After three years of construction and a festive summer send-off, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is officially bidding a fond farewell to a now-complete Maryland Dove.
“I could not be prouder of the work that CBMM has achieved on the project,” said Kristen Greenaway, President & CEO of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. “We were absolutely honored to be awarded the build contract, and it has been an organization-wide effort, and an absolute delight, to fulfill it.”
In 2018, it was announced that CBMM had been selected to build a brand-new Maryland Dove for Historic St. Mary’s City. The ship, a representation of the late 17th-century trading ship that accompanied the first European settlers to what is now Maryland, is owned by the state of Maryland, and operated and maintained by the Historic St. Mary’s City Commission (HSMCC). An earlier version of the ship, built in the 1970s by Cambridge’s Jim Richardson, was nearing the end of its useful life and decades of new research meant that a new ship could be designed to be a more historically accurate representation of the original Maryland Dove.
The new Maryland Dove is pictured during a sail on the Miles River. Now, post-construction in the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s working Shipyard, the ship is finally heading to its homeport in Historic St. Mary’s City. Photo by George Sass.
Since that first announcement, construction of the iconic state ship has been the central focus of CBMM’s working Shipyard. Work over the past few years, all done in public view, has seen the new ship move from concept to reality, and Maryland Dove will finally sail to its homeport in Historic St. Mary’s City at the end of August. Staff from both organizations joined the public for a celebration of the ship in St. Michaels, Md., at a CBMM-hosted Dock Party in May.
Upon returning to HSMCC, Maryland Dove will serve as the organization’s floating ambassador, flagship exhibition, and a key tool in its educational programming. And thanks to key design elements and a summer of testing and certification, the new ship is authorized to carry passengers by the U.S. Coast Guard, allowing HSMCC to take passengers for an on-the-water experience.
“We are so looking forward to having this exhibit,” said Regina Faden, Executive Director of Historic St. Mary’s City at the Dock Party celebration. We have educated about 500,000 students about early Maryland history and are looking forward to the ship helping us educate the next 500,000. We are very grateful.”
To keep up with the ship as it moves into the next stage of its life, visit marylanddove.org
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