On Tuesday, July 4^th, St Michaels Museum will once again sponsor its traditional Independence Day Celebration at the Museum on the corner of East Chestnut Street and St. Mary’s Square. Events will start at 10 AM with a Children’s Parade. Children and parents should arrive at 9:30 AM. We encourage festively dressed participants with decorated bicycles, tricycles, wagons, and pets. Uncle Sam will lead the parade followed by the St. Michaels Fire Dept’s Antique Fire Engine, Maggie. The emphasis is having a good time and showing off for your parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends.

The parade starts at St. Michaels Museum, 201 E. Chestnut Street. The route is East Chestnut west to Talbot St., Talbot north to Willow (just past Christ Church), Willow to Church, Church to Mulberry, Mulberry to St Mary’s Square and back to St. Michaels Museum. There will be no floats or vehicles other than the fire department’s antique fire truck ‘Maggie’ leading the parade. It is a special event only for children. The Phillips Wharf Fish Mobile will be available to entertain and educate children. Food and Refreshments will be available from the St. Michaels Fire Department.

At 11AM the Traditional Program will begin with Boy Scout Troup 741 raising the flag and leading a Pledge of Allegiance in front of the Museum. A formal program will follow on the Teetotum front porch with a benediction, patriotic songs, and our featured speaker CBMM Curator Pete Lesher. The Royal Oaks Musicians will provide music. Following the program, magician John Dodge will perform for everyone. St Michaels Museum will be open with free admission. St. Michaels Museum, 201 E. Chestnut Street, St. Michaels, Maryland 21663, 410-745-6591. www.stmichaelsmuseum.org

All are welcome to attend the annual meeting of St. Michaels Museum at St. Mary’s Square on Sunday, April 23, from 1 to 2:30 in the St. Michaels Library Meeting Room at 106 Fremont Street in St. Michaels.

The meeting will focus on the work the Museum is doing to preserve a rare and remarkable St. Michaels home built by three free African American brothers in the mid-19th century, the Chaney House. When completed, it will provide a window into the lives of the people who called it home 170 years ago.

The presentation is entitled Unpacking & Preserving the Chaney House (1851): Freedmen’s Housing and Architecture in a Shipbuilding Town.

Our speakers will be two experts in historic preservations, Robert Forloney and Michael Olmert.

Forloney has a 25-year career in the museum field. He is a professor in Goucher College’s Cultural Sustainability program as well as the museum studies programs at Johns Hopkins and the University of Delaware.

Olmert is a professor in the English Department of the Univ. of Maryland, College Park. He wrote The Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg and Kitchens, Outhouses, & Privies (Cornell Press). His TV writing has given him three Primetime Emmys and admission to the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame.

The talk will cover where the Chaney house fits into the social and architectural history of the late 18th and 19th centuries and where the structure is now headed as a textbook on the history of enslavement, vernacular architecture, the principles of Georgian and Federal architecture, the nature of enslaved life and post-enslaved life as well as the architectural responsibilities of preserving the past without confusing or totally missing what it’s trying to tell us.

For additional details, please go to the Museum’s website at:

https://www.stmichaelsmuseum.org/news/st-michaels-museum-closed-until-may-1-2023-special-tours-still-available

On Monday, July 4^th, 2022, St Michaels Museum will once again sponsor its traditional Independence Day Celebration at the Museum on the corner of East Chestnut Street and St. Mary’s Square.

Events will start at 10 AM with the Children’s Parade. Children and parents should arrive at 9:30 AM. We encourage festively dressed participants with decorated bicycles, tricycles, wagons, and pets. Uncle Sam will lead the parade followed by the St. Michaels Fire Department’s antique Fire Engine, Maggie. The emphasis is on having a good time and showing off for parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends.

The parade starts at the corner of St. Mary’s Square and Chestnut Street. The route goes on Talbot Street and turns right onto Talbot St. turns right onto Willow St. (just past Christ Church), turns right onto Church Street, then left onto to Mulberry St. and then takes a right onto to St Mary’s Square, the parade ends at St. Michaels Museum. There will be no floats or vehicles other than the fire department’s antique fire truck ‘Maggie’ and Boy Scouts will lead the parade. This is always a special event for children only.

At 11AM the Traditional Program will begin with Boy Scout Troup 741 raising the flag and leading a Pledge of Allegiance in front of the Museum. A formal program will follow on the Teetotum Porch with a Benediction, patriotic and folk songs by the Royal Oak Musicians. The featured speaker is CBMM Curator Pete Lesher, whose topic is ‘A New Birth of Freedom.’ Following the program, the magician John Dodge will perform for everyone.

