Rosie Parks Restoration

Teaching young minds about old ways
Built by the legendary boat builder Bronza Parks, the skipjack Rosie Parks is an essential part of the Museum’s floating fleet, and carries with her a distinguished racing record both as a workboat and under Museum ownership.

Rosie has been an integral part of our outreach to local schools—students climb on board and learn how teamwork is required to raise a sail and about the people who worked dredging for oysters on the Bay. As the Museum’s skipjack, Rosie Parks also serves as a goodwill ambassador and participant in skipjack races and cultural festivals throughout the Chesapeake.

Skipjacks were built as an inexpensive but effective boat to dredge for oysters, not as a historic vessel to be preserved for posterity. Our shipwrights therefore face considerable challenges in returning Rosie to her former glory.

All the restoration work for Rosie Parks is being undertaken by the Museum’s Shipwright Apprentices as part of their hands-on experience in our Boat Yard.

LOA: 51’
Beam: 16’7”

1. "At Play on the Bay" Exhibit
2. Historic Vessel Program Endowment & Skipjack Restoration Project
3. Marine Railway Upgrade
4. Information Technology
5. Old Point Restoration
6. Curatorial Acquisitions
7. Rosie Parks Restoration
8. Boat Shop Renovation
9. Chesapeake Encounters
10. Steamboat Building Expansion

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