New museum shares man's love of model ships

A St. Peter's Bay resident has decided to share his collection of model ships at a new ship museum he just opened.

David Hawkins opened the museum at the Shops at St. Peter's Landing to featurethe 250 model ships he has collected over the past 16 years.

Hawkins said until he opened the museum he kept them in sheds and his basement.

"Within the collection there's probably seven or eight or nine different model makers from the Island. A lot of them are East Coast models, from New Brunswick, Newfoundland," said Hawkins.

"Some are well known, we have the famous rum runner, the Nellie J Banks, we have the famous Bluenose, of course we have the Titanic the eight-foot titanic, the kids just come in and they're running here and they're running there and they're just loving everything. It's rewarding to see the enthusiasm that's for sure."

The museum also features a diorama about mussel cultivation which was started in St. Peters Bay by Russell Dockendorff, who was known as the mussel king.

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