Located in CBMM’s Welcome Center, Stories from the Shoreline is now open. Plan your visit to experience this new storytelling!
Dive into the heart of the Chesapeake in Stories from the Shoreline, a new long-term exhibition at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Stories illuminates the perspectives of people and communities about their connection to the unique Chesapeake Bay landscape, a place where water and land intertwine.
Drawing from oral histories, manuscripts, and memoirs, the exhibition’s firsthand accounts provide a richer understanding of pastimes and passions like shoreline fishing, waterfowling, muskrat trapping, riverside baptisms, plein air painting, market gunning, eco-tourism, waterfront clubs and gambling, and community conservation. Compelling documentary and historic photographs exhibited along with everyday tools, fine art, and folklife artifacts—including CBMM’s world-class decoy collection—contribute to the rich tapestry of the Chesapeake story through an immersive journey.
Stories from the Shoreline connects past and present to create a human-centered portrait of life along the Bay, highlighting how Chesapeake communities on both shores adapt, preserve traditions, and engage with their environment.
The Chesapeake’s rich waterfowling culture is a major theme. The exhibition showcases CBMM’s world-class decoy collection while sharing the stories of hunters, craftspeople, and guides, tracing recreational hunting, decoy carving, market gunning, and the evolution of firearms.
Personal narratives are at the heart of the exhibition. Guests will meet waterfowler Gus Plutschak and learn why he refused to sell his prized hunting dog despite a lucrative offer from a visitor to his Easton, Md., barbershop, as well as celebrated decoy maker Robert D. Lambdin, who started as a log canoe and small boat builder in St. Michaels, Md., before branching into decoys and sinkboxes to fit the needs of his customers. The exhibition also traces the decoy making process with the help of images featuring the famed Ward Brothers of Crisfield, Md., at work.
More broadly, Stories from the Shoreline examines Chesapeake history along both shores, bringing together familiar and lesser-known stories to weave a rich tapestry of Bay life. The exhibition highlights Indigenous fishing and trapping traditions, terrapin farming, riverside baptisms, waterfront nightclubs, shoreline gambling, beachcombing, and more snapshots from the water’s edge.
Stories from the Shoreline shares stories that have often been left out of traditional Chesapeake narratives, such as Sambo Anderson’s experience waterfowling as an enslaved person and the cultural legacy of Black chefs in Baltimore who promoted terrapin cuisine. Present-day voices, like Baltimore-based historian and explorer Evan Woodard and the conservationists of the Elizabeth River Project, demonstrate how new generations continue to reinterpret and protect the shoreline.
Stories from the Shoreline is made possible thanks to philanthropic leadership from Maxine & Bill Millar, Judy & Henry Stansbury, and The Vitale Foundation, along with generous support from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority and CBMM’s Regional Folklife Center under the Maryland Traditions program of the Maryland State Arts Council.
