The Titanic Museum commemorates the story of perhaps the most famous ship of all time. It was founded by Josh Joslyn, the leader of the first commercial expedition to the Titanic in 1987 (the ship was discovered in 1985, several decades after it sunk). The museum is one of two Titanic museums in the country; the other is Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The museum is housed inside a half-scale replica of the front half of the ship, reaching a height of a 100 feet. Inside, visitors will find over 400 artifacts—valued at $4.5 million dollars—from the wreck, a replica grand staircase, third-class hallways, parlors, and cabins. Visitors also get a boarding pass from an actual passenger or crew member, and can do a number of activities like shovel coal and send an SOS message. The museum opened in 2006 and has received visitors from all over the world.
The Titanic was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1912. It set sail from Southampton, England on its maiden voyage to New York City on April 10 of that year. Just a few days later on the 15th, it struck an iceberg late into the night 500 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Of the estimated 2,200 passengers and crew, over 1,500 died (around 700 survived). Many perished in the frigid water after jumping off of the sinking ship. Those who survived escaped onto lifeboats but, infamously, the ship only enough lifeboats necessary to carry half of the passengers and crew. The crew was not trained in evacuation either. The ship eventually broke into two. Other ships heard the distress signals but were hours away. The ship that did arrive (at 4am) was the RMS Carpathia, which rescued those that survived the sinking.