Maritime Museum

When the city of Havre de Grace got a $425,000 grant from the state last year to build the waterside Maritime Museum and install an elevator in its Decoy Museum for handicapped access, boosters of the town's proud tourism heritage were ecstatic.Barely noticed among the details of the legislation was the clear requirement that the locals come up with money to match the state grant. Well, yes, the important stipulation was noticed but everyone seemed to assume that the donations would begin pouring in as the just deserts of this worthy project.

A businessman and competitive sailor, Frank Savage has benefited from following seas and been battered on rocky shoals. Born in North Carolina and raised by a single mother in segregated Washington, Savage rose to prominence in the world of international banking and investment at Citibank and Alliance Capital Management, a subsidiary of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. that managed more than $450 billion in assets. He served on prestigious boards, was a trustee at both Howard University and the Johns Hopkins University, and jetted around the world, making deals and money.

Love crabs? The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels has got just your thing this weekend. The museum presents its annual "Crab Days" celebration, a two-day festival filled with crab delicacies, crab races, crab-catching demonstrations and more, for all crab-craving types. For the crab-eaters: Indulge in crab cakes, soft-shell crabs, steamed crabs, crab soup and lots more. For the crab-curious: Watch local watermen display their crab-netting skills and make crab pots. For the crab-challenged: Learn to pick crab meat and get tips from local crab pickers.

On the job a little more than a week, Alicia Estrada hasn't settled into her new digs at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. But she has begun evaluating its programs as she looks to the future of the former oyster plant. "I'm just trying to get my head around everything," said Estrada, the museum's new executive director. She'll get the official schoolchildren's tour of the waterfront museum in coming days, she said. The museum tells the story of the Chesapeake Bay through exhibits, lectures and entertainment — and, in the process, teaches about the maritime heritage of the Annapolis area.

The Havre de Grace City Council voted to give $10,000 to the city's museum fund. This was the first step in raising $1 million to build a new maritime museum and adding an elevator to the Decoy Museum, making it accessible to the handicapped. Havre de Grace wants to attract more tourists. The Baltimore Sun, March 12, 1995

One of the city's best-kept secrets occupies prime real estate with gorgeous waterfront views. The Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park, a heritage site and museum in Fells Point, explores the early history of the African-American community here and Baltimore's 19th-century maritime industry. The museum also makes gallery space available for a variety of exhibits. The current show of paintings by Baltimore artist Jim Condron provides an extra reason to check out the dynamic place.

One of the city's best-kept secrets occupies prime real estate with gorgeous waterfront views. The Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park, a heritage site and museum in Fells Point, explores the early history of the African-American community here and Baltimore's 19th-century maritime industry. The museum also makes gallery space available for a variety of exhibits. The current show of paintings by Baltimore artist Jim Condron provides an extra reason to check out the dynamic place.

The first and only time the schooner Sultana came to Havre de Grace, the visit hit a snag. Actually, it was the boat that hit the snag, in the form of a shallow spot near the shore. The reproduction of a vessel that sailed the Chesapeake Bay in the 1700s was stuck. Most of the water in the area is 15 feet deep, but the boat apparently hit a 6-foot-deep spot. "We were having a really nice sail," said Chris Cerino, vice president of the nonprofit organization that owns the boat. "We just sort of came to a grinding halt, and our captain at the time tried to power us off there for about a half-hour."

The oyster plant that once employed thousands in the waterfront community of Eastport, and then briefly housed a museum, is now a ghost of a place. Seven thousand square feet of concrete floor are barren, still dank from the previous evening's high tide. Stripped cinder- block walls bear scars from the pounding delivered in 2003 by Tropical Storm Isabel. "When you go through a disaster like that, you're in a state of shock," said Jeff Holland, executive director of the Annapolis Maritime Museum.

Tropical Storm Isabel might turn out to be the best thing that ever hit the Annapolis Maritime Museum. "At the time, it had been downgraded to a tropical storm, but I was there and I called it a hurricane," said Jeff Holland, director of the museum. "Somebody reported seeing waves crashing over the [McNasby Oyster Co.] building. The museum dock ended up on the other side of the building." Isabel left gaping holes in the McNasby building, displaced the on-site watermen's boats and flooded the museum's Barge House with about 4 feet of standing water.

