The Maritime & Irish Mossing Museum

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Overview

As a museum devoted to seaweed, the Scituate Maritime Irish Mossing Museum is worth the visit. There’s a lot more than seaweed here to explore. Here, you can discover Sciutate’s centuries-old relationship with the sea. The Irish Mossing Museum includes six exhibits that have a descriptive video for each. The museum is open on Sundays from 1 to 4 pm.

Irish Mossing in Scituate

Irish immigrants were the backbone of the mossing industry in Scituate. Irish immigrant Daniel Ward began the industry in the mid-1800s when he noticed moss growing on rocks that looked familiar to moss from his homeland in Ireland.

Exhibits to Explore at The Irish Mossing Museum

The museum includes six major exhibits: the Shipwreck Room, Lifesaving Room, Irish Mossing Room, Ship Captain’s Room, Shipbuilding Room, and the Front Room. In the Shipwreck Room, visitors will witness devastating shipwrecks off the Scituate shore. The Lifesaving Room remembers the courage of early lifeboat volunteers in the Human Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. Lifesaving Service.

In the Irish Mossing Room, exhibits show the history of the mossing industry. The Ship Captain’s Room gives details of a captain’s life and includes a collection of artifacts. Visitors can explore the 250-year shipbuilding history along the North River. The Front Room shares a display of Scituate’s archeological dive site off the coast of Third Cliff.