News - John Muir's Birthplace

Winter opening

02 Nov 2020

Now that the nights are getting darker and the leaves are turning, it’s time for us to switch to our winter opening hours. We will be open 10am – 5pm (last entry 4pm) Wednesday – Saturday. We will be closed Sunday – Tuesday each week.

In these strange times when we are being encouraged to stay close to home, it is the perfect time to spend quieter months visiting places on your doorstep that you’ve always meant to see but never quite got around to it! We also have locally made gift ideas that might not be available from online retailers. Lots of reasons to pop in, we look forward to welcoming you.

John Muir Earth, Planet, Universe: Outdoor Exhibition at Dunbar Harbour

26 Oct 2020

Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace Committee Members Liz McLean and Duncan Smeed and Philip Revell of Sustaining Dunbar braved the elements on Saturday 24 October to install weatherproof versions of the panels of their 2020 temporary exhibition entitled ‘John Muir, Earth-Planet, Universe’. Due to Covid-19 restrictions it hasn’t been possible to showcase these panels in John Muir’s Birthplace over the summer season. Friends are very grateful for the help and support of the Dunbar Harbour Trust to allow them to use The Battery at Dunbar Harbour as a wonderful outdoor venue. We hope that many people will be able to visit, read and be inspired to get involved – all in a beautiful Covid-safe environment where John Muir himself explored during his boyhood in Dunbar!

“When I was a boy in Scotland I was fond of everything that was wild, and all my life I’ve been growing fonder and fonder of wild places and wild creatures”, [John Muir, The Story of my Boyhood and Youth]

An official ‘virtual’ launch of this exhibition, and further news about the ‘What If?’ programme it has inspired, is planned for early November and further details of this will be published in the next day or two. See https://muirbirthplacefriends.org.uk for more information.

For those that can’t visit in person, the online version of the exhibition is also available to view at:

John Muir, Earth, Planet, Universe.

Dunbar Art Trail

24 Sep 2020

We love the recently launched Dunbar Art Trail, which features the John Muir Statue on Dunbar High Street, and the John Muir Stone in Lochend Woods.

The Dunbar Art Trail provides a great way to explore Dunbar, via all the public artworks dotted around the town. With an in depth history and information about the artworks, the artists behind them and an interactive map, this is a great free to use tourist map ideal for a socially distanced adventure!

The trail also features a printable checklist and why not use the hashtag #dunbararttrail see if you can bag yourself each of the artworks on the list. Check it out today at www.dunbararttrail.com.

Muir Houses Through Time – Online Exhibition

14 Sep 2020

You may remember that earlier in the summer we published David Anderson’s research into the buildings on Dunbar High Street occupied by the Muirs. There were tales of commerce, double-crossing and greed, as we discovered that the buildings had nearly as interesting a story to tell as John Muir himself!

We are delighted that the series of blogs has now been gathered into an online exhibition and can be enjoyed once again at your leisure! You will find Muir Houses Through Time on our Exhibitions page in bitesize chunks for you to browse.

John Muir’s Birthplace receives Traveller’s Choice Award!

27 Aug 2020

John Muir’s Birthplace has announced it has been recognized as a 2020 Travellers’ Choice award-winner for attractions. Based on a full year of Tripadvisor reviews, prior to any changes caused by the pandemic. Winners are known for consistently receiving great traveller feedback, placing them in the top 10% of hospitality businesses around the globe.

Duncan Smeed, Chair of the John Muir Birthplace Charitable Trust said: “On behalf of the partner Trustees of John Muir Birthplace Charitable Trust – Dunbar Community Council, East Lothian Council, Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace and the John Muir Trust – I am delighted that the hard work and planning that goes into the staffing and resourcing of the Birthplace has been recognised by the this Tripadvisor’s 2020 Travellers’ Choice Award. Comments by visitors to the Birthplace are invariably very positive and highlight the very warm welcome they receive from the Birthplace staff and volunteers and the inspiring nature of the exhibits that tell the story of Muir’s life and legacy. Earlier this year saw the arrival of the 200,000th visitor and the Birthplace is undoubtedly a major contributor to the vibrancy of Dunbar High Street. This Travellers’ Choice Award will be a major boost to the efforts to promote Dunbar as a destination of choice for visitors – both local and from afar.”

