Media Coverage
Program about the bay has a Spanish-language twist
By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer | Posted: Monday, July 23, 2012 10:30 am
At the Annapolis Maritime Museum on Friday, it was all about the cangrejos.
That’s blue crabs — that stubbornly refused to bite onto chicken drumsticks dangling in the water. And tiny mud crabs crawling all over cages full of oysters.
About two dozen kids spent the day at the museum learning about crabs and oysters and saving the Chesapeake Bay.
<< Caption: Kids from the Chesapeake Horizontes program at the Annapolis Maritime Museum learn about crabbing by catching a few of their own on Friday morning.
The program, called Chesapeake Horizontes, had a Spanish-language twist, as the children all are enrolled in an English for Speakers of Other Languages summer camp at Tyler Heights Elementary School.
The museum’s staff and volunteers made adjustments to help the children overcome any language barriers.
The museum’s Amanda Elliott said she uses more direct language to make sure the kids understand. There’s also plenty of hands-on work and demonstrations.
“There’s more show than tell,” she said.
Most of the children speak English pretty well — though occasionally they switched into Spanish with the teachers and volunteers from the ESOL camp.
Chesapeake Horizontes — “Chesapeake Horizons” — is part of the museum’s effort to expand its educational programs.
“Many of these Hispanic students have never been on or near the Chesapeake Bay and don’t have a clear understanding of the bay’s physical proximity to their communities,” said Charlotte Rich, the museum’s director of education.
About half of Friday’s kids had never been on a boat before they took a cruise around Annapolis courtesy of Watermark Cruises, said Michelle Carbone, the ESOL program site director.
>> Caption: Annapolis Maritime Museum volunteer and Hillsmere resident Chris Elkington pulls up a crab pot while kids from the museums Chesapeake Horizontes program carefully watch. The program was held at the museum in Eastport on Friday morning.
The five-week ESOL program is based on learning language through science, so the day at the museum meshed with the camp’s mission.
“We want them to have more knowledge about the community where they live,” she said.
Seven-year-old Erika Aguilar’s favorite part was holding a crab, which felt “ticklish.”
Geovanny Gonzalez, a quiet 5-year-old, cradled a Tupperware container holding a tiny goby fish he named “Gill.”
The fish had spilled from a crate of oysters the kids examined on the dock. Geovanny liked the fish so much he wanted to keep it for a pet.
Erika and Geovanny were among the 90 kids who took part in Chesapeake Horizontes this summer.
<< Caption: Annapolis Maritime Museum volunteer Paula Abernethy teaches youngsters from the Chesapeake Horizontes program about aquatic life in the Chesapeake Bay on Friday morning.
Programs such as Chesapeake Horizontes have helped the museum increase its impact from 350 kids per year a few years ago to more than 2,300.
A preschool program and a program for private schools called Maritime Exploration have been among other additions.
Another program, Chesapeake Champions, works with kids after school from the five Title I schools in Annapolis. Title I is a designation given to schools with a large proportion of kids from low-income families.
This school year will feature a special year-long program about oysters for sixth-graders.
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What's Up? Annapolis March 2012
coverage of the 2012 Oyster Roast
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My Time: Volunteers prepare wooden boat for exhibit
Will be part of education program
at Annapolis Maritime Museum
Published Jan. 29, 2012
The Capital
More than a dozen volunteers belonging to the Wooden Boat Crew at the Annapolis Maritime Museum recently moved one of the museum's traditional wooden boats out of the water to become a shore-side exhibit.
The Lydia D is a 36-foot-long skipjack designed by Bruce H. Gallup Jr., of Towson, and built in 1981 by Gallup and his son, Stephen. Bruce Gallup donated the boat to the museum in 2005. L.R. Wilson & Sons of Gambrills donated the use of the crane for the move, which took place Jan. 14. Garman Brothers of Crownsville donated lumber for the new cradle.
"Thirty years is a good, long life for a wooden boat as well built as the Lydia D," said Bob Cowan, who has led the Wooden Boat Crew for the past two years. "Bringing her up 'on the hard' will let us preserve her and incorporate her into our education programs so that thousands of students in and around Annapolis can get a hands-on experience with such a beautiful old wooden boat."
To learn about volunteer opportunities at the museum, call 410-295-0104 or visit www.amaritime.org.
