Embrace the history, environment, and culture of the region while enjoying waterfront views and authentic experiences.
Your Chesapeake adventure begins here.
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What We Offer
Explore the Chesapeake Bay through hands-on learning, world-class exhibitions, and on-the-water experiences. Watch the restoration of the Bay’s historic vessels in our Working Shipyard. Participate in programs that shine a light on the Bay’s maritime history and culture. You can do it all at your Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum!
Buy a Boat from CBMM
The Charity Boat Donation Program makes the process of buying a boat simple and straightforward.
Get Involved
Your Membership dues and Annual Fund donations directly support CBMM’s efforts to be a vital community partner and to provide meaningful and accessible experiences to all.
CBMM’s collection contains more than 80,000 objects dedicated to the history of the region
CBMM serves more than 5,000 Maryland public school students, teachers, and chaperones.
Between 70–80% of CBMM’s yearly expenditures go toward our goal of offering the community world-class programming.
CBMM employees are involved with more than 100 community organizations through public service or volunteering.
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Make the Chesapeake part of your story. Limited dates for 2026 are available.
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What was life like for Frederick Douglass as an enslaved person in Talbot County?
In this behind-the-scenes look, Jen Dolde shares how we’re creating experiential elements for Bear Me Into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass.
Opening Friday, Feb. 27, Bear Me Into Freedom is built around the powerful landscape images and research from Jeff McGuiness’ book of the same name, connecting Douglass’ story to places that still surround us today. The exhibition brings Douglass` early life into clearer focus through a series of objects and interactives, including a haul seine net and net-making activity that represents his grandmother’s work and the landscape of Tuckahoe Creek.
CBMM members enjoy insider access to our campus and collection, including an opening event on Friday, March 6.
Learn more and plan your visit: Link in Bio!
#CBMM #FrederickDouglass #BearMeIntoFreedom #TalbotCounty #ChesapeakeHistory #MyChesapeakeStory
Coming on Monday, Feb. 23, at 5:30pm, “Women at the Helm: Navigating Fear and Risk in the Storm” offers a celebratory send-off for the Her Helm special exhibition, which closes at the end of February.
Folklorist Amy Skillman will share highlights from her oral history project documenting women at the helm, including Bay captains, with a focus on storm stories. Join us in the Van Lennep Auditorium or virtually for this Speaker Event!
🎟 Link in Bio!
Sponsored by the Upper Shore Regional Folklife Center
#WomenAtTheHelm #ChesapeakeBay #MaritimeHistory
#Storytelling #MyCjesapeakeStory #CBMM #StMichaelsMD
Join guest instructor Tom Price on Feb. 21–22 for a hands-on Shipyard class exploring boat design through sketching. Learn how naval architects shape vessels, sketch boats from our collection, and see boats in a whole new way—no drawing experience needed.
Registration: Link in Bio!
🖊️ All materials provided | 🧥 Dress warmly
#BoatDesign #MaritimeArt #DrawingBoats #CBMM #ShipyardLife #ChesapeakeBay #StMichaelsMD
Some things about life on the Bay never change. ❄️
A hard freeze still brings people together—for skating, ice boating, or simply stopping to soak in a rare scene. Taken more than a century apart, these photos remind us just how special this moment is.
📸 Top: Frozen Chesapeake, 1910s
📸 Bottom: Claiborne Cove, February 2026
#FrozenChesapeake #ChesapeakeBay #ThenAndNow #MyChesapeakeStory #WinterOnTheBay #EasternShore #StMichaelsmd
