Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

It's hard not to love the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md. It has an intact 1879 "screwpile" lighthouse that can transport you into the life of a lonely lighthouse-keeper in the middle of Hooper Strait on the bay (no indoor plumbing and the wife and children were only allowed to visit two weeks a year). It has an eye-catching fleet of 85 traditional Chesapeake Bay craft ranging from an 1889 log-bottom "bugeye" to a duck-hunting "sneak box." You can learn how to bait a crab trap and "nipper" for oysters. But even if absolutely nothing about the Chesapeake Bay and its history interests you, there is this: The museum sprawls across 18 beautiful acres smack in the middle of the harbor of one of the Eastern Shore's prettiest towns (with an excellent crab restaurant right next door). And you can bring the dog.
Opened in 1965, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum has become one of the premier maritime museums on the East Coast. Well-presented exhibits, many of them interactive, bring aspects of the Chesapeake Bay's unique history and economy to life: crabbing and oystering, boat-building and boat design, the impact of steam engines and mechanical power on bay life, and the arts and sports associated with the Chesapeake's enormous migratory waterfowl populations. Just as important, this is a museum that knows how to have fun. Special events staged during the May to November high season include art shows, family concerts, and oyster, crab and boat festivals (the organized overnights in the Hooper Strait lighthouse, complete with a surprise visit from the lighthouse inspector, are a favorite with children).
The museum offers a variety of tours: a self-guided tour follows a written "walking guide" -- docents are stationed at each exhibit to answer questions; an audio tour with headphones costs $1 and lasts about 90 minutes; free guided tours last about the same length and are offered at least once a day, usually twice during summer months (times change according to season and demand).
The museum is an hour-and-a-half drive from Washington if traffic is light (during the summer beware of Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon Chesapeake Bay Bridge beach traffic), so it is best to make at least a day of it. If you opt for an Eastern Shore weekend, inns and Bed & Breakfasts are plentiful in St. Michaels.
-- Tim Zimmermann