Monterey Maritime and History Museum, Maritime heritage museum in Custom House Plaza, Monterey, US.

Monterey Maritime and History Museum occupies Custom House Plaza and houses thousands of objects documenting the region's fishing and harbor activities. The displays include textiles, photographs, and written records that reveal how people lived and worked along the coast.

The museum began in 1971 as the Allen Knight Maritime Museum and relocated to its current location in 1992. The move allowed the institution to expand and present a more complete story of the region's connection to the sea.

The building sits on Custom House Plaza above the eastern end of the Lighthouse Tunnel. Its name honours Virginia Stanton, whose $1 million gift funded construction, and her son Robert Stanton designed it. Exhibits cover the Rumsen people, the fishing industry and John Steinbeck.

The museum sits in the downtown area and is easy to reach on foot, with parking available nearby. Plan to spend at least two hours to see the main exhibits and gain a good sense of the collections.

The Point Sur Lighthouse's Fresnel lens was reassembled at the museum entrance and long served as one of its main attractions. The building itself stands directly on top of the eastern end of the Lighthouse Tunnel. The Allen Knight Collection, gathered by a sailor from 1916 onward, was acquired in 2016 by the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association.