06/15/2021
Construction update on the splash pad. It looks like a mess, but there is definite progress.
Construction update on the splash pad. It looks like a mess, but there is definite progress.
Gaithersburg Community Museum
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The Museum is free and features educational exhibits and programs designed to spark interest and imagination in our City’s history. The City of Gaithersburg's Community Museum is located in the restored 1884 B&O Railroad Station complex.
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The Museum features educational exhibits and programs designed to spark visitors' interest and imagination in our City's history. The Community Museum occupies the historic Freight House, the History Park and the B&O Caboose. Designed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Head Architect, Ephraim Francis Baldwin, the Gaithersburg Railroad Station was built in 1884. This enabled Gaithersburg, previousl
The Museum features educational exhibits and programs designed to spark visitors' interest and imagination in our City's history. The Community Museum occupies the historic Freight House, the History Park and the B&O Caboose. Designed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Head Architect, Ephraim Francis Baldwin, the Gaithersburg Railroad Station was built in 1884. This enabled Gaithersburg, previousl
Operating as usual
06/14/2021
Happy International Bath Day! This week's Weekly Challenge honors Archimedes who, the story goes, figured out how to measure volume while taking a bath. So your challenge is less about taking a bath and more about doing science. However, we do not recommend replicating Archimedes' eureka moment.
06/14/2021
Flag Day
It's Flag Day! Many of us have flags that need retiring, but can't be disposed of in the traditional way of burning because they are made of synthetic material (polyester based or mix). Here are instructions on what you can do. If you have a flag that is all natural material (cotton, wool, silk), the museum collects them for our flag retirement ceremony. https://www.facebook.com/432433683459822/videos/206373517130892
06/08/2021
NeMO-Net
It's World Ocean Day! NASA has created a fun and valuable citizen science game to track the health of coral in our oceans.
NeMO-Net is a single player iPad game where players help NASA classify coral reefs by painting 3D and 2D images of coral. Players can rate the classifications of other players and level up in the food chain as they explore and classify coral reefs and other shallow marine environments and creatures....
06/08/2021
Eclipses visible in Washington DC, USA - May 26, 2021 Lunar Eclipse
Thursday morning's annular solar eclipse will be visible starting at 5:47 am. We won't have a full eclipse, but will get a nice view. Don't forget to set your clock so you'll be up to see it.
Which upcoming lunar and solar eclipses are visible in Washington DC, USA and what do they look like?
06/08/2021
Progress continues on the splash pad.
Progress continues on the splash pad.
06/07/2021
It's National Immigrant Heritage Month. Everyone has a family origin story. What's yours?
It's National Immigrant Heritage Month. Everyone has a family origin story. What's yours?
06/07/2021
Partner Highlight: From green cocktails to community sustainability in Gaithersburg, MD | NISE Network
The museum's Green Cocktails program is featured in the NISE Network's blog.
Featured in the June 2021 newsletter, the Gaithersburg Community Museum details how they have been able to successfully engage their community over conversations on sustainability through creative programming.
06/06/2021
Paper Airplanes – Air Force Research Laboratory
You may not realize it, but whenever you make a paper airplane, you are doing science. Have fun learning about the science of flight.
Paper Airplanes Learn about the science of flight and then experiment with your own paper airplane models. Four forces act on an airplane: weight, lift, thrust and drag. Try these paper airplanes and share creations with #AFRLPaperAirplane on social media. Right click an image below and select “Sa...
06/05/2021
Inventing Closed Captioning — Rockville Science Center
Our friends at the Rockville Science Center have a fascinating talk scheduled on the development of closed captioning.
Tuesday, June 8, 2021 1 to 2 PM (EDT)
06/04/2021
Kids Art at the Mansion | Gaithersburg, MD
In-person programming in the City is beginning in earnest. Check out these art classes at Kentlands Mansion!
Tap into your child's creativity this summer! Let them spend the afternoon at the historic Kentlands Mansion working on an art project each Tuesday, June 22 through July 13. Instructors from the Amazing Art Studio will help kids create something beautiful to take home each week. Take one class, or t...
06/04/2021
Splash pad construction update.
Splash pad construction update.
06/03/2021
Montgomery County - Department of Health and Human Services - Veterans Affairs
Montgomery County has created a website listing our fallen military heroes since World War 1.
montgomery county veterans affairs, resources
06/03/2021
Happy National Egg Day! In the General Store we have wooden eggs to practice your counting skills.
Happy National Egg Day! In the General Store we have wooden eggs to practice your counting skills.
06/02/2021
Work has begun on the splash pad!
06/01/2021
Today is National Say Something Nice Day! We challenge you to say something nice to at least one person every day this week.
