port dover harbour museum

Friendly knowledgeable staff. Our guide stayed with us & told us a phenomenal amount of local history about the area. Wonderful marine artifacts. This small museum is jam packed with wonderful marine treasures. A must see if you are in the Port Dover area. I give this a 10 plus.

A very professional and well-managed museum locked away in Port Dover. Very well done! The curator gave us as excellent tour.

From rum running to sunken ships to the set up of an old shanty, this museum creatively covers the European settlement history of what is now Port Dover. Interactive displays keep you engaged while teaching you how to tie knots or allowing to hear various ship horns. Make the visit as long or a short as fits your schedule but it's definitely worth a stop

I understand the desire/need to teach children to appreciate historical areas & learn history BUT why is this "museum" running a or day camp in which children are so loud & so rude that it was impossible for others to enjoy the experience? This is the first time I have ever experienced such a lack of respect for a historical museum. Then a family with 2 small children came in seeking refuge from the sudden thunderstorm, & engaged their 2 in a loud conversation. We left after 15 minutes since the noise, screams & rude comments reached a piercing crescendo. We were unable to enjoy reading the many very interesting displays. While I applaud the desire to teach our next generation, it should not be done to the exclusion of others being able to do so as well. Children should be taught to be respectful in a museum (or any place for that matter). Our children are now off to University & were taught respect for others. We hope to be able to return to Port Dover in the future in order to enjoy the museum, but will want it to be when young children are back to school.

This free museum has a great selection of local history including the local involvement in the war of 1812 and quite a number of local marine artefacts, including marine equipment, local ship wrecks and a few interactive exhibits.Although you can get close to most artefacts in this small museum, there are a few interactive activites including a morse code exhibit and several steam whistles you can try. The kids did enjoy both of these. There is also a specific kids area, that included a stereoscope viewer and a good number of pictures to view in it.The museum includied a small original building and a larger building buiit around it to create the full museum; the combination of the two buildings allowed exhibits to be housed in appropriate surroundings. There was a small number of gift shop items also available for sale.

the museum is off the port area. is big and on the back has a real ship built with old equipment's. i liked the sculptures are on the front of the building. i loved the attendants; they spent quality time to explain the details of the ship and that a wall was taken down and to use an old (wreck)ship to make the museum more real and appealing. the feeling once inside is that you are among corsairs and pistols. canoes left hanging from the second floor are beautiful to look at. fishing nets are part of the open ceiling of the second floor. dresses and tools and a contemporary (like the one used to go on the moon) are displayed all over or sitting on drawers. once in port dover you can enjoy to go to Silver Lake, an amazing spot for your soul; and, or have a nice staying with bed and breakfast at Jane' house. tell Jane that i send you there. do not forget to go and watch at the Pier the benches where are encripted phrase to make you think. right there is the monument for the Soldier left behind on the Sea, the seagulls and some dogs that engage with the water playing. go to the open bridge to watch the boats make their way to slip silently on the blue water. Port Dover is one of the place where i would go and relax. truly, angela maria rotilio

Great collection of historical items, along with information on the community and surrounding area. Staff very helpful and knowledgeable in asking questions about displays. Several great reads available for purchase. Great location down at the harbour - before or after touring the museum you can enjoy the harbour area and views of Longpoint most days.

This museum has a variety of displays regarding the human activities on Lake Erie in the Port Dover area. I found the displays related to the fishing industry interesting and relevant. Some of my family's artifacts are housed in this museum. I bring friends here frequently (whenever I can). The displays on rum running and other activities are well done also. I suspect that the local school population contributes information which is a good thing. The curator is engaged and provides a lot of value to the experience. I wish the hours were longer but they are limited by finances I am sure.

Good little museum that captures the history of Port Dover and it'sfishing heritage. Good for childen and adults alike. Addmission by donation.

This is a small museum on the banks of Lake Erie.It had some interesting information about fishing and shipping on the lake.The most interesting was a film of the effects of cannon fire on ships from the 1812 war.The film shows the actual effects of impacts on the ship of the cannon balls and how the sailors would be mainly hurt from the wood splinters from the bursting ship rather than the ball going through.

This is a most impressive museum for such a small town. Many interesting and well-presented exhibits about lake history as well as community history. We learned a lot. It was easy to spend more than an hour to view the complete collection. Best of all, admission is by donation. The attending staff member was most helpful and well-informed. We plan to re-visit the museum should we return to Port Dover in the future.

This museum is a one of a kind featuring history of Lake Erie and in particular ship wrecks. Museum staff is very knowledgeable and entertaining. The exhibits are professionally done and some are hands on.

River front setting having well displayed artifacts, portions of fishing boats, information on interesting bits of local history like rum running - well worth a visit. You can also pick up for a small donation the historical walking tour of Port Dover to enjoy at your leisure.

We're boaters so one of the things I found most interesting was the boating graveyard displays (over 200 wrecks just off Port Dover). We had 3 different guides - one for each area of the museum. It was great!

An excellent collection of the fishing and waterway history of Lake Erie and Port Dover. The artifacts are displayed in a attractive manner. Enjoyed spending time at this museum.