“Winners of the 2020 Travellers’ Choice Awards should be proud of this distinguished recognition,” said Kanika Soni, Chief Commercial Officer at Tripadvisor. “Although it’s been a challenging year for travel and hospitality, we want to celebrate our partners’ achievements. Award winners are beloved for their exceptional service and quality. Not only are these winners well deserving, they are also a great source of inspiration for travellers as the world begins to venture out again.”

About John Muir’s Birthplace

Discover how the boy born in this house became one of the driving forces behind the modern conservation movement. The exterior has been restored to its original condition. Inside, you’ll find a warm welcome with friendly, well informed staff always available to answer questions. Our absorbing interpretation centre will take you on the journey of John Muir’s life as a pioneering conservationist, explorer, writer, geologist and inventor. The building is fully accessible with three floors of family friendly displays complemented by a lively exhibition and events programme and a shop offering books and gifts for all ages.

To see traveller reviews and popular features of John Muir’s Birthplace visit John Muir’s Birthplace on Tripadvisor.

Geology Exhibition Now Online

25 Aug 2020

Although we are now open to the public, we appreciate that there are fans of John Muir who are unable to visit us due to travel and other restrictions. We are therefore continuing our drive to provide more of our past exhibitions online.

We have now added John Muir and Geology to the list. John Muir and Geology explores the Scottish heroes who helped unravel Dunbar’s geological story. This exhibition was first shown in 2017 during the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.

The exhibition will also be promoted as part of the Scottish Geology Festival 2020 which will offer a range of events and activities for anyone interested in geology; there will be fantastic opportunities for all to get involved, including families, communities and tourists visiting the area. More on the festival can be found on the Scottish Geology Trust Website.

We’re Good To Go

17 Aug 2020

We are delighted to have achieved our ‘We’re Good to Go’ Accreditation in time for reopening tomorrow, Tues 18 August. We have some new procedures in place to ensure our visitors and staff can be confident they are safe when in our Museum.

• Please maintain social distancing, follow directional signage, use the hand sanitiser or wash your hands regularly and wear a face covering at all times in the Museum (unless exempt).
• Please do not visit if you or anyone in your household has any symptoms of Coronavirus.
• We have removed some of the activities and interactives from our museums to protect visitors and staff & have an enhanced cleaning regime in place.
• We have sneeze screens at desks, hand sanitising stations and one way systems around the museum.
• Payment by credit or debit card in our shop is preferred
• Please book your free visit in advance by calling 01368 865899 or email museumseast@eastlothian.gov.uk. This will help to maintain social distancing within our building.

Please be prepared to leave a contact name and number for your party, as we are taking part in the Scottish Government ‘Test and Protect’ Scheme. Details will be kept secure for 21 days and then destroyed, they will not be passed on to any 3rd party.

We look forward to welcoming you all tomorrow!

Preparing to welcome you back

11 Aug 2020

One week to go!

We are really gearing up to start welcoming you back to John Muir’s Birthplace from Tuesday 18 August. Our screens have now been installed to keep both visitors and staff safe, and we will be laying floor stickers to help with social distancing. We are also working closely with our staff this week to devise new cleaning regimes, and we recommend that anyone wishing to visit to prebook their time by emailing museumseast@eastlothian.gov.uk or calling 01368 865899 as we will be limiting the amount of people in the building at one time.

Our opening times from 18 August will be Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm – we can’t wait to welcome you back!

Muir Houses Through Time Part 10 – John Muir Remembered

06 Aug 2020

This is the final post looking at the story of John Muir’s Dunbar homes. This account focuses on the development of Dunbar’s rediscovery of John Muir and the creation of a fitting tribute within the shell of his birthplace.

So far in the process of uncovering the history of these buildings we’ve touched on stories of war and empire, of tensions between generations, and, in particular, the story of one wee Dunbar laddie whose tale now strides continents. But fifty years ago, you’d have been hard put to find anyone in Dunbar who had heard of John Muir!

