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WHAT: The Morgantown History Museum and partners are preparing to start the Morgantown Flatboat Project: a permanent, museum quality, interactive living history exhibit at Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park.

WHO: The flatboat project is commissioned by the Morgantown Museum Commission, Morgantown History Museum, Friends of the Morgantown History Museum, with assistance and support from other partners.

WHERE: The site is Hazel Ruby McQuain Park at the confluence of Decker’s Creek and the Monongahela River.

WHEN: The ceremony inaugurating the flatboat project will be held Saturday, May 23, 2015, from Noon to 1 p.m.

WHY: The planned exhibit includes the building and display of a historically accurate reproduction circa 1820

flatboat. The boat will be built using tools and methods consistent with the time period by builders in period clothing. Builders, deck hands, musicians, and a docent all wearing historically accurate period clothing will be part of the exhibit during construction and during scheduled city and park events. Visitors to the exhibit will be encouraged to become participants by going aboard the boat to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of early commerce. An interactive interpretive program will be developed for community outreach, including area public schools, senior citizens and other interested groups.

The Morgantown Flatboat Project will give residents and visitors an enjoyable experience rooted in the history, culture, and heritage of Morgantown and West Virginia. The exhibit will provide visitors an interactive experience to include stories about early settlers in our region, the role of flatboats in our community and in the settlement of our early frontier, life on the river for the boatmen, and the adventures of families and merchants who traveled from river to river as far as New Orleans, Louisiana.