Sea Flora exhibition

We will be hosting this fantastic exhibition from Sara Dodd until the 30th of July. Open from 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 1pm-5pm on Sundays. Admission is free as always.

Sara works with Scottish seaweeds creating original organic pressings and prints that celebrate their intrinsic beauty, colour and light.

Stormy Seas Scotland pop-up

Text reading 'Stormy Seas Scorland.' Text is inside a rainbow circle, the rainbow circle is made up of little dots.

We are delighted to be hosting a pop-up from Kirsty at Stormy Seas Scotland in our shop. Kirsty is a local jewellery maker whose designs are all inspired by her love of the sea and nature surrounding Dunbar. We particularly love that the resin she uses is a by-product of the oil industry. By using it to make jewellery it is kept out of our oceans.

Three necklaces inside shell-shaped boxes. The necklaces have charms on them. The charms are made out of resin, and look like the sea.

A bit about me…

My name is Kirsty, I live in Dunbar, a small town on the East Coast of Scotland. Growing up in a seaside town I have always had strong bond with the sea. I am passionate about nature and studied wildlife and conservation at University. I love nothing more than taking a walk along the beach, seeing what treasures I can find, as well as picking up the plastics, rubbish and netting choking our seas. I love making things and did jewellery making courses a few years ago. I have been making jewellery for family and friends for years and decided to set up a shop and combine my love of jewellery and the sea.

Sea glass

All of my sea glass products are hand crafted and completely unique using genuine sea glass hand collected around my local town on the South East Coast of Scotland (Dunbar). I love thinking of the story behind the material, how it came to be in the sea and where it has travelled.
Every piece is as unique as you. Even though the glass may have slight imperfections, these are the scars of what it has been through. It is a stamp of their story and I think it makes them more beautiful and intriguing.

Perfected by the waves…

Sea glass comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours. It originates from glass which has made it into the sea. Over a number of decades (sometimes even hundreds of years) these pieces of glass have been chemically altered by the salt water and physically tumbled in the waves which results in their smooth frosted appearance. Some of the most rare colours are black, pink, teal, yellow, red, orange and turquoise with purple, citron, cobalt, cornflower blue and aqua being very uncommon, white and bottle green are found the most often.

I love the fact that our seas and oceans recycle broken glass into a beautiful piece of frosted glass which you can wear as a piece of jewellery. Be careful of some advertising sea glass as it is not authentic and has not been produced by the sea.

Resin

All of my resin products are hand crafted and completely unique using high quality resin, inks, pigments and powders which are all vegan, eco-friendly and cruelty free. The resin I use is a by-product of the oil industry, by using it to create beautiful art and jewellery we are saving raw materials from going to landfill.

Products are influenced by the sea or nature.

If you are looking for a particular colour with a particular charm or have any other questions please feel free to contact Kirsty on Etsy, Facebook, or Instagram (@stormyseasscotland).

Cash only payments

Edit: our tech issues have now been resolved and we are able to take card payments again!
Unfortunately some gremlins have got into our chip and pin system! We are only able to take cash payments until our tech issues have been resolved, so please do bring along cash if you’re planning on visiting our shop. There’s a cash machine in the Co-op a few doors down from us and one just next to Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery.
Thank you for your patience!

New schools resource up and running

We are grateful to Museums Galleries Scotland for a grant which has allowed us to produce a series of films outlining different aspects of John Muir’s life:

  • Where did John go on his 1000 mile walk?
  • What’s so special about Yosemite?
  • When did John die and what has happened since?
  • What did John Muir campaign for?
  • Did John go to school?
  • John Muir, lone walker or devoted family man?
  • Where did John go on his last long journey?
  • Did John ever return to Scotland?
  • How did John learn about farming?
  • How does Scotland remember John Muir?
  • What did John discover in Alaska?
  • Was the environment or his family more important to John Muir?

These films were researched and written by John Muir’s Birthplace staff during the lockdown in early 2021. Originally limited to just participating schools, we have decided to make the videos available for everyone to watch. You can access them here.

Free Muir and Burns drop-in crafts

It’s Burns Night tonight!
Our current round of activities runs alongside our winter exhibition on John Muir and Robert Burns. The two Scots writers had lots in common.
They both:
  • developed a love of reading from an early age. Muir aged 15 ‘became hungry for knowledge’ and started reading ‘all sorts of books’ and young Rabbie always carried a book with him!
  • kept journals and commonplace books
  • discovered a nest of fieldmice
  • were farming from a very young age
  • grew up in cultures of writing, singing, and story-telling
  • visited Lauderdale House and gardens in Dunbar
  • were pioneering, ahead of their time in many ways
  • were humane and respectful towards the natural world
  • had a female champion and mentor – Muir had Jeanne Carr and Burns had Frances Anna Dunlop.
Why not pop in this weekend and have a go at making a robin bookmark and learn a bit more about what robins meant to John Muir?
Thanks to the parents of this wee visitor for giving us permission to share the photo on social media.
Or have a go at writing your own Scots poem! Our brilliant Museum Assistants have come up with a creative task using ‘To A Mouse’ as inspiration.

Work with us!

We’re recruiting!

East Lothian Council Museums Service is recruiting Seasonal Museum Assistants across our four museum sites. This includes two posts here at John Muir’s Birthplace.
We are looking for people with
  • enthusiasm
  • flexibility
  • great communication
  • organisational skills
  • and a passion for delivering great customer service
to join our team to help visitors get the most from their visit to our museums.
Museum Assistants open and close our museums, welcome visitors to our venues, answer enquiries and make sure that everyone has an enjoyable and safe visit. They operate our shops, assist with school and other groups, activities, events and exhibitions.
For more detail and information on how to apply take a look here. Deadline for applications is 29th January.
john muir's birthplace dusk

Festive opening hours

With all the snow and the Christmas lights we are feeling very festive here at John Muir’s Birthplace.

We are pleased to be open from now until 1pm on Christmas Eve. We will then close for the festive season and reopen on Wednesday 5th January. 1pm is earlier than our usual Saturday closing time so do be aware of this if you’re planning on doing some last-minute Christmas shopping with us!

We’ll be back to our usual winter hours from January 4th – open Wed – Sat 10am – 5pm (last entry 4.30pm) and Sun 1pm – 5pm (last entry 4.30pm). We are closed on Monday and Tuesday. Feel free to come in and shelter from the blasting Janwar’ win‘ with our exhibition on John Muir and Robert Burns in the back room. We’ve also got a great programme of crafts running through the winter for our wee visitors, and a reference library set up to keep our big visitors entertained.