Today is National Say Something Nice Day! We challenge you to say something nice to at least one person every day this week.
05/30/2021
History of Memorial Day | All About Memorial Day History
On Memorial Day weekend, it's good to look back at the reasons this holiday was created.
Learn the special history of Memorial Day, which was once called Decoration Day. Memorial Day history and the birth of this day of remembrance.
05/29/2021
Sojourner Truth’s Most Famous Speech | Headlines and Heroes
OTD in 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered her famous "Ain't I a Woman" speech at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron Ohio.
The following is a guest post by Arlene Balkansky. Arlene recently retired from being a librarian in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room, and was a regular writer for Headlines and Heroes. On May 29, 1851 at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, abolitionist and womenR...
05/27/2021
Photo Archive - Montgomery Planning
As Historic Preservation Month comes to a close, we'd like to share a link to the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission's online photo archive. The MCHPC has been documenting Montgomery County's historic resources since it's inception in the 1970s and you can now access those images online.
Photo Archive The Historic Preservation Office maintains an extensive collection of scanned slides and archival photographs from the past work...
05/25/2021
Thanks to our friends at the Meade Area Railroad Society, the Hobo Code layout is nearly ready for viewing. Make your appointment today!, 301-258-6160.
05/24/2021
Construction is starting on the splash pad in Olde Towne Plaza. If you're visiting the museum or want to do some trainspotting, park on Wells Avenue, the parking garage, or in the Fishman lot.
Construction is starting on the splash pad in Olde Towne Plaza. If you're visiting the museum or want to do some trainspotting, park on Wells Avenue, the parking garage, or in the Fishman lot.
05/24/2021
Map of Total Lunar Eclipse on May 26, 2021
You'll have to get up really early if you want to catch a glimpse of this year's lunar eclipse. It will be a partial for us, but still something you can see. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2021-may-26
Where & when is the Total Lunar Eclipse on May 26, 2021 visible? Interactive map showing eclipse path and local times for start and end in any city.
05/21/2021
The fence around Wells-Robertson is festooned with cicadas.
05/21/2021
Let's [email protected] at Home with Carolyn Crow | Garlic Mustard Pesto
Casey Community Center has shared their Let's Cook video about what to do with your Garlic Mustard. We may be at the end of garlic mustard season, but there's still some out there just waiting to be collected.
05/19/2021
A Black Scientist Was An Early Cicada Researcher. His Work Has Been Mostly Overlooked
Maryland scientist, naturalist, and surveyor Benjamin Banneker started studying cicadas in 1740. His work is some of the earliest to document these fascinating bugs.
Maryland intellectual and free Black man Benjamin Banneker's observations about cicadas' 17-year life cycle were among the earliest known to be documented. But that work is rarely credited.
05/17/2021
There's a lot happening in History Park - we have a new Little Free Library, the peonies are popping, and, as always, welcoming benches for train spotters. Stop by and check it out!
05/17/2021
Eat Your Weeds! Garlic Mustard
We were so inspired by Lauren Hubbard's program on "Greening Up Your Garden" that she did for the Green Cocktails series (you can watch it here - https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=911770592717429), that we asked her back to do a little segment we're calling "Eat Your Weeds!" Today we are exploring Garlic Mustard - what it is and why you don't want it in your yard (or anywhere else in this area). We've partnered with Carolyn Crow from Cooking with Casey, a Casey Community Center program series, who will be showing us how to cook with garlic mustard in another video.
Bon appetit!
05/11/2021
John Matteson
Pulitzer Prize–winning author John Matteson illuminates three harrowing months of the Civil War and their enduring legacy for America, bringing together the prodigious forces of war with the intimacy of individual lives and interweaving the historic and the personal in a work as beautiful as it is powerful. In conversation with John Muller.
BUY THE BOOK:
By John Matteson
"A Worse Place Than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation"
https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780393247077
All Titles
https://www.politics-prose.com/search/author/%22Matteson%2C%20John%22
View all 2021 GBF Titles:
https://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/books/
The Gaithersburg Book Festival is a yearly celebration of the written word and its power to enrich the human experience. Our mission is to foster an interest in reading, writing and literary conversation.
