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The new USS Monitor Center promises to become one of the nation’s premier destinations for history buffs

"In her previous life, she was a warrior," proclaims a Mariner’s Museum ad. "Now she’s an icon." A second poster reads, "Umbrella drinks and shuffleboard on the lido deck? Hardly."

The catchy phrases are part of the museum’s new national marketing campaign for the USS Monitor Center, a $30 million project scheduled for opening March 9, 2007 — one hundred forty five years after the Civil War ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia battled each other in Hampton Roads.

The Mariner’s Museum in Newport News offered a preview of its promotional lineup at a March 28 news conference to launch the public campaign to raise the $30 million. A hard-hat tour of the 63,500-square foot USS Monitor Center followed.

Read entire article at Port Folio Weekly