Photos courtesy Bob Cowan
From Top:
1. Volunteers guide the skipjack Lydia D as she’s raised from the water at the Annapolis Maritime Museum
2. Volunteer Tom Cagle signals to the crane operator.
3. Jamie Foster, a rigger with L.R. Wilson & Sons of Gambrills, readies the cable for the crane.
4. From left, museum volunteers Ben Callanan, Art Tuers, Ed Callahan, Jerry Weinstein and Tom Cagle. On the crane, Jamie Foster and Kenny Barge, crane operators from L.R. Wilson & Sons of Gambrills. Then museum volunteers Bob Cowan, Dick Barnard, Ralph Kenat (kneeling), Bob Mumper, Al Zuech and Ken Kaiser.
Around Annapolis: New life for old workboat
By DIANE M. REY, For The Capital
Capital Gazette Communications
Published 12/03/10
She was old and beat up. She didn't even have a name. But all of that has changed since the Annapolis Maritime Museum's wooden boat crew went to work restoring a Hoopers Island Draketail and setting her up as a new permanent outdoor exhibit.
Photo: The Annapolis Maritime Museum's wooden boat crew recently finished restoring the workboat the Peg Wallace, a circa 1925 Hoopers Island Draketail. Pictured from left are Peter Sawyer, Bob Cowan, Dick Barnard, Bob Mumper, Ralph Kenat, Ed Callahan and Mark Stanley.
Christened the Peg Wallace in tribute to the museum's late co-founder, the circa 1925 workboat is once again back at work. But instead of hauling her catch to market as she did in her heyday, she'll help transport museum visitors back in time to the days when Chesapeake Bay oysters were considered "white gold."
"These boats were never designed to last more than 10 or 20 years. The fact that she's here 90 years later is pretty miraculous," said museum director Jeff Holland, who considered it a privilege to captain the boat on her final voyage about four years ago.
"I came around Thomas Point Light - it was just an incredible experience," Jeff remembered.
Patched up and gleaming under a fresh coat of paint, the boat is landlocked now, but her bow is pointed toward the open waters of the bay at Captain Herbie Sadler Park, behind the historic McNasby's Oyster Company building that houses the museum on 2nd Street in Eastport.
Named after the small island in the lower half of the bay on Maryland's Eastern Shore, the boat is long and narrow with a bow that curves outward, resembling a duck's tail. At this time of year, watermen would have used her for hand-tonging oysters. In the summer, she'd be out before dawn, running a trotline for crabs.
Originally donated to the museum by Reid Bandy, much of her history, like the bay itself, is rather cloudy. When the wooden boat crew looked her over back in January, they could see right through her hull. The seven men who met every Saturday to bring the boat back to her former glory came from all over the area, but they share an appreciation for the bay's maritime heritage and enjoy working with their hands.
Despite a chill wind, they were in good humor as they gathered last month to put the finishing touches. They rigged up the unique steering system (a rope tied to the tiller allowed the waterman to steer from anywhere in the cockpit) and installed Plexiglas windows in the cabin. Then they posed for some photos.
"It's been a dedication of love, commitment and friendship," said crew member Dick Barnard, an Arnold resident who's built a dozen small models of classic Chesapeake Bay workboats.
"It's been rewarding to see a wonderful old boat preserved," added Bob Cowan, of Crofton, who also helped with the restoration.
The Peg Wallace exhibit joins Miss Lonesome, a deadrise workboat from the 1930s that children can climb aboard inside the museum. Captain Herbie Sadler's own crab skiff from the same era, Little HES, is on display in the boat shed.
The old boats are a tangible way for students and other visitors to connect with the history of the bay, said Peter Sawyer, a resident of Washington, D.C., who serves as the coordinator of the wooden boat crew.
Rounding out the crew are Ralph Kenat, Bob Mumper, Ed Callahan and Mark Stanley.
Next up, the crew will take on another of the museum's old workboats waiting in the wings, probably the Lydia D, a small skipjack. Those interested in helping out can contact volunteer coordinator Amanda Elliott at 410-295-0104 or vol@amaritime.org.
The museum is regularly open from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Admission is free. If you stop by, be sure to check out the A. Aubrey Bodine exhibit of Chesapeake Bay images from the renowned photojournalist's 50-year career. It runs through Jan. 30, 2011. For more information, visit the museum's web site at www.amaritime.org.
Museum event keeps oyster culture alive - The Capital, Feb. 1, 2009
2009 Oyster Roast - See story & slide show in The Capital
Read about us (below) in The Capital • Read about us in SpinSheetMaritime museum helps students
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For five years, the fledgling Eastport museum was practically homeless, after Tropical Storm Isabel pummeled its building, the old McNasby Oyster Co. plant. Museum staffers worked out of a trailer and offered programs in a small nearby building called the Barge House.
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"This is really her vision," Mr. Holland said, choking up at the thought of his friend.
