The lead story on the Newburyport Daily News just delivered to my front door says the Newburyport Maritime Society has sailed into "dire straits." The story was given added kick by the (unrelated) picture next to it, showing a sailboat sunk in the Merrimack during the ongoing Nor'easter.
The nonprofit Society, which maintains Custom House Maritime Museum by the river in Newburyport and the nationally known Lowell's Boat Shop on Point Shore in Amesbury, has laid off three top managers and will suspend boatbuilding after current orders are completed. The decisions were made to avoid cutting other public programs in the current year while the group grapples with budget problems.
Add this to the previous item about the Merrimack Rep and the news yesterday that the American Textile History Museum in Lowell will try to sell its building to close a budget deficit and, well, it hasn't been a very good week for cultural institutions along the river. The weather seems entirely appropriate.
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