Fun Fact: Which MD County Has the Nation’s Most Complete Collection of Chesapeake Bay Artifacts?

The Chesapeake Bay holds a deep historical significance for Maryland. Talbot County is home to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, which houses the nation’s most comprehensive collection of Chesapeake Bay artifacts, visual arts, and traditional watercraft.
Edna E. Lockwood on marine railway at CBMM, photograph by NPS. 1333.0001. https://cbmm.org/about-us/

 

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is an 18-acre waterfront campus, which includes Navy Point, and was once the site of a busy complex of seafood packing houses, docks, and work boats.

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is home to the historic 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse. Originally built to guide boats through the shallow and treacherous waters of Hooper Strait, this “screwpile” lighthouse stands on iron pilings designed to be screwed into the muddy bottom to a depth of 10 feet or more. The current lighthouse is the second one constructed at Hooper Strait, after the first was destroyed by ice in 1877.

By 1966, the deteriorating lighthouse was slated for demolition by the Coast Guard. However, with support from the Historical Society of Talbot County and using the funds designated for demolition, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum saved the structure. Engineers lifted the 42-ton lighthouse in two sections and moved it by barge 40 miles up the Bay to St. Michaels. The lighthouse arrived at its new home on November 9, 1966, and opened to the public on May 20, 1967, becoming a centerpiece of CBMM’s 18-acre campus.

Today, the Hooper Strait Lighthouse features exhibits, public programs, and a working boatyard, highlighting the rich maritime history and culture of the Chesapeake Bay.

Adjacent to the museum entrance, the Museum Store offers one of the most extensive collections of Chesapeake Bay books and maps, along with a variety of gifts and Bay-themed collectibles.

As a regional educational institution, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum serves as a valuable resource for community educators and students. The museum aims to make its research, collections, and library accessible to people of all ages.

For more information on the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum visit Welcome to CBMM.

If you would like your county featured in Fun Facts, please get in touch with Amanda Grosskrueger at agrosskrueger@mdcounties.org.