The Key West Museum of Art & History is hosting its monthly Family Museum Day program on Sunday, January 7 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Monroe County families can visit the Key West Museum of Art & History free of charge to enjoy a self-guided tour and create their very own souvenir postcard. (Photo credit: Key West Art & Historical Society)

The Key West Art & Historical Society Welcomes Families to the Key West Museum of Art & History on Community Day

December 21, 2023 – (KEY WEST, FL).  On Sunday, January 7, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., join the staff of the Key West Museum of Art & History, located at 281 Front Street, to discover the drive and determination of Henry Flagler to bring a railroad all the way to Key West in the early twentieth century.  Dubbed “Family Museum Day,” the program is designed to coincide with the Society’s wildly popular Community Day, a day offering free museum admission for Monroe County residents the first Sunday of each month.

While on the property, families are encouraged to take a self-guided tour of the permanent exhibition “Overseas to the Keys: Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway”.  In addition to free admission, adults and children are welcome to create and take home a postcard of Flagler’s train traveling across an overwater bridge.  The free art project will be led by the Society’s Education Specialist Kassandra Collett and Art Educator Jenni Franke.

“When Flagler’s Overseas Railway Extension connected Key West to Florida’s mainland for the first time in 1912, the island’s residents were overjoyed with the possibilities for travel the shipment of merchandise,” says Collett.  “Flagler’s trains whisked guests from northern urban areas to Key West in just over a day.  Passengers traveling in the train cars felt as though they were flying over water as they crossed the bridges in the Florida Keys.  It was certainly a surreal experience that was not found anywhere else.”

The monthly Family Museum Day program is free and open to the public.  Registration is not required, and all supplies will be provided by the Key West Art & Historical Society.  For additional information about the program, visit kwahs.org/upcoming-events.  You can also contact Collett at 305-295-6616 x504 or [email protected].  This project is sponsored in part by the Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and the State of Florida, with additional support provided by The Helmerich Trust.  Your Museums.  Your Community.  It takes an Island.

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