At long last, I have received, scanned, and uploaded pictures of our visit to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael's, Maryland! As you recall, I took photos on my mom's camera when she and my dad were here two weeks ago, so now I can get caught up on my posts.
St. Michael's is a quaint little town on Maryland's Eastern Shore, an easy hop across the Bay Bridge from Annapolis, south on Route 50 to Easton, and then west on Route 33 about 10 miles. Route 33 becomes the town's Main Street, which you can follow past cute shops, restaurants, and ice cream parlors until you come to the long driveway and parking lot for the museum. From the parking lot, walk toward the harbor (you can see it), and then turn left past the Patriot River Cruises dock and the Crab Claw restaurant. (Note: The atmosphere and good eats at the Crab Claw are not to be missed. Plus, their restrooms are on the outside of the building, just steps from the museum entrance. There's a convenient changing table as well, if you need it.)
The Maritime Museum is an 18 acre campus of buildings, working boat docks, historic displays, and hands on activities. The buildings and paths are generally stroller accessible, but I wouldn't necessarily describe the pebbled portions of the walkways stroller "friendly." We got quite the workout pushing the stroller through loose gravel until my mom came up with the ingenious solution of dragging the stroller behind us. It worked even better with each of us holding part of the handle and pulling it beside us. But, you won't have to drag the stroller so, so much. There are ramps, boardwalks, and elevators in the modern buildings, and there are plenty of opportunities to let little ones wander about and experience the sights for themselves. Case in point, the tiny boat just outside the museum admission's building was almost Diggory-sized and quite the enthralling prop. Grandpa KP even climbed in for a photo, something he even says he "doesn't do for just anybody."
Make sure you pick up a campus map from the welcome center so you can find your way around. Everything is well labeled and easy to get to, but since the museum campus is so large and there's so much to see, you may need to pick and choose where you go. You could certainly spend the better part of the day wandering about, especially if you partake in a boat tour or other special activity. Your admission ticket will get you in and out all day, so don't rush if you don't need to.
Just beyond the boat restoration buildings, you'll likely encounter several working boats or boats visiting from other ports. In the picture above on the left, you'll see a replica of Leif Ericson's Viking ship docked along the museum's waterfront on the Miles River. Make sure to check out the museum's calendar before you trek out to the museum. There are lots of different types of activities taking place throughout the summer, including children's art workshops, races, and weekend festivals like the Chesapeake Folk Festival on Saturday, July 28th!
One of the highlights of the museum is the Hooper Strait Lighthouse, built in 1879. The photograph above is the view of the St. Michael's harbor from the top of the lighthouse. Unlike most museum exhibits, there are signs inside the lighthouse encouraging visitors to open every drawer, cabinet, and box, to pick up the tools and cooking utensils, and to even try on the lighthouse keeper's clothes! Oddly enough, I didn't participate in the fun...something about my former museum collections manager self just couldn't do it.
Moving on to the next few museum buildings, we checked out the permanent exhibits Oystering on the Chesapeake and At Play on the Bay. Diggory even took a moment to humor us with his turn as a bathing beauty. Lastly, we took a quick spin through the Steamboat Gallery building to view two temporary exhibitions. Push and Pull, on view through 2014, explores the roll of tugboats on the Chesapeake. Rising Tide in the Heart of the Chesapeake, on view through the end of this year, displays photographs by David Harp of the changes taking place in the bay's low-lying shoreline habitats and communities.
We could have spent much longer at the museum, but alas, we had to move on to explore Annapolis before heading back to DC by the end of the day. I'll leave you with one last photograph, taken the evening before our museum visit as we cruised the Miles River aboard the Patriot. Captain Diggory did a mighty fine job driving the boat!
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