Event Name:
Steamboat Era Museum Presents “122 Years on the Old Bay Line" at Their 2025 Annual Second Saturday Speaker Series
Description
Steamboat Era Museum Welcomes Keith Kehlbeck at The Third Annual Second Saturday Speaker Series
Event Date:
03-08-25
Event Time:
02:00 PM - 03:30 PM EST
Location:
Steamboat Era Museum
156 King Carter Drive
Irvington, VA 22480
Contact Person:
Candee Pevahouse
(phone: 4344802136)
Details:
Irvington, VA - The Steamboat Era Museum, as part of its Third Annual Second Saturday Speaker Series, is honored to have Keith Kehlbeck, historian and author, as a speaker for a discussion on “Steamboats During the Civil War” at the museum on March 8th, starting at 2:00 pm.
Keith will share his unique and extensive knowledge of the essential components of antebellum commerce and transportation and the important role steamboats played during the American Civil War, 1861-1865. In places like the Northern Neck of Virginia, Union steamboats enforced a blockade, conducted raids against locals they termed “secessionists,” and pushed the expansion of steam powered warships to even greater limits.
This presentation will cover topics such as the “Anaconda Plan” blockade of the South during the war, the creation of the Potomac Flotilla, and typical operations of ships from that flotilla during the Civil War. The disruption of everyday life and regional commerce will also be discussed, as well as the impact and threats that the “dreaded” steamboats posed.
Keith Kehlbeck is a writer, historian, and marketing consultant with clients in the hospitality, nonprofit, and publishing sectors. At the age of 10, his family took a trip to Washington, D.C., sparking what would become a life-long interest in the Civil War. There was no turning back; since that trip, Keith’s passion for studying the Civil War led him to write Gone to God: A Civil War Family’s Ultimate Sacrifice, a nonfiction history told with diaries and letters written by soldiers and their family members, published in 2013. His most recent book, Aim High: The Life and Times of John Arena, a biography, came out last year. Keith obtained his Bachelor’s degree studying history at Wabash College in Indiana, graduating summa cum laude. He currently serves as Board President for the Steamboat Era Museum.
The Steamboat Era Museum is located at 156 King Carter Drive in Irvington, VA. Tickets for the speaker series are $5 per speaker or $15 for the season. Call the museum at 804-438-6888 to reserve your ticket(s) or purchase online at shop.steamboateramuseum.org.
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The Steamboat Era Museum, an award-winning museum, is focused on preserving and sharing the history of the Steamboat Era and boasts an immersive exhibit of the pilothouse of the Steamboat Potomac, the largest remaining artifact from a Chesapeake Bay Steamboat. Please visit the museum’s website for more information, directions, hours, and entrance fees at www.steamboateramuseum.org or call 804-438-6888. Welcome aboard!Links:
http://www.steamboateramuseum.org