JOIN THE GBF COMMUNITY:
Website https://gaithersburgbookfestival.org/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GburgBookFest/
Twitter https://twitter.com/gburgbookfest
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gburgbookfest/
THANK YOU PARTNERS & SPONSORS:
David and Mikel Blair Family Foundation https://theblairfamilyfoundation.org/
Politics & Prose Bookstore http://www.politics-prose.com/
Downtown Crown / RPAI https://www.shopdowntowncrown.com/
Montgomery County Public Schools https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/
Spectrum Apartments https://www.spectrum270.com/
Washington Independent Review of Books http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/
Montgomery College https://www.montgomerycollege.edu
Rio https://www.riolakefront.com/
Maryland Center for the Book https://www.mdhumanities.org/category/maryland-center-for-the-book/
Washington Parent https://washingtonparent.com/
Montgomery Community Media https://www.mymcmedia.org/
Produced by City of Gaithersburg's Cultural Events & Services Division
05/09/2021
NASA Live
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu is ready to come home with more than 60 grams of samples to help scientists seek answers to some very big questions like Where did we come from? Watch the live coverage on Monday, May 10 starting at 4 pm. https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
NASA launches, landings, and events. Watch live broadcasts from NASA Television and NASA's social media channels, and a schedule of upcoming live events including news briefings, launches and landings.
05/07/2021
Pam Fessler and Janice P. Nimura
In a fascinating discussion on medical history, Pam Fessler and Janice P. Nimura will share the stories of Carville, the only leprosy colony in the continental United States, and home to thousands of Americans, and the boundary-breaking Blackwell sisters who founded the first hospital staffed entirely by women. Moderated by Tyler Cymet, DO
BUY THE BOOK:
By Pam Fessler
"Carville's Cure: Leprosy, Stigma, and the Fight for Justice"
https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781631495038
All Titles
https://www.politics-prose.com/.../%22Fessler%2C%20Pam%22
By Janice P. Nimura
"The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women--and Women to Medicine"
https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780393635546
All Titles
https://www.politics-prose.com/.../%22Nimura%2C%20Janice...
View all 2021 GBF Titles:
https://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/books/
The Gaithersburg Book Festival is a yearly celebration of the written word and its power to enrich the human experience. Our mission is to foster an interest in reading, writing and literary conversation.
JOIN THE GBF COMMUNITY:
Website https://gaithersburgbookfestival.org/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GburgBookFest/
Twitter https://twitter.com/gburgbookfest
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gburgbookfest/
THANK YOU PARTNERS & SPONSORS:
David and Mikel Blair Family Foundation https://theblairfamilyfoundation.org/
Politics & Prose Bookstore http://www.politics-prose.com/
Downtown Crown / RPAI https://www.shopdowntowncrown.com/
Montgomery County Public Schools https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/
Spectrum Apartments https://www.spectrum270.com/
Washington Independent Review of Books http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/
Montgomery College https://www.montgomerycollege.edu
Rio https://www.riolakefront.com/
Maryland Center for the Book https://www.mdhumanities.org/.../maryland-center-for-the.../
Washington Parent https://washingtonparent.com/
Montgomery Community Media https://www.mymcmedia.org/
Produced by City of Gaithersburg's Cultural Events & Services Division
05/07/2021
Uncontrollable China rocket hurtles towards reentry | EarthSky.org
It may seem like the sky is falling, but it's merely a piece of space junk.
China's Long March 5B rocket successfully reached orbit as planned. The core stage, however, also reached orbit, and may now be one of the largest ever to make an uncontrolled reentry back into Earth's atmosphere.
05/05/2021
What Was Project Mercury?
Today is the 60th anniversary of Americans in space! OTD in 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space. His suborbital flight in the Freedom 7 capsule lasted about 15 1/2 minutes and reached an altitude of 116 miles. Here's more on the Mercury Project:
This project launched America's first astronauts into space.
05/04/2021
May the 4th be with you!
Make your own mini lightsaber at home. All you need is a battery, a small LED, a straw, paper, and tape.
1-Draw a lightsaber handle on a piece of paper
2-Cut the paper double the length of your handle and fold over. Take your LED and poke it through the paper at the fold
3-Place your battery between the light's wire prongs. push it together to see if it lights. Some LEDs will work in any direction, others need to be specific. Once it lights, place a small piece of tape on the tip of the wire so it will stay in place. then tape the battery down. Do not cover the whole battery with tape.
4-Secure the light by taping the top wire to the battery. Place your straw over the light. Now you have a mini light saber!
5-When not using the light saber, to save your battery, un-tape the top wire and place a piece of paper between it and the battery. That will cut the circuit.
05/04/2021
Nearly time for the peonies to bloom!
Nearly time for the peonies to bloom!
Address
9 S Summit Ave
Gaithersburg, MD
20877
Opening Hours
| Tuesday | 10am - 3pm |
| Wednesday | 10am - 3pm |
| Thursday | 10am - 3pm |
| Friday | 10am - 3pm |
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Videos
The Ultimate Interplanetary Travel Guide
Green Cocktails: Greening Up Your Garden
Butterfly Cocktail
Green Cocktails: Gaithersburg: An Island in the Sun
Maryland and the Suffrage Movement
This month's recommended cocktail for Green Cocktails is "The Last Word" from Baltimore Spirits
Going to Space: Building for Space
Build your own Mars Rover
Green Cocktails: Winter Salt
Make a Jalapeno Margarita to Enjoy while watching Green Cocktails
Storytime Station: Stella's Stellar Hair
Virtual Skywatching: Exploring the Night Sky
Green Cocktails Live
On the Hunt for Near Earth Objects with Nancy C. Wolfson
Ghosts of Gaithersburg
Storytime Station: "Around America to Win the Vote"
Thinking About the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
For #EarthScienceWeek we're thinking about watersheds, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in particular. We hope you learn a little and have fun doing the activity at home. You'll need some paper, markers (not permanent), a bottle with water, and a pan to catch the water. We want to thank our friends at NISE Network for the activity idea. Additional resources in the video from NASA, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the US Forest Service.
"Measuring the Light from the Moon" with NIST Physicist, John Woodward
Celebrate International Observe the Moon Night 2020 by learning about how NIST is measuring the light from the moon.
Make a Rocket to the Moon
Have fun making a rocket to the Moon for International Observe the Moon Night. The template for the rocket will be in the comments. You'll also need a picture of the Moon. You can use the second Moon on the page in the comments for the Moon Phases Model. You'll also need some cardboard or paper plate, four pieces of straw - 2 2" long and 2 1" long - two beads or other material to tie on the end, and a piece of string ot yarn 2-3' long. You'll need scissors and tape and a paperclip that's been opened up.
Last video showing #trackwork #CSX #trainspotting
Trackwork
Smoothing out the ballast
How to Make an Eyepatch
Every proper pirate needs an eyepatch! To do this craft you'll need an old styrofoam tray, like those used for meat or vegetables, well washed, and two pieces of ribbon.
Talk Like a Pirate Day
We have had an adventure filled Talk Like a Pirate Day
Cap'n Q and Crab Claw Chris
Cap’n Q (author @MaryQuattlebaum) and crew will take you on a literary adventure with "Pirate vs Pirate!"
It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! Learn how to make a pirate hook!
Welcome all ye pirates 'n pirates in training. Learn how to make a hook just in case some wandering crocodile bites one o' yours off.
Tour the museum
We're open starting tomorrow, by appointment. We've made some changes to the museum. We're happy about them and we think you will be too!
Maryland and the Suffrage Movement
August 18th marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.Maryland had a very active suffrage organization even while the state's political leaders were mostly against passage. Learn more about this critical time with Susan Philpott, a National Park ranger at the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument.
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Category
Our Story
Local history full steam ahead at the Gaithersburg Community Museum! Located in the restored 1884 B&O Railroad complex in Olde Towne, the museum bridges Gaithersburg’s past and present for visitors of all ages. Exhibits in the Freight House and rail cars explore our rich history and hands-on learning centers for children spark the imagination. The Station, an active commuter stop, houses dining and restroom facilities, and the outdoor interpretive spaces, with the ever-popular rolling stock, offer the possibility of experiencing the sights and sounds of the trains that frequently rumble past the Museum.
The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Additional hours are available by appointment.
Nearby Observatory Park is home to the Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory. Operating from 1899-1982, the Observatory was one of six worldwide that measured the wobble of the earth on its polar axis leading to improved navigation and significant scientific discoveries. This outdoor interpretive space highlights the importance of the scientific work conducted here for nearly a century.
Observatory Park is open from dawn to dusk with informational signs for visitors to take a self guided tour. The Latitude Observatory building is open during special events.
Nearby museums
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The Main Street Music Festival
325 Main St -
Jewish American Society for Historic Preserva
16405 Equestrian Ln, Derwood -
Rockville 20850
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111 W Montgomery Ave, Rockville
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Arce Cor Cordis 108 E Pleasant St, Avon Park
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18805 Sparkling Water Dr, Germantown
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Rockville City, Maryland City
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1129 Halesworth Dr, Potomac
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18028 Central Park Cir, Boyds
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12100 Glen RD, Potomac
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313 Twinbrook Pkwy, Rockville
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P. O. Box 161, Boyds
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11018 S. Glen Road, Potomac
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WMM Hands-On History offered at Brookeville A
# 5 High Street (Georgia Ave), Brookeville
Comments
Halloween plans cancelled this year? no worries. Come see the beautiful blue moon instead at the Observatory Park in Great Falls, VA. Costumes are welcomed to this socially distant friendly event.
https://fb.me/e/1IvNLqtDr
This is me and my brother back in 1991! Your engine's come a long way since then!
Hi, saw this obit for Fred Helm's widow in the Post today. Wanted to make sure you guys saw it.
Talk Like A Pirate: Thank you for the fun!