Engineering Sightseeing Tour

Sue Anderson - Outreach Chair

I’d like to take you on a sightseeing tour this month of engineering sites in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  These sites are listed in the Sightseer’s Guide to Engineering .  Note that these may not all still exist; one of those listed in Newport, RI is no longer there (Thames Science Center); I am only reporting what is listed on the website for your information, so this is my disclaimer.

Connecticut: There is only one site listed in this state that falls within the SWE-NESS area, the Submarine Force Library and Museum and Historic Ship Nautilus in Groton.  The Nautilus was the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, built in 1954, and the first vessel to cross under the North Pole in 1959.  It is a National Historic Landmark.   East Haven is home to the Shore Line Trolley Museum, where you can ride an actual trolley on century-old tracks.  Electrical engineer Frank Sprague was instrumental in developing a practical electrical streetcar system, putting it into operation in 1888 in Richmond, VA.  Close by, Hamden has the Eli Whitney Museum, where you can see his cotton gin invention and other tools which spawned the Industrial Revolution.  Whitney also invented the modern manufacturing process of making identical interchangeable pieces.  The Lock Museum of America resides in Terryville, where one can see mechanical engineering marvels of over 23,000 kinds of locks.  The original 1865 patent model of the mortise cylinder pin-tumbler lock designed by mechanical engineer Linus Yale, Jr. is on display. This type of lock is still used today in car doors and exterior doors of buildings.  The Windham Textile and History Museum, located in Willimantic, is situated in two mill buildings.  One can see how textiles were created in the late 19^th century and look at architectural and engineering drawings in the library.  Hartford hosts the 6,500 square-foot facility of the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, where visitors can learn about improvements engineers have made in solid waste management and in processing and manufacturing recyclable materials.

Rhode Island: Providence has two sites listed, the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University and the Rhode Island State House.  Engineering developments such as the electric stove, waffle iron, microwave ovens, food processors, slow cookers and more can be seen at the museum.  The State House contains the first unsupported marble dome constructed in the U.S. and the fourth largest in the world.  South of Providence, the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol contains the America’s Cup Hall of Fame as well as 50 original power and sailing vessels built by naval architect and steam engineer Nathanael Herreshoff and his brother.  Their company also built the first U.S. Navy torpedo boats as well as several successful America’s Cup defenders.  Newport is home to Fort Adams, constructed in 1824. The supervising engineer, Lt. Col. Joseph Totten, used the construction project as a field school to train young engineer officers, so the fort contains a number of features that are uncommon or unique in U.S. military architecture.

Massachusetts: Saugus is home to the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, the first successful vertically integrated iron mill in North America.  Active from 1646 to 1668, it supplied the colonists with necessary tools and utensils. Visitors can see working water wheels, forge, and a rolling and slitting mill.  The National Plastics Center & Museum in Leominster holds hands-on activities, has demonstrations on plastics chemistry, recounts the history of the scientific and engineering milestones and contains the Plastics Hall of Fame.  Lowell National Historic Park contains the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, featuring 88 power looms.  Lowell was planned by hydraulic engineer James Francis, founded at the convergence of the Merrimack and Concord Rivers.  MIT in Cambridge hosts The Great Sail, a forty-foot high, 33-ton standing mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder, who put engineering principles to work in art form.  Other sculptures by Calder can also be seen on campus.  If you are into electric streetcars and enjoyed visiting the trolley museum in Connecticut, you can visit another one in Shelburne Falls.  The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum is home to Car #10, one of only two that were purchased new and is the only piece of Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street rolling stock still in existence.

These are all the sites that are listed on this website in our area, but I’m sure you have seen and visited even more engineering sites.  I can think of one that SWE-NESS has on the calendar this month – the New England Wireless & Steam Museum in East Greenwich, RI.  Perhaps we can make a list and send it to them so they can update their website with more engineering marvels to see!?

Explore Your Creative Side!

SWE-NESS is looking for your help and creativity!  NESS is hoping to design a bookmark which will encourage more K-12 girls  to Aspire, Advance, and Achieve a career in engineering and technology.

• Do know have an intriguing fact to share with our target audience?
• Do you have a website that shares our passion of educating girls about the possibilities of engineering and technology?
• Do know of an image that will trigger the imagination of a K-12 girl of opportunities that engineering might open to her?

We know those wheels are turning!!  Put those bookmark ideas down on paper today and submit it to pres@sweness.org.  NESS would like to gather everyone’s contributions by October 30th, so don’t delay.  What a great way to get involved and encourage a young girl in your neighborhood  to follow her dreams without even leaving your home!