The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md., will begin its annual winter speaker series on Wednesday, Feb. 3, and continue on select Wednesdays through March 17. All sessions will be held virtually, and advance registration is required.

How do we remember the past? How does our historical record and memory influence us today? This year’s winter speaker series, titled “Lest We Forget: History, Memory, and an Inclusive Future,” unpacks stories of Chesapeake history with a focus on what our understanding of the past means for our future.

The speaker series kicks off on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 7:30pm with “Loyalty on the Line: Civil War Maryland in American Memory.” The controversy surrounding the monuments and memory of Maryland’s Civil War legacy is not new. During the American Civil War, Maryland did not join the Confederacy but nonetheless possessed divided loyalties and sentiments. In this session, Snow College Assistant Professor David Graham will examine the place of Maryland in Civil War memory, and how that legacy has hinged on interpretations of the state’s loyalty.

“Archaeology and Memory at Mount Clare” is scheduled for7:30pm on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Slavery was a fact of life at Mount Clare, an 18th century antebellum plantation near Baltimore, Md. Despite efforts to ignore the presence and significance of enslaved Blacks there, historical and archeological research shows the integral role they played. National Park Service Archeologist Teresa Moyer will share this research, which offers opportunities to discuss historical structures and the ways they carry to the present.

At 2pm on Wednesday, Feb. 17, CBMM will present “Stolen: The Reverse Underground Railroad and Slavery in the Greater Chesapeake.” In retelling the story of five young, free Black boys kidnapped in 1825, University of Maryland Professor Richard Bell illuminates the Reverse Underground Railroad, a network of human traffickers and slave traders who stole away thousands of legally free African American people from their families in order to fuel slavery’s rapid expansion in the decades before the Civil War.

Baltimore, one of the South’s largest cities, was a crucible of segregationist laws and practices. In “The Struggle and the Urban South: The Legacy of Confronting Jim Crow in Baltimore,” at 7:30pm on Wednesday, March 10, Morgan State University Associate Professor David Taft Terry will explore the historical importance of African American resistance to Jim Crow culture in the South’s largest cities after World War II. This resistance, he argues, drew from the older protest traditions, and would ultimately inspire a national civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The final offering in the series, “The 1856 Project: Confronting the Ongoing Legacy of Slavery at the University of Maryland,” will be held at 2pm on Wednesday, March 17. The University of Maryland has recently established the 1856 Project, joining the Universities Studying Slavery consortium to facilitate collaborative research and academic scholarship. In this session, institutional co-leads Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, University Archivist, and Joni Floyd, Libraries Curator for Maryland and Historical Collections, will discuss how this initiative will create a path toward restorative history, allowing for the institution to engage in the work of moral accountability and reconciliation.

The cost per session is $7.50 per person, or $6 for CBMM members, who are offered a 20% discount on all programming. Register online for all five sessions for an additional discount. To sign up, or for more information, visit cbmm.org/speakerseries.

On four Saturdays this winter, young mariners ages 4–9 are invited to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md., to participate in CBMM’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Team. Class sizes are limited, with advanced registration needed.

Each week, STEAM Team participants will join an experienced educator in a hands-on exploration incorporating science, technology, engineering, and math with the arts.

Two sessions will be held each week, one from 10am–noon for children ages 4 to 6, and another from 1–3pm for children ages 7 to 9. Class sizes are limited to a maximum of eight participants per session and will be conducted mostly outside. Participants are asked to come “recess-ready” for outside activities and will be expected to wear a facial covering during the class.

Program themes include “Playing with Natural Forces” on Feb. 6, “Running with the Watershed” on Feb. 13, “Blasting Off like NASA” on Feb. 27, and “Math, Art, and All Things Bay” on March 6.

The cost per class is $15, with a 20% discount for CBMM members. Register online for all four sessions for an additional discount. Need-based scholarships for individual classes are available. For more information, and to register, visit cbmm.org/steamteam.

CBMM members play a critical role in supporting CBMM’s rich legacy of educational programs, fascinating and ever-changing exhibitions, and maintenance of the largest collection of Chesapeake Bay watercraft in the world. Benefits of membership include access to exclusive discounts, perks, and programming. To learn more about becoming a CBMM member, visit cbmm.org/membership.

From 10am–noon on Saturday, Jan. 23, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md., is offering a virtual version of its annual Electronic Navigation for Non-Technical People workshop. Registration is required at cbmm.org/electronicnavigation.

Participants will join Capt. Jerry Friedman, a USCG-licensed Master, via Zoom as he provides short non-technical descriptions of how GPS, GPS chart plotters, radar, depth sounders, and automated identification systems (AIS) work.

A retired electrical engineering executive, Friedman has held a USCG captain’s license for 60 years. During that time, he also operated an emergency service towboat for BoatUS, assisting boaters along the Chesapeake Bay in distress, delivering boats around the Chesapeake and from Florida and Long Island to Annapolis, teaching navigation courses, editing a monthly professional captains’ publication, and providing instruction to boat owners in the operation of their boats. He currently holds a 100-ton Master’s license and serves as the volunteer lead captain of CBMM’s 1920 buyboat Winnie Estelle.

The Jan. 23 Electronic Navigationworkshop is $25 per person, with a 20% discount offered to CBMM members, who play a critical role in supporting CBMM’s rich legacy of educational programs, fascinating and ever-changing exhibitions, and maintenance of the largest collection of Chesapeake Bay watercraft in the world, and have access to exclusive discounts, perks, and programming. To learn more about becoming a CBMM member, visit cbmm.org/membership.

The Chesapeake Bay sailing log canoe Flying Cloud was re-christened and re-launched on Sat., Oct. 17 after two years of planning and restoration completed at Campbell’s Boatyards in Oxford, Md. The nonprofit Flying Cloud Log Canoe Preservation Trust, Ltd. hosted the reception and led the fundraising efforts needed for the critical work required to return the historic log canoe to competitive sailing form.

Trust members Ned Hennighausen, Langley Shook, Capt. Kenneth Reightler, Jr., and the Hon. John C. North II addressed Cloud’s supporters at an outdoor reception at Campbell Boatyard’s Bachelors Point before a toast was raised, and Joanne Prager ceremoniously smashed a champagne bottle across FlyingCloud’s bowsprit.

Trust members Allan Noble and Alexa Seip joined nearly 70 socially distanced and masked guests as the seven-loghulled canoe was then lifted and carried back to the Chesapