Fall 2009 To The PoinT Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum dockside for visitors to walk aboard for tours. CBMM’s OysterFest is Back OysterFest boasts plenty of family educational and fun ac- on November 7 tivities designed to help kids get to know the oyster and how important the bivalve is to the Chesapeake Bay. Families will Oystering and maritime traditions of the Bay will come alive be able to design their own oyster can and label, explore the at CBMM on Saturday, November 7, from 10am to 5pm, for animals in an oyster reef, and conduct science experiments OysterFest 2009! The sweet bivalve will take center stage dur- about filter feeders. Two fun groups, Mr. Oyster and Johnny ing the day-long festival, which will include oysters prepared a Oysterseed, will show kids and their parents how oysters filter multitude of ways, including on the Bay’s water. The Choptank the half-shell, fried and stewed, River Eastern Bay Conservancy along with live music from two will illustrate the work being Members’ Day has been moved bands, boat rides, and special to OysterFest, on November 7! done to improve water quality children’s activities. in this Bay tributary. Blues DeVille will keep the Two films will be featured day lively by performing blues, at OysterFest. “Watermen,” a rock, funk and soul on the deck documentary film by acclaimed of the Museum’s “Oystering on filmmaker Holly Fisher, shot the Chesapeake” exhibit from by Fisher in the 1960s, follows 11am to 3pm. And Cuzzin Mark the life and work of Captain and Sean—members of the Art Daniels and other skipjack band Key Lime Pie—will per- captains of the era. The second form their blend of classic rock film, “Common Ground,” from with soul, R&B and modern pop, the Chesapeake Bay Founda- under CBMM’s Tolchester Beach tion, looks at the history of the Bandstand throughout the day. oyster fishery and examines The Choptank Oyster Com- the biology, habitat, and critical pany, aquaculture growers of role of the oyster in the Chesa- “Choptank Sweets,” will of- peake Bay ecosystem. Both fer their fresh-from-the-Bay oysters on the half-shell for sale. films will be screened in the Museum’s Van Lennep Auditorium Choptank Oyster Company is the only privately-funded oyster throughout the day. hatchery in the state of Maryland, culturing only the crassostrea Two new authors of books about life and work on the Bay virginica, the oyster species native to the Chesapeake. will offer readings and book signings. Chris White is the author An oyster stew tasting will feature culinary creations from of “Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen!,” Eastern Shore restaurants including The Bridge Restaurant, which will make its pre-publication debut at OysterFest. Key Lime Café, Tilghman Island Inn, and Town Dock, with more Scheduled for release in November by St. Martin’s Press, the signing on each day. Fried oyster sandwiches, platters and book chronicles a year with skipjack captains Wade Murphy, sweet potato pie from Susie’s Kitchen are sure to please. For Stanley Larrimore and Art Daniels as they battle nature and those who prefer to learn about oysters rather than eat them, each other to help control the fate of their island villages and regional favorite Krsytal Q Catering will be on hand with pit the oyster fleet. White’s book has been praised by two-time beef, garden burgers, and more. The beer on tap at Oyster- National Book Award winner Peter Matthiessen and by for- Fest will be great craft brews from Maryland’s Evolution Craft mer National Geographic Society Chairman Gil Grosvenor. Brewing Company. And Rise Up Coffee will offer organic cof- Chesapeake Bay photographer Heather Davidson draws on fee, hot chocolate, and other hot and cold drinks. her images and experiences on the Bay in her new book. David- Throughout the day, Captain Ed Farley will provide boat son will discuss her experience capturing the stunning images of rides aboard the skipjack H.M. Krentz, one of the last the Bay’s watermen and their work. commercial sailing vessels that continues to dredge OysterFest will be the fourth and final week- oysters in Maryland’s Chesapeake waters. Skip- end for the popular “Fall into St. Michaels” fes- jack cruises will be available for a $10 fee. There tival, hosted by the St. Michaels Business As- will also be boat rides every half-hour aboard sociation. For more information on “Fall into CBMM’s replica buyboat Mister Jim, at $5 per St. Michaels” visit www.stmichaelsmd.org or passenger. Martha Lewis, a skipjack built by call the St. Michaels Business Association at legendary Bay boat builder Bronza Parks, will be 410-745-0411. CBMM Receives New Grants • Tilghman Island Summer Seafood Festival – June 27 of environmental issues. Students will have an opportu- President’s Message • Potomac River Festival – June 12-14 