Jeff Holland, executive director of the Annapolis Maritime Museum, said Friday that he is leaving to re-start his public relations and consulting business. "I have made my dreams for the museum come true," he said in an email. Among the museum's signature features are core exhibit, Oysters on the Half Shell, and concerts, educational programs and art exhibits. Holland started as a volunteer with the waterfront museum in 1996, took it on as public relations client and became its executive director in 2005.

She lived on the Eastern Shore for 30 years and generally loved the place, but one thing Janie Meneely, an Annapolis-born folk musician, never quite got used to was that it rarely snowed on Christmas. She responded as any holiday-loving singer-songwriter might, by penning a poem (which she later turned into a song). In "Santa and the Skipjack," St. Nick gets his sleigh stuck in the mud, then borrows one of the traditional dredging boats to finish his rounds. "Everybody's entitled to some [seasonal]

Christine O'Neill is petrified by sharks. But when she came across a school of them recently, hungry for food, she knew what she had to do. "Facing My Fears I and II" are two paintings that O'Neill created to capture her encounter with the sharks. They're on display through Aug. 21 at the Annapolis Maritime Museum as part of an exhibit of paintings and illustrations by her and her husband, Dave O'Neill, two longtime Anne Arundel County residents-turned-sailors whose art celebrates life at sea. "I … am totally afraid of sharks," Christine says in a narrative that accompanies her shark paintings.

One of the city's best-kept secrets occupies prime real estate with gorgeous waterfront views. The Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park, a heritage site and museum in Fells Point, explores the early history of the African-American community here and Baltimore's 19th-century maritime industry. The museum also makes gallery space available for a variety of exhibits. The current show of paintings by Baltimore artist Jim Condron provides an extra reason to check out the dynamic place.

One of the city's best-kept secrets occupies prime real estate with gorgeous waterfront views. The Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park, a heritage site and museum in Fells Point, explores the early history of the African-American community here and Baltimore's 19th-century maritime industry. The museum also makes gallery space available for a variety of exhibits. The current show of paintings by Baltimore artist Jim Condron provides an extra reason to check out the dynamic place.

A seminar planned for Thursday at the Annapolis Maritime Museum has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. April 8. The program will feature maritime artist Patrick O'Brien discussing his work. He will bring some of his paintings. Information: amaritime.org.

MARK CUNNINGHAM has always been fascinated by his grandfather's tales of flying fighter planes during World War II.The 11-year-old Friendship Valley Elementary student has checked out loads of library books about historic battles, aircraft carriers, fighters, bombers and torpedo planes.Last February, he helped his mother, Beth Trescott, sift through letters his grandfather sent home when he was a young, proud pilot.Stamped on the outside of each envelope were anchors, military emblems, the names of different carriers and the word FREE, indicating free postage.

Miss Lonesome was preparing to return to her home county and begin a new life of crab harvesting and oyster tonging as part of a working exhibit at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. But thanks to Tropical Storm Isabel, the restored deadrise workboat - built in Shady Side in the 1930s - was thrown off its cinder block pilings and dashed to the ground. It will probably spend the rest of its days as part of a land exhibit. The boat was only part of the loss at the historic McNasby Oyster Co. building, which houses the maritime museum at the foot of Second Street.

HAR-CO names Lisa Taylor HR manager HAR-CO Maryland Federal Credit Union has named Lisa Taylor its human resources manager/compliance officer. She has more than 10 years experience in human resources in the service industry. Her responsibilities will include staff recruitment and training, benefits administration, policy development, compliance and employee relations. She will work out of HAR-CO's Bel Air headquarters. Maritime Museum The Havre de Grace Maritime Museum's What Knots gift shop offers a variety of items for the holidays and special occasions year-round.

Maritime museum celebrates renovation The Annapolis Maritime Museum will celebrate the renovation of the historic McNasby Oyster Co. building with a grand reopening ceremony from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 1 at 723 Second St., Annapolis. The $1.2 million project was funded by the state, the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority and the City of Annapolis, along with corporate and private donations, plus fundraisers. The 7,000-square-foot building features an assembly hall, caterer's kitchen and a large exhibition gallery.