairman Rogers of Philadelphia and Newport had quite a list of requirements in her construction, according to an 1885 report given to the Philadelphia chapter of the Engineers Club and later published in Engineers and Engineering: "The following conditions were required to be fulfilled in her design: Light draft, not more than 4 ft., length and breadth such as to enable her to pass through the Erie Canal locks, which are 100 x 18 ft., flat floor, large accommodations for cruising and for a long residence of the owner's family on board, flush deck, no projection of steam drums, etc., above deck, except the smoke-stack. Low speed, not less than 8 miles per hour. Minimum head room below, 6 ft. 6 ins. Adapted specially for inland cruising along the Atlantic coast...." Luckily for HMCo. and their burgeoning reputation, "She turned out to be entirely satisfactory..." Nonetheless, this was the only contract J.B.H. and N.G.H. ever signed with Mr. Rogers.

📸 The steam yacht MAGNOLIA (HMCo. #104) as photographed by Nathaniel Stebbins in 1892; image courtesy of the Stebbins Photographic Collection, Historic New England

Today in Herreshoff history: August 24, 1877A correspondent conflates the two Herreshoff brothers into one talented man!...
08/24/2026

Today in Herreshoff history: August 24, 1877

A correspondent conflates the two Herreshoff brothers into one talented man! Or at least, does not clearly distinguish the two. In defense of the anonymous correspondent, it was five months prior to the brothers' formal incorporation of HMCo. and early days for their fame: "Just beyond the pier at Fort Rounds," writes a correspondent from this town, "the road curves past the old Herreshoff mansion, and the long low building where the Herreshoff brothers have their extensive boat building establishment. The Herreshoff boats are famed for their speed and graceful motion, but few are aware that the master hand that fashions these boats is guided by a sort of instinct and an acute sense of feeling, for the builder is blind, and has been from childhood. He discovers defects in the lumber by passing his hand over it, occasionally rapping and applying his ear. Not a plank is added to his boats until material and curve, its length and breadth have passed under his critical supervision. All around are moored a variety of boats for rowing and sailing. Here we think are the smallest vessels ever known to be propelled by steam, boiler and machinery in miniature, but perfect every way. Here are the new boats styled the Catamarans, an original idea of Mr. Herreshoff's. In a race [The Open Centennial Regatta] out of New York last year the lookers on laughed and jeered as this double boat [AMARYLLIS] with a deck between joined the trim crafts as a competitor. But the odd shaped boat flew over the waters with a swiftness that left the other vessels behind, while the ridicule of the spectators was changed to wonder and admiration. But Mr. H. did not win the prize, as by some quibble the boat was not allowed, not belonging to the kind entered for the race...''

📸 One of N.G.H.'s catamarans from the 1870s, JOHN GILPIN of 1877. This drawing was published in the Scientific American Supplement, January 5, 1878; image courtesy of the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné

Today in Herreshoff history: August 22, 1903📸 RELIANCE and SHAMROCK III maneuvering for the start on August 22, 1903. T...
08/22/2026

Today in Herreshoff history: August 22, 1903

📸 RELIANCE and SHAMROCK III maneuvering for the start on August 22, 1903. The contrasting dark tone of the committee boat in the foreground against the washed-out, atmospheric gray of the two massive contenders puts them in an altogether different (and distant) plane, and gives the viewer a sense of their fantastic size; image courtesy of the Library of Congress (ID No. LC-DIG-det-4a17093)

Address

1 Burnside Street
Bristol, RI
02809

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+14012535000

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