nity to study the ecosystem in depth, develop solutions to • Norfolk HarborFest – July 3-5 environmental problems, and influence decision-making Totaling $75,000 at the local and national levels. The Museum’s partnership When we retuned the Museum’s mission statement • Havre de Grace Seafood Festival – August 8-9 The National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Gateways pro- with Washington College enriches the students’ experi- a year ago to “inspiring broad public stewardship of • National Hard Crab Derby and Fair, Crisfield – gram has awarded CBMM $45,000 in new funding and the ence by teaching them about the Bay’s traditional working the Bay’s cultural traditions and places,” we didn’t September 4-6 Museum will receive $30,000 from the Maryland Histori- cultures, the future of Bay communities, as well as serving ask for the federal government’s approval. But last cal Trust. • Sultana Down-Rigging Weekend, Chestertown – as a resource for the students’ final semester projects. month, they gave it to us anyway… Both grants support new exhibitions and educational October 29-31. The draft report on Bay protection and resto- programming focusing on the Bay’s cultures, landscapes ration released by the Environmental Protection and environments that will help Museum visitor’s connect Maryland Historical Trust funding will support a num- Opening Spring 2010: Agency has been anxiously awaited by many around the Bay’s past to its future. ber of initiatives including the installation of the “Rising the Bay who hope that renewed federal regulatory “A Rising Tide” “We are extraordinarily honored to be granted these Tide” exhibition along with programs, lectures and discus- oversight, coordination and enforcement might funds, which will support several new projects at the Mu- sions that engage children and adults in thinking about turn the tide of disappointing restoration results. The shorelines of the Chesapeake Bay have been chang- seum,” noted CBMM President Stuart Parnes. how the Bay has been transformed and what it could We have a very long way to go, but this first step ing for hundreds of thousands of years. Today, predictions The National Park Service funding will underwrite a new be in the future. CBMM will also host a series of focused by the new administration is certainly encouraging. of climate change, global warming and sea level rise have exhibit in the Steamboat Building gallery that will open in public symposia and programs linked to issues raised in The report deals largely with water quality, of focused our attention March 2010. The exhibit, “A Rising Tide in the Heart of the the exhibits “The Bay from Above” and “A Rising Tide” course, and the critical needs of reducing pollution, on the accelerating Chesapeake,” will combine the renowned photography of in partnership with the Adkins Arboretum, Eastern Shore controlling storm water run-off, etc. etc. However, it rate of these changes. David Harp with the observations of author and environ- Land Conservancy, Bay Hundred Foundation, Chesapeake is a broad-ranging document, which includes a num- Scientists may dis- mentalist Tom Horton and the voices of Chesapeake Bay Wildlife Heritage, Horn Point Lab, and Washington Col- ber of initiatives and some very stunning statistics: agree on the specifics, islanders themselves. The exhibit will focus on the lives lege’s Center for Environment and Society. but most predict that • only 2% of the Bay’s 11,600 miles of tidal shore- and stories of key individuals in each Chesapeake island life around the Ches- line is publicly accessible community represented, so that Museum visitors can ex- Chesapeake Semester apeake Bay will be • the federal government is the largest single land- perience an intimate sense of the cultural heritage at risk dramatically affected owner in the watershed – nearly 8% of all lands of disappearing. On August 24 and 25, over the next century. – and doesn’t yet comply with its own regulations National Park Service funding is also underwriting a Washington College’s Low lying areas will portion of the costs for CBMM to send its newly restored first class of Chesapeake surely be inundated, • the watershed’s population (17,000,000) is on historic crab dredging vessel, Old Point, to visit ports and track to increase 30% by 2030 Semester students spent islands will disappear, Gateways sites around the Bay during local and regional two action-packed days and the lives of the • climate changes threaten to negatively impact gatherings. at the Chesapeake Bay people who live along every aspect of life on, in and around the Bay. An on-board and dockside exhibit will include both vi- Maritime Museum— the shores will be for- The most encouraging elements of the report for sual and audio elements, which will communicate central sailing with Captain Ed ever altered.