St. Michaels Museum will be open with free admission. Refreshments will be available from the St. Michaels Fire Department and the Boy Scouts. St. Michaels Museum at St. Mary’s Square, 201 East Chestnut Street, St. Michaels, Maryland 21663. Visit our website at www.stmichaelsmuseum.org to learn more about Where History Comes Alive.

St Michaels Museum will re-open with a new look, new addition, and expanded exhibits on Saturday May 29th for the 2021 season. The addition allows us to present an expanded history of St. Michaels with more room for visitors to explore our history.

The new exhibits include a diorama of St. Michaels in 1813 and an exhibit on the 1813 Battle of St. Michaels. The exhibit tells the story of the Patriotic Blues militia and Brig. General Benson, leader of all militias during the August 10^th Battle and the August 26th British attempt to invade St. Michaels.

The museum offers the history of St. Mary’s Square, the heart of St. Michaels created by Englishman James Braddock in 1778, as well as the life of Frederick Douglass in St. Michaels from his attempted escape from slavery in 1833 to his triumphal return in 1877.

The 2021 season runs from June through October, the Museum is open on Fridays from 1 to 4, Saturdays from 10 to 4 and Sundays from 1 to 4. Admission for adults is $4, children 10-17 $1, for children under 10 there is no charge.  If you are a member of the museum there is no charge for you and your guests.

The popular Docent led Walking Tours of St. Michaels will begin on Saturday May 29th beginning at 10. Fees are $15 adults, $5 youth (10 – 17), for children under 10 there is no charge. Details of the tours are available on the website at www.stmichaelsmuseum.org. To register for Saturday tours or for private tours, contact Kate Fones @ 410 745-4323, [email protected] or Scott Hercik at 703 713-2100, [email protected].

New in 2021, the St. Michaels Museum introduces its Historical Harbor Cruise, offering an intimate waterside view of the community’s storied maritime history.  This new program will launch over Memorial Day weekend and feature daily hour-long journeys along St. Michaels’ scenic waterfront, while telling the rich story of its shipbuilding and oystering, crabbing, and fishing legacy, as well as reliving the famous Battle of St. Michaels during the War of 1812.  The cruise also offers a picture-perfect view of the many beautiful homes and cottages that adorn the area’s shoreline. The Cruise is priced at $30.00 per person, with discounted children’s pricing available for passengers 12 and under are $15.00 and kids 2 and under are free.  Hours of service extend from 9:00am until 4:00pm daily and from 9:00am until 2:00pm on holiday weekends. Cruises launch from the Harbor Shuttle Pier, at the foot of Mulberry St. in St. Michaels.  Advanced reservations are required by calling (410) 819-9606 to indicate the date, time, and number of members in your group.

In addition to the Harbor Cruise the Museum’s popular Docent led tours are also available. “Frederick Douglass in St. Michaels, 1833-36 & 1877” will take place on the 1^st& 3^rd Saturday of each month from June to October 2021. This 90-minute half mile walking tour gives a view of the early life of St. Michaels’ most famous 19th century resident and most important African American Abolitionist.

The “Historic St. Michaels: its People, Places and Happenings” tour takes place on the 2^nd and 4^th Saturdays of each month from June to October 2021. This 90-minute half mile walking tour highlights St. Michaels from the 18th to 20th Centuries. Hear Details about the town’s historic buildings, interesting characters, and events.

While the museum is currently closed and our Annual 4^th of July Celebration and parade for 2020 has been cancelled. We are working on possible future activities in the fall. We have been busy with several important projects even during the Covid-19 crisis.

The first is our newest building project: A 425 square foot addition to the Teetotum building for museum office space, a research library, storage of past exhibits, curatorial space for research and developing new exhibits and possible small temporary public exhibits. The addition has 400 square feet of open space, 25 square feet of storage as well as attic storage. In addition, there is a handicap bathroom that is accessed from the connector room between the Teetotum and Sewell House. The construction should be completed in early July. The second project, now completed, is a new shake roof to replace the failing one on the Teetotum Building.

The move of our office space from the third building on our grounds, the Chaney house, allows us to develop a Living History of the three Free African American Chaney Brothers that built the Chaney House in 1851 during the period of slavery in St Michaels. We hope to have this Living Exhibit open for Spring 2021 for visitors.

Our board and curatorial committee are working on developing video tours of the new office space, current exhibits, and possible outdoor exhibits to be done on weekends. Additionally, we are considering doing Historic and Frederick Douglass walking tours in the fall that are limited in size and arranged by reservations. If you come to our grounds you will also find at both our signs, boxes that have copies of our self-guided Historic Walking tours of St. Michaels. To see our latest plans, exhibits and activities visit our website www.stmichaelsmuseum.org. St Michaels Museum, PO Box 714, 201 E. Chestnut Street, St. Michaels, MD 21663.

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