Exploring the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels Maryland

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A 15 acre campus in the heart of the beautiful, riverside town of St Michaels Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum celebrates the environmental, historical, and cultural impacts of the Chesapeake Bay and its many maritime industries on communities throughout the East Coast. There are personal stories of individuals who helped shape the land and industries, hands-on learning and exploring of various vessels, rotating exhibits, and plenty of opportunities to get out on the water.

posing on board the Patriot ship at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels, MD

The museum first opened in 1965 with a collection of boats decades old that had sailed and fished on the Chesapeake Bay. Over the decades, the museum’s collection expanded and now includes over 90,000 objects related to the Chesapeake Bay, history of the surrounding St. Michaels area, and maritime industries.

Most recently, the new Visitor Center opened in 2023 with a large exhibit of boats, Museum Store, restrooms, a covered deck with plenty of seating, and friendly knowledgeable docents who can help guests make the most of their visit. The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum offers a dozen buildings (some centuries old and preserved by historians) with authentic, and often interactive, exhibits the whole family will enjoy. Leave time for one of the many live demonstrations, workshops, and on the water learning opportunities. 

the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels, MD

Travel Tips:

  • The museum is open year round from 10am-4pm, with extended hours in warmer months; check here for up to date information on hours and admission fees. Bonus: Tickets are valid for two consecutive days and on Family Funday Sundays, kids under age 18 receive FREE admission!
  • The main entrance to the complex is located (check out the Tilghman Island Drawbridge that cars must drive under!) on North Talbot Street, just past the downtown shops. The South Entrance is located on Cherry Street near the Crab Claw Restaurant.
  • Plenty of free parking in front of the Welcome Center. Check here for information on driving directions and arriving by boat.
  • Restrooms are located throughout the complex, including in the Welcome Center, E Dock, and rotating exhibit hall. 
  • Most of the complex is handicap accessible via ramps and elevators, with the exception of the lighthouse. Bring a stroller for the toddler crew and wear sturdy shoes as the outdoor paths are mainly gravel. 
  • The main dining option in the complex is the Crab Claw Restaurant (closed on Tuesdays; museum admission is not necessary); there are also drinks and snacks available in the Welcome Center and South Entrance. Picnic tables under an awning are available adjacent to the Welcome Center. Check here for a comprehensive list of dining options in the town of St. Michaels. 
  • The Museum Store is located inside the Welcome Center (museum admission is not necessary) and there is a smaller gift shop at the South Entrance. 
  • Check here for the full calendar of festivals and events and here for special programs, including guided tours, water adventures, speaker series, and historic workboat experience.  
  • Plan on a good three hours to tour all 12 exhibit buildings, plus more time for live demonstrations, films, programs. See a complex map here.
  • A Special Note for the toddler and preschool crowd: The museum complex is set next to the Miles River and many areas are open to the water; Keep a close eye on little ones near the docks and boardwalk.

13 Ways to Explore the CBMM:

  1. Count the number of various sailing skiffs, one design boats, sailing scows, and canoes on display in the Water Lines exhibit in the Welcome Center. The gallery also has exhibits on shucking oysters (workers were paid by how many cans they could fill with oysters and could customize their standing location so they would not be permanently hunched over), “sinkboxes” and how they were used to hunt geese, and the history of the Keene family set to an original song.
  2. Smell the various herbs and heirloom vegetables in the Heirloom Garden. Gardens are organized by century (dating back to the 1600s!) and include tobacco beds. Check here for a full list of what is grown in the gardens.
  3. Follow the chronological timeline (start on the second floor) of Frederick Douglas in the Bear Me Into Freedom and Sailing to Freedom special exhibits (through the end of 2027). The exhibit uses a historic map to trace Frederick Douglas’s life in Talbot County, starting in 1818 through his experiences as an abolitionist and writer. Try interactive parts of the exhibit, including netmaking and waving skills, caulking the ship to fill in the gaps between planks, pretending to give a speech, and asking a question to a hologram electronic version of Douglas. The first floor exhibit Sailing to Freedom honors the African American lives lost at sea and while building the underground railroad and maritime villages, and the Freedom Seekers. Check out the 12 foot compound steam engine from 1924.
  4. Walk through the Mitchell Douglas House, where Frederick Douglas’s sister, Eliza Bailey Mitchell, lived with her husband and children, and learn about their family’s lineage and their emancipation. 
  5. Learn about the oystering industry in the Oystering on the Chesapeake exhibit by opening drawers to see maps, guessing answers to fun oyster trivia (oyster blood is blue!), seeing how the oyster industry was mined in the 19th century, and learning 15 ways to prepare oysters and how to pack as many oysters as possible in a can. 
  6. Hop aboard the EC Collier, a real skipjack, and explore the boat by climbing down below deck in the Oystering on the Chesapeake exhibit.

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posing on the EC Collier boat at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels, MD

  1. Practice seafood harvesting techniques in the Waterman’s Wharf. Visitors can pull up an eel pot, use tongs to find oysters, and try and catch crabs. 
  2. Pretend to navigate your own miniature ship with the Katie G and Buy Boat Thor replicas.
  3. Watch a film (most range from 20 minutes to 45 minutes) on a variety of topics related to the Chesapeake Bay in the Water Fowling Building. 
  4. Observe shipwrights and restorers and apprentices at work in the Shipyard. The team works on both wooden boats for the museum’s collections and repairs for private boat owners and can repair up to 18 boats a week (although some older boats can take months or years to repair!). We observed work being done to repair a “Buy Boat” that was used to pick up oysters from fishermen and bring them to land to be sold. See the schedule for the museum’s apprenticeship program here. 
  5. Climb the stairs in the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper guided boats through the Hooper Strait to Deal Island or other rivers. Check out the display of over 70 lighthouses throughout the Chesapeake Bay. Note: the steps are narrow and steep.
  6. Check out ten fishing vessels and a recreated crab picking machine in the Small Boat Shed, originally built in the 1890s in Clairborne, Maryland and moved to St Michael’s in 1971.
  7. Steer a 1951 Owens Six Sleeper Express in the At Play on the Bay exhibit near E Dock. The exhibit includes several outboard and inboard motor boats on display.
posing outside an exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels, MD

Bonus: Take a boat tour aboard the Patriot down the Miles River. The 65 foot steel hulled cruise ship holds 140 people with upper deck shaded and sunny chairs and plenty of tables and chairs on the lower level. There are also restrooms and a full concession stand aboard the Patriot (guests are also welcome to bring non-alcoholic drinks and snacks aboard). The staff is super friendly and knowledgeable and will point out various wildlife and sea life and share the history of the Miles River and St Michaels area. Free parking is available in the main lot for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and museum admission is not necessary to take the 70 minute cruise.

posing in front of the Patriot boat at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels, MD

Looking for other maritime museums? Check out our features of Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, Battleship Cove in Massachusetts, South Street Seaport in New York City, the Maine Maritime Museum in Maine, and the Independence Seaport Museum in Pennsylvania. And follow along on our adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

Disclosure: Our family was given a media pass to explore the Museum; all opinions expressed are my own. 

New England based, part high school English teacher, part non profit founder, part road tripper who LOVES hopping in the family SUV to explore America. Our bucket list includes National Parks, MLB stadiums, presidential libraries, and eating wherever the locals eat!

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