On Maryland’s Eastern Shore, a group of dedicated people are working to preserve and tell the history of one small town that’s been around more than three centuries — and its relationship to one of the most important bodies of water in America. St. Michaels was founded in 1670 — and folks have been building boats — and harvesting seafood from the Chesapeake Bay ever since. Even today, St Michaels is known for its crab and oysters.

But it’s also a center of education with the development of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. And one of the most fascinating stories is harvesting the oysters from the bay. By law — crews must be under sail much of the time during harvesting. So you can still see some of the historic skipjack sailboats built here just for pulling oysters from the bay. While that helps preserve the species — it also preserves the colorful history of the old sailing ships — and the crews that keep them going.

One of the great ones — Daddy Art Daniels, died in 2018. But his spirt lives on in the work of Captain Ed Farley — who owns the Skipjack H.M. Krentz. You will find him on the bay from November through March. Come summer, he does charter trips — and has taken tens out thousands of school kids out to learn the old history. Ed first came here in the early 1970’s. As he puts it, he left New England, and just sailed south. He stumbled on the bay — and Daddy Art Daniels — and after just a half an hour at sea, “had found home.”  This has been his home ever since and the sailor and boat builder is also a teacher — telling a new generation about our past.

Historic Photographs courtesy: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum