Commodore Everette Hoard, Queen Mary LEGO Model
Photo Credit: Stephen Russo
It is apparent that I have a passion for History and strongly believe in educating our younger generations on the importance of recognizing that where we come from has an influence on where we are going, and the historic landmarks of our great nation have so many stories to tell. I love British Literature from the Victorian and Romantic era so it is no wonder that I was fascinated by the Queen Mary, ultimately falling in love with her on my first visit. Her history is vitally important to the rebuilding of America after WWII and amazingly many do not know her story, many do not even know she exists. I have written a Children’s Picture Book on the Queen Mary, that led to a series, History Comes Alive, where I plan to continue to write on iconic California landmarks, using a child’s perspective in giving a brief history behind these treasured places or venues. My goal is to not only educate but inspire an interest to continue learning, and delving further into the history. This is why I am so happy with the opening of the Shipyard on the Queen Mary. A space dedicated to Historic and Archival photos and antique tools. It is impossible to walk the ship without learning of her history, but the Shipyard has the history right at your fingertips, you can’t help but not learn a little bit by just spending time in this space. What really draws the crowd is the LEGO model of the Queen Mary built by four certified master LEGO builders, of Britain’s Bright Bricks, that spent four months, 600 man hours, to recreate the Queen Mary with 250,00 LEGO bricks, weighing in at 604 lbs, and 26 feet. An incredible feat that draws the attention of all, but especially children. In the last two years, there have been a lot of changes aboard the Queen Mary and my favorite is their focus in drawing the attention of children. They are in the process of building an interactive children’s museum that will be open in the near future and I cannot wait to see how much fun it will be, because Learning is Fun when given to our younger generations with their thought process in mind. Our future needs to learn from our past, and it is our responsibility to teach them!