Muir Rediscovered

We left our tale of John’s Birthplace in the 1920s. With the passing of years, and the passing of his last relatives and friends in Dunbar, local awareness of John’s career and significance was lost from common knowledge. It took a trickle of American visitors to begin the process of rediscovery!

The first arrivals came on the back of an initiative in Martinez, California. There, a group had formed to ensure a fitting memorial to California’s greatest son and to preserve his marital home as a monument for future generations. Harriet Kelly of Martinez is still remembered in Dunbar. She visited twice in the early 1960s and enlisted the help of Dunbar’s town clerk and other locals to uncover some of the forgotten story, linking John’s writing and photographs to the places that they belonged.

John Muir’s Birthplace c1997 (© Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Licensor www.scran.ac.uk)

Bill and Maimie Kimes, Muir biographers, made more connections when they visited in 1967. They made a disciple in Frank Tindall, then the County Planning Officer, who helped them ensure that the Birthplace was marked with a fitting plaque. A few years later Frank was able to convince the Hawryluk family, the proprietors of the building, to abandon plans to convert much of it from a dry-cleaning facility into a fish restaurant. Frank and another local official, Ian Fullarton, were able then to lease the top floor of the building for a small ‘tribute’ to Muir – some re-imagined rooms and an audio-visual presentation. This opened in the early 1980s managed by East Lothian Tourist Board, who staffed it seasonally. And so it remained into the early 1990s. Then a new proposal surfaced.

John Muir was becoming much more widely known in his homeland. Connections between Dunbar and Martinez had been forged. The John Muir Trust had begun its work ‘to defend wild land, enhance habitats and encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to connect with wild places’. And East Lothian District Council floated an idea to build a ‘John Muir Centre’ within John Muir Country Park to pick up that theme.

This idea came to nothing but it stimulated local discussion and a new beginning.

John Muir’s Birthplace today

There had been enough knowledge, as we have seen, to establish the first ‘Muir Museum’ on the top floor of his renovated birthplace. The baton was picked up by Dunbar’s John Muir Association in the 1990s. To realize their ambitious plans a lot more groundwork was done. Not least, in exploring John Muir’s Dunbar and finding the hidden paths that John surely trod – to school, to church, on excursions with Grandfather Gilrye. This process, aided greatly by John’s own written accounts, began to uncover other facets of both buildings. The Association’s efforts culminated in success. A new multi-partner trust was formed to purchase the building and seek funds for its development and a ‘new’ Birthplace Museum opened in 2003. It incorporates all of the building’s structure that had survived the impulses of multiple owners since the Muirs left and it addresses Muir’s story for a contemporary audience. Over 200,000 visitors have passed through the doors since it opened.

Our Work Continues

Meanwhile, discovery has proceeded apace. One of the driving forces has been our visitors themselves. We are often asked about the buildings; we are sometimes told of family associations relating to other occupants; we are sometimes told of a snippet about the buildings we didn’t know. But the main thing is that we don’t like to be stumped!

The creation of East Lothian’s new Archive & Local History Centre above Haddington Library in the John Gray Centre was another stimulus to research. All at once there were untouched sources readily available! In fact, one of us used a secondment there to provide the bare bones of a house history:

https://www.johngraycentre.org/learning/resources/how-to-research-your/a-house-history-a-case-study-part-1/

These pages formed the framework to this series of blogs – although we’ve gone into much more detail here. They take you through the steps of unearthing any urban Scottish house history, although resources available differ from place to place. Of course, since the pages were written, the Internet has grown apace. It is relatively straightforward today to access digital copies of primary sources that were simply not available ten years ago. We are fortunate because many of the inhabitants of the two Dunbar house associated with the Muir family had unusual surnames – Fall, Delisle, Wightman – and, as it turns out, include some significant characters – Philip Delisle of Calcutta, Dr Charles Wightman of Newcastle.

However, it is harder to say much about the people that lived in the Birthplace and its neighbour in the Victorian period. Where did Mrs Fish the teacher come from? And who attended her school? For this kind of detail we’re much more reliant on other family historians and people that pop though the door.

So, if you have made a connection through our blogs, or have a story to tell us – please do! We’ll be opening again on 18 August and we’d love to see you, to chat, and to share stories.

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