As any good swashbuckler will tell you, the best part of the word “art” is the part that goes “Arrrrrrrrrr!”
This weekend – perfectly timed to coincide with International Talk Like a Pirate Day on Monday, Sept. 19 – the Petaluma Museum (www.petalumamuseum.com) unfurls a new exhibit that taps into the current cultural obsession with pirates, both the Caribbean kind, and the real deal, who were not quite as much fun as Hollywood might want us to think.
Titled “Pirates: Legends and Lore,” the exhibit features actual artifacts from the age of piracy, including dangerous weapons (cutlasses, flintlocks, cannonballs), piratical finery (costumes and authentic pirate flags) and real pirate treasure, including actual pieces of eight and golden doubloons.
The main part of the exhibit examines the stories of infamous real-life pirates, comparing their deeds – and grisly ends – to the fantasy buccaneers made popular in movies like “The Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Described as the largest pirate exhibition in the Bay Area, “Pirates: Legends and Lore” is decidedly family friendly, with loads of activities for pirates-in-training. Your own Captain Kid can make his-or-her own pirate flag, learn how to tie a sheepshank, practice saying things like “shiver me timbers,” “Hornswaggle,” and “give no quarter!”
Since no self-respecting pirate would be confined to one spot for long, the exhibit also offers opportunities to break out, with a real treasure hunt across Petaluma, the clues supplied in a treasure map leading to honest-to-goodness buried treasure – a pirate coin recovered from a sunken ship, valued at more than $500.
The show runs through Nov. 28.
Details: Petaluma Museum is located at 20 Fourth Street in Petaluma. Open Thursdays-Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and Sundays noon – 3 p.m. Admission $3-$5.
