morning's breakfast. A class of school children tong for oys[ers or bai[ a crab [rap, discovering [ha[ you don'[ ge[ yo ur food wi[hou[ some work. Kids learn [he basics of sailing and small boa[ skills and soon afterwards pu[ [hem to use o n [he wa[er, soloing on a C hesapeake breeze before they know it. The opportunities for co ntinuing education for adults are equally plentiful. The museum's Academy for Lifelong Learning attracts more than 300 students a semester, offering classes on a broad ran ge of topics relevant to the Bay's history and environment. A yearly lecture series covers subjects as varied as wetlands, the C hesapeake Bay and global warming, collecting Black Americana, and the Underground Railroad. In addition, the Apprentice-fora-Day program offers a hands-on boatbuilding experience in the museum's boatyard, while the members of the CBMM Model Guild work on somewhat smaller craft in their model shop. The museum's docks are a haven for visiting boats and ships, many of which serve as educational attractions in their own right. It is not unusual to see a pri celess Trumpy yacht from the 1930s berthed near the 1768 -reproduction Schooner Sultana, against a backdrop of vessels from the museum's own floating fleet: Martha, a Hooper Island drake[ail launch ; [he nine-
log bugeye Edna E. Lockwood; the recently restored seven-log crab dredger Old Point; the tugboa[ D elaware; and Rosie Parks, one of the few surviving original skipjacks on [he C hesapeake Bay-now undergoing resto ration on si[e by museum shipwrights. Each June, [he m useum hosts more than 100 antique- and classic boa[s for an annual festival. In October, [he Mid-Atlantic Small C rafr Festival amac[s both ama[eur- and professionally-made skiffs, kayaks, canoes, and sailboa[S to the
museum's docks. The C hesapeake Bay Maritime Museum interprets the rich story of North America's largest es[Llary and [he people who live, work, and play on or near it. The issues facing [he Bay area-historical, cultural, and environmental-are ongoing. The museum seeks to represent the past through artifacts, education , and [he preservation of skills once well-used in [he region. As a "living" insd[Lltion, ic challenges visitors to learn m ore fully [he history behind [he issues facing a changing Bay and its people. That learning often takes the form of hands-on activities, such as boat building or sailing. It involves interaction with those who ac[Llally live and wo rk the Bay-crab pickers, skipj ack captains, and watermen. It finds expression in dialogue at meetings tackling subj ects
There's no separating the history of ships and boats from the people who built, worked, and maintained them. (left) Apprentices/or-a-Day learn boatbuilding skills firsthand without having to commit to a major career change. The museum's working boatyard is staffed with skilled shipwrights who work with apprentices to restore and maintain the museum's large fleet of watercraft. (top) An apprentice, in the foreground, and shipwright work side-by-side replacing planks below the waterline on the wooden tugboat, Delaware.
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SEA HISTORY 122, SPRING 2008