The Rev. Callie Matthews, pastor of the nearby Mount Zion church, remembered Ms. Wallace with a moment of silence. She asked all assembled to remember Ms. Wallace's philosophy that, "We're like many colors of M&Ms in the bag, but inside, we're all the same."
In the Eastport neighborhood's usually quirky fashion, the party was going so strong that it was challenging for the guest speakers to get people to pay attention to the brief program of speeches.
The Rev. Matthews and the mayor tried using the trick of asking everyone to raise one hand in the air to get the crowd to quiet down. House Speaker Michael E. Busch decided to climb up on a chair to get everyone's attention.
"What a day," Ms. Moyer proclaimed to the crowd. "We've vanquished Isabel, haven't we?"
Indeed, it was a long road for the museum since Isabel. Five years of fundraising and government grants led to the $1.2 million renovation which has made the city-owned building more resistant to floods. But there's still more work to do: The museum's main permanent exhibit, on the history and ecological properties of oysters, won't be installed until 2010.
Until then, the museum will host rotating exhibits. Currently, the main exhibit room houses artifacts of Eastport history as chronicled in "Over the Bridge," a book by local author Ginger Doyel that was published by the museum.
Lifelong Eastport resident Art Tuer showed off a picture in the exhibit of his family that was taken when he and two of his brothers were home on military leave in 1953. Mr. Tuer helps the museum by "finding people nobody could find" and recording oral histories of the region.
The museum's gathering room hosts work by local artists as well as murals made by schoolchildren at Easport Elementary and Annapolis Elementary.
"They truly are artists inspired by the Chesapeake," said Rosemary Freitas Williams, who assembled the artwork.
The Annapolis Maritime Museum has not yet established regular hours, but visitors are welcomed during business hours on weekdays. For museum programs, visit www.amaritime.org.
Over the Bridge: A History of Eastport at Annapolis
The Annapolis Maritime Museum has published Over the Bridge: A History of Eastport at Annapolis, a 368-page hardback by Ginger Doyel. The book features 713 duotone photographs, including an eight-page double-sided gatefold. One side features a never-before-published panorama of the view across the harbor in 1897.
Ms. Doyel interviewed more than 600 individuals and collected nearly 2,000 photographs as she compiled Over the Bridge to tell the story of the places and events that have defined Eastport for over three centuries. She profiles many of its memorable personalities including the beloved waterman Cap'n Herbie Sadler, civic leader and businessman George Davis, and the midwife Annie Hanson Christensen.
Only 1,500 books were printed by the Whitmore Group of Annapolis. This short run has sold out, but we may print more if there is sufficient demand. If you are interested in a future print run, please call us at 410-295-0104.
A fleet of beautiful Chesapeake 20s -- the oldest one-design racing fleet on the Bay -- made its way to the Museum for a celebration of the class, of traditional boat building, and of recreational sailing on the Bay. Many of the boats are family heirlooms, and go back as far as 1935, the year Mermaid was built.
The boats were towed to the Museum docks (most came from the West River area) and the celebration began with an all star race on Friday, June 27. The race featured some of the best Bay racers against one another in the classic boats.
Paddling Through History
Local archaeologists and historians Jane Cox and Jessie Grow led enthusiastic kayakers (and a canoe!) on July 10 and 11 for AMM's new exclusive “Paddle Through History,” a two-hour guided kayak tour along the shores of Back Creek and Spa Creek. Read more
Past president Ron Bieberich (left) and current president Bill Davis (right) present the Annapolis Rotary Club’s “Service Above Self” award to AMM Board member Dick Franyo for his generous support of the Museum, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and other area non-profits. In May, Dick was also honored as the “Outstanding Fundraiser of the Year” by the Maryland Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Chesapeake Outdoor Group president Ron Katz presented AMM director Jeff Holland with a check for $2,500, proceeds from last year’s 12-Ounce Regatta. This year’s event will be held at the Pavilion at Port Annapolis Marina on Saturday, August 16. See the web site chesapeakeoutdoor.org to learn how to participate by building your own model racing sailboat from a six-pack and a bucket of odd bits, plus other events and programs in keeping with the organization’s philosophy of combining “fun and philanthropy.”
AMM Director Jeff Holland (left), Board Chairman Buck Buchanan, and author Ginger Doyel with the cover of her upcoming book, Over the Bridge: A History of Eastport at Annapolis, at a June 26 reception to honor the author and thank the book's sponsors and collaborators. The book, published by the Museum, will be back from the printers and ready for sale in the fall. It is a treasure trove of stories and photographs of this unique, Annapolis maritime neighborhood. Photo by Joe Evans.
Annapolis Maritime Museum | 723 Second Street | PO Box 3088 | Annapolis, MD 21403
410 295-0104
office@amaritime.org