Philadelphia•
A Guide to Maritime Museums in the Chesapeake Chesapeake-Delaware Canal Museum, Chesapeake City MD. Models, photos of canal history, housed in lock pumphouse, open daily, free. *Radcliffe Maritime Museum of the Maryland Historical Society, 201 W. Monument St., Baltimore MD 21202 (301/685-3750). Indoor gallery with models, paintings, open afternoons, free. USS Constellation, Constellation Dock, Pratt St., Baltimore MD 21202. Successor to the famous frigate of 1797, this mid19th century corvette is undergoing restoration. Open daily $1.50, children 50a:. Baltimore Seaport, Pier 4, Pratt St., Baltimore MD 21202 (301/837-1776). World War II submarine Torsk, Five Fathoms Lightship, with exhibits, visiting sh ips, open daily, free. Restaurant steamer Nobska (see p. 42) is moored nearby.
Washington, for example. A steamer like the Dorchester, however, would have stopped enroute at 23 landings in Maryland and Virginia discharging and taking on freight and passengers. Each wharf then in remote countryside, seemed like another world to an impressionable youngster. Dockside activities, sights of Bay steam and sailing craft, sounds of steam whistles, waterfront aromas, the somewhat palatial interiors of the steamboats, tasty meals, and the slower pace still remain with me a half a century later. Today, except for a few skipjacks now employed in Maryland's oyster dredging fishery, commercial sail has disappeared from the Chesapeake. Steamboats long ago departed from those waters. Marinas have emerged where some of the landings once stood. The canneries which provided freight for steam and sail no longer exist. The general stores and post offices at the wharves have moved inland to crossroad towns, the former now known as supermarkets, and the latter in many cases consolidated from several rural post offices. But the natural beauty and rich heritage of the Chesapeake lives on. NOTE: To sign up for a Mariners Museum Cruise, write the Museum at Newport News VA 23601. Mr. Burgess, leading authority on Chesapeake Bay navigation, joined the staff of The Mariners Museum in 1941, and recently retired as Curator of Publications. He was active in the founding of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and in other efforts lo save for future generations the heritage of the Chesapeake. He is the author (or editor) of eight b.ooks. 12
Brown's Wharf Maritime Museum, 906 S. Broadway, PO Box 8890, Baltimore MD 21202 (301/276-1013). Open on special occasions; free guided tour of exhibits on Fells Point history. Historic napolis Regular visits to
Annapolis, 18 Pinkney St., AnMD 21401 (301/267-8149). walking tours through town, historic houses.
*US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis MD 21402 (301/267-2108). Indoor exhibits of models and paintings, John Paul Jones crypt, admission free. C&O Canal National Historic Park, 11710 MacArthur Blvd., Potomac MD 20864. Open daily, free tour of canal and locks. Replica canal barge Cumberland. *Smithsonian Institution: National Museum of History & Technology, 14th & Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20560. A Hall of American Maritime Enterprise reinforces the Transportation sect ion exhibits of ship models; Continental gondo la Philadelphia. Open daily, free. Truxton-Decatur Naval Museum, 1610 H St. NW, Washington DC 20006. Models, prints in Decatur House, open daily, free. US Navy Memorial Museum & Marine Corps Museum, Washington Navy Yard, 9th & M St. SE, Washington DC 20374. (2021433-2651). Models & exhibits, both open daily, free.
*Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels MD 21663 (301 1745-2916) . The most complete exhibits on Chesapeake history, including Bay craft actively sailed or undergoing restoration. Open daily, $2, children 75a:. Oxford Museum, Morris & Market St., Oxford MD 21654. Early Oxford hi sto ry, open Friday & weekend afternoons, free . Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons MD 20688 (301/326-3719). Local maritime history, shipbuilding & fisheries exhibits, lighthouse, bugeye. Open weekdays, afternoon Sundays, free . *Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship, Piney Point MD 20674 (301/9940010). Chesapeake Bay boats, lightship, sc hooners; open I st Sunday eac h month, free. St. Mary's City Commission, St. Mary's City MD 20686. Archaeological museum of Maryl a nd's first capital, with open air crafts, open daily , free; $1 to board
Dove. Jamestown Festival Park, PO Box Drawer JF, Williamsburg VA 23185 (804/229-1607). Replicas of Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, the ships that sett led Jamestown in 1607, with exhibits, fort and craft activities ashore. Open daily, 9-5, $2, children 75a:. *The Mariners Museum, Newport News VA 23606 (804/595-0368). Extensive exhibits on American and foreign seafaring, including small craft in shed s. Open daily, Sunday afternoons, $1.50, children 75a:. Portsmouth Naval Museum, 2 High Street, Portsmouth VA 23705 (804/3938591). Portsmouth history in models, photos, open daily and Sunday afternoon s, closed Monday, free . Cape Henry Lighthouse, Fort Story, Virginia Beach VA 23459. Lighthouse is th e exhibit, open d a ily, free. *Offer major library and research facilities to serious students, by appointment. NOTE: Visiting hours subject to change; winter sc hedules differ. For fuller information write or call museum. When I am traveling 1 pray for a rainy afternoon near a good bookshop where I can do so me exploring in print: excellent emporiums of this na ture are to be found at The Mariners Museum in Newport News, and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum at St. Michaels. PS SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1979