The June MARP meeting will be held 10 a.m. June 13, 2009 at Port Huron Museum’s Main Museum, which was a Carnegie Library, on Sixth Street between Court and Wall streets one block west of Military Street, Port Huron’s main drag. We will be in the South Gallery on the Main Floor. Exhibits will be open to members following the business meeting, including a fine railroad history exhibit created by TJ Gaffney, who is our main speaker. TJ, a Port Huron native who worked at the museum before taking over at the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, will be discussing the insititute’s TrainFestival 2009 July 23-26 in Owosso, which is where and when our July meeting will be held (July 25).

Port Huron is rich in rail, maritime and Michigan history as well as contemporary attractions. MARP members are urged to leave sufficient time for exploring numerous sites in addition to the Main Museum. Maps will be provided for convoys to the entrance of the St. Clair River railroad tunnel, the adjacent Amtrak station, the Thomas Edison depot museum, Fort Gratiot Lighthouse, the Huron Lightship Museum and the Coast Guard Cutter Bramble museum, all an easy drive. By the way, member and former officer Tim Backhurst is involved with some of these historical presentations and likely will be with us and enlighten us June 13.

Visitors also will want to check into Acheson Ventures Vantage Point, a special lake freighter viewing platform and building on the St. Clair River adjacent to the historic Pere Marquette depot and the isolated Pere Marquette RR drawbridge that has been up (open) over the Black River for decades. This was our initial meeting place but a major community flower show will be held there that morning. But it is worth visiting. So leave time!

We will pass the hat for contributions to the museum.

This is a meeting to bring your spouses or significant others to; they can attend the meeting or explore the museum or walk into downtown Port Huron to shop.

By the way, this a business meeting, too. Here’s the agenda.

The museum’s website:
http://www.phmuseum.org/

A map to the Carnegie Main Museum and other sites:
http://www.phmuseum.org/Map.html

The address for those who wish to GPS, Google or Mapquest for directions:
1115 6th St
Port Huron, MI 48060

For information on the Boat Landing:
http://www.achesonventures.com/