+ By Christine Fillat + Photos by Karen Davies
At the end of a quiet street, where the road surrenders to the water, sits a modest white building framed by a scattering of oyster shells that crunch underfoot. Masquerading as an oyster company, Annapolis Maritime Museum and Park may seem unassuming at first glance, but its weathered charm holds the stories of a working waterfront and the tides that shaped a community.
Annapolis Maritime Museum and Park (AMMP) is devoted to developing a love of stewarding the Chesapeake Bay and its ecosystem through summer camps, after-school programs, and community involvement. It presently operates in two locations: the museum building, along with a pier and small beach, at the end of Second Street in Eastport, and its educational facility at the Ellen O. Moyer Nature Park, just a short kayak paddle from the museum up and across Back Creek.
Alice Estrada, president/CEO of AMMP, which in 2000 evolved from the Eastport Historical Society, talks about how the organization has accomplished so much over the past 25 years. “Education is the cornerstone of what we do,” she explains. “First and foremost, we’re a museum. Museums are educators. This is how we got started.”
Moving through the museum, Estrada indicates interactive exhibits that describe the working waterfront, including about various businesses, the types of boats, and oral histories of the people who lived and worked in Eastport. A narrative about the Bay focuses on the fragility of the Chesapeake Bay and its ecosystem. “We tell a lot of our stories and our teachings through the prism of an oyster,” says Estrada. “Even our education programs are all centered around an oyster. [We teach] about the importance of an oyster. It is the unsung hero of the Bay because it filters the Bay.”
The Ellen O. Moyer Nature Park, (the P in AMMP) sits on a 12-acre waterfront site. At one time, the site housed a city waterworks building that was built in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration. It was an ideal location for AMMP’s education programs. In 2016, AMMP acquired a long-term lease for the park from the city of Annapolis.
Leasing the park allowed AMMP to expand its education programs and provide an opportunity to offer more community benefits. It installed a dinghy dock for a small craft boat launch. A graceful pavilion, built last year, serves as an outdoor classroom and can be used for public and private events. There is also a rustic amphitheater. The restored waterworks buildings are now classrooms and education offices.
A 400-foot, completely accessible boardwalk, recently built, meanders along the water’s edge, through verdant woods, to a deepwater floating dock. Tied to the dock is the Wilma Lee, an authentic skipjack, a sailboat that was traditionally used for oyster harvesting and the state boat of Maryland. It is one of 20 to 24 skipjacks remaining on the Bay. Since AMMP acquired it in 2018, Wilma Lee has been serving some 5,000 passengers annually and is used for educational programming and pleasure cruises. On the Wilma Lee, children and adults have hands-on experience sailing the skipjack on the Bay.
How appropriate then, that the AMMP museum is housed in the old McNasby Oyster Company building. It was the last operational oyster packing plant in Annapolis. Established in the late 1880s, McNasby was instrumental in satisfying the nation’s hunger for fresh Chesapeake Bay oysters. As the years went by and the oyster population in the Bay dramatically decreased, the profitability of an oyster packing house dwindled. Seafood processing continued on the site under various ownerships until the late 1980s, when the city of Annapolis declared Eastport a Maritime Zoning District. It bought the McNasby building, thus preserving the site.
AMMP started leasing the old McNasby building from the city in 2000. In 2003, Hurricane Isabel devastated the site with a seven-foot flood surge. The building had to be completely renovated, with new exhibits.
On any given day, people are out by the museum or in the park, walking their dogs or taking in the air along the waterfront. “We basically operate two public parks, at no cost to the Annapolis taxpayer, because we take care of the properties,” says Estrada. “People enjoy it. There are fishermen on our piers all summer long, people launch their kayaks. We do pride ourselves on being publicly accessible. . . . [T]hat’s such a big conversation in Annapolis right now, about the lack of access. We are able to do that.”
In the summer at the museum, AMMP offers a free weekly outdoor concert series, Tides and Tunes. “Between 600 and 1,200 people come out,” says Estrada, “and it’s just joyful. It’s all ages, and it’s really kind of magical to see. . . . [W]e’re connecting them to the water, we’re connecting them to our community.” At the park, AMMP holds a fall concert series, September Sunsets. This past fall, AMMP hosted Art Between the Creeks, a public art exhibition featuring local artists at the museum. It also presents a winter lecture series there.
In 2018, AMMP acquired the Box of Rain. Named for a Grateful Dead song, this initiative serves children (mainly from public housing) year round with activities that include summer camp and field trips. A wintertime build-a-boat program has adults working with youth, building wooden boats from Chesapeake Light Crafts that eventually sell at auction. This program is invaluable in giving underserved youngsters a place to go for memorable learning opportunities. Many Box of Rain participants go on to be AMMP counselors.
Currently in the works is a maritime-themed nature preschool, with a pilot program launching this year. Students will spend basically about 75 percent of their time outdoors, year round. The program will be limited to 12 to 14 children. “There are so many dividends to this,” says Estrada. “In terms of emotional and cognitive and physical development, it’s off the charts, which is why [these types of programs are] becoming popular.”
AMMP’s archives and collections work, preserving both photographs and voices of Annapolis maritime history, are also important efforts. The collections started with a bequest on which the organization is building. The archives, which contain stunning photographs and rare interviews, are available to the public.
AMMP recently acquired the Weems and Plath building, a 10,000-square-foot structure in Eastport, and it intends to further expand education programs into this new space, adding some exhibits. The venue is on higher ground, away from the tide line.
Funded by diverse revenue streams such as member donations, special events, programs, and grants, AAMP has a devoted board of directors, an 18-member staff, and an education team of 5. Volunteer opportunities include museum docents, boat crew, wooden boat team, and gardening helpers. AMMP is more than just a museum. It is a maritime society devoted to sharing the joy of waterfront life.
