The Deltaville Maritime Museum (DMM) and Holly Point Nature Park will present its final lecture of the annual Turner series on Sunday, March 17, promptly at 2 p.m. Begun in 2019 as pre-season events in January, February and March, these three monthly lectures, offered in DMM’s heated events pavilion, have become a mainstay of our events off-season. Save the date.
Organizers encourage all “Friends of the Museum” to come by now that the museum is again open daily and check out the new additions to the exhibits and the engaging artwork along its upper walls.
As spring approaches and the seasons change, the final Turner lecture of the 2024 season will be “Native Plants — Beauty, Birds and the Butterflies,” by Betsy Washington.
Now retired, Washington is currently a certified Virginia Master Naturalist (VMN), and president of the Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society. There will be refreshments and a “Q and A” after the lecture.
Betsy Washington’s childhood summers spent on the Rappahannock River led her to pursue degrees in art and biology and graduate degrees in marine biology. After working as a marine biologist and scientific illustrator at Oregon State University, University of Washington, and the Smithsonian Institution, she returned to her first love, botany and ecology, and earned graduate degrees in botany and landscape design at George Washington University (GWU).
After working in the landscape design field, she was asked to teach botany, plant field classes and plant ecology while emphasizing native plants, in the Landscape Design Program at GWU. Leaving the design field for teaching, she spent 16 years at GWU, ultimately becoming head of the plant program. With her focus on native plants and conservation landscaping, she received several landscape design/conservation awards for her Chesapeake Bay-friendly landscape designs and educational outreach programs.
The Turner Lecture Series is dedicated to the memory of founding DMM member Andy Turner. His wife Evelyn and the Turner family established the Turner Education Fund for the museum to pursue educational activities of all types and ages to continue the DMM role as not only a community archive but a “living” museum and learning center. The Turner family also donated the centerpiece “Turner Fountain” in the courtyard area of the DMM events pavilion.
Guided by board member Richard Rodgers, these three lectures are assembled annually on the third Sunday in January, February and March.
Except in unusual circumstances, the lectures will be at 2 p.m. sharp with a lecture, question and answer time, and refreshments. The lectures will usually be in the DMM events pavilion’s north wing, unless one of our other buildings or outside (weather permitting) would be more appropriate to the subject matter.
This final lecture will be on the Sunday, March 17, at 2 p.m. It will be offered at DMM’s events pavilion, located at 287 Jackson Creek Road in Deltaville. There is no admission charge, but a $10 donation to the Turner Education Fund is welcome. Donations ensure the continuity of both the series and helps fund our educational activities for all ages.
Organizers encourage DMM members and friends to come out and attend these lectures. Call the DMM office at 804-776-7200 to RSVP. For suggestions and support for the lecture series, you can email wdwrks@va.metrocast.net or office@deltavillemuseum.com. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-4 p.m. Sunday.
(Bill Powell is events coordinator for Deltaville Maritime Museum.)
