The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md. begins its “Exploring Chesapeake Stories” Winter Speaker Series on Wednesday, February 8, with the series continuing on select Wednesdays through March 22.
Whether true-to-life or fictional, recounted from memory or put to music, captured in prose or photos, contemporary Chesapeake stories explore the creative, surprising, and compelling relationships between the Bay and the people who live and work in waterfront communities. In this four-part series, writers, photographers, musicians and historians will explore how the Chesapeake Bay’s environment, culture, history and people inspire their work. All sessions take place in CBMM’s Van Lennep Auditorium, with advanced registration needed, as seating is limited.
Join the renowned team of writer Tom Horton and photographer Dave Harp as they explore the stories, places, and people from their latest work, Choptank Odyssey on Wednesday, February 8, at 2:00 p.m. Tales of sacrifice and wonder are told in Choptank Odyssey through the eyes of watermen and farmers, oystermen and oyster shuckers, crabbers and crab pickers, and commercial fishermen and scientists, as they discuss the legacy of the river they love and its future as it faces great change. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.
At 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, musicians and storytellers Tom McHugh and Tom Anthony will present an afternoon of Chesapeake stories set to song in “Songs, Stories and Lore of the Bay.” McHugh, former executive director of the Mainstay in Rock Hall, and Anthony, an accomplished strings musician, will evoke images of working waterfront communities through classic waterman’s and boating tunes, and a selection of readings from historic and contemporary Bay writers.
Sophie Moss
On Wednesday, March 15 beginning at 5:00 p.m., Michael Buckley, oral historian, producer and host of WRNR’s Sunday Brunch, and author of Voices of the Chesapeake, will share his favorite interviews from the hundreds captured over the course of his career. From watermen to politicians, artists and writers, sailors and historians, Buckley will explore how the experiences and stories captured in his interviews paint a picture of dynamic, compelling, and movingly human Chesapeake life, then and now.
The final session of the Speaker Series begins at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, and features USA Today bestselling and multi-award winning author Sophie Moss. Moss will give a presentation on returning to her roots to write a series of love stories set on the Chesapeake Bay. With the much-anticipated third book in her “Wind Chime” series expected to release this summer, Moss will talk about how she researches her stories to create a vibrant cast of characters and vivid sense of place. Adept at weaving imagery and nature into her stories, Moss brings to life a tight-knit coastal community set on a fictional island called Heron Island, loosely modeled after Tilghman Island.
The cost per program for each session is $6 for CBMM members or $8 for non-members. Registration for all four sessions is discounted at $20 for members and $28 for non-members. To register, go to bit.ly/CBMMWinterSpeaker16. For more information, contact Allison Speight at [email protected].
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