Last updated: 7/25/2011
100 Lafayette Street
Havre de Grace, MD 21078
Sunday, Tuesday - Wednesday, Friday - Saturday
10 AM - 5 PM
Free Admission until Aug 31, 2011
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Darlene Perry
phone: 410-939-4800
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Keira Gruber
phone: 410-939-4800
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Jessica Calder
phone: 410-939-4800
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Located where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay, the Maritime Museum invites you to come experience “Where Bay Life Begins.” Through its exhibits and programs the Museum endeavors to interpret the region’s rich maritime heritage. Encounter what life in the past was like on and by the water in the “Harvesting the Bay” exhibit and our newest exhibit, Beyond Jamestown: Life 400 Years Ago, which tracks John Smiths travel up the Chesapeake Bay and his encounters with the Native Americans. Engage in the boat building way of life through the Chesapeake Wooden Boat Building School, where students preserve the timeless art of wooden boat building.
To Collect, Document, Preserve, and Interpret the maritime skills and cultural heritage of the Lower Susquehanna River and Upper Chesapeake Bay region.
On December 28, 1987, the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum was officially incorporated and sanctioned by the state of Maryland in Harford County. The founding members include Charles E. Carter, John F. Carroll, Eldon duPont Homsey, Robert L. McVey, Andrew A. Thompson, and Josiah V. Thompson.
In 1988, a historically-minded group of local citizens founded the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum as a private, nonprofit, educational institution. They recognized that the rich cultural and natural heritage of the Lower Susquehanna River and the Upper Chesapeake Bay was fast disappearing. The Havre de Grace Maritime Museum was established to help protect these maritime traditions for future generations. We are a maritime museum in Harford County Maryland but are in close proximity to Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The Museum’s collection is fundamental to fulfilling this mission. Though small in comparison to some institutions, our collection continues to grow steadily. It is comprised of items (objects, photographs, archival materials, and books) relating to maritime activities in the Upper Bay. While most of our donors are local, we have received collections items from all over the United States, including New York and California, as well as from overseas. Some of our largest collections are made up of boats and boat building tools, which are featured in the Chesapeake Wooden Boat Builders School (CWBBS) as well as an exhibit discussing “Boat Building Tools and Traditions.” We also have a large collection of nautical instruments, including compasses with dates ranging from the 18th century to the present, as well as other navigational tools, most of which are on display in our “Navigation: Tools of the Trade” exhibit. Other significant aspects of our collection are objects relating to the commercial fishing industry. This collection of photographs, nets, motors, boat components, fishing implements, logbooks, and other related items comprise the majority of our “Harvesting the Bay” exhibit.
We are in the process of creating a research library that will be open to the public. Please check back with us in the near future
Our public programs are vital to carrying out the Museum’s mission. As a result of our exhibits, tours, hands-on learning activities, CWBBS classes, lectures, concerts, Festivals, and other special events, the Maritime Museum has set the standard for cultural, historical, educational, and entertaining activities in Havre de Grace. For example, the Chesapeake Woodenboat Building School attracts a large number of adult students each semester, and the week-long Teen Boat School in the summer is always an enriching experience. Many of the local elementary and middle schools, as well as schools from Baltimore and Cecil counties, Pennsylvania and Delaware have brought entire grade levels to the museum for interactive tours. Numerous Senior Adult tour groups have also made us a regular stop in their itineraries.
Our lecture and concert series, which run from September to May, invite experts and other special guests to speak or share on various regional and maritime topics from Native American History to Bayscaping and the environment to the music of the Navy during the War of 1812.
Board of Directors
Non-profit
The Maritime Messenger, our newsletter, is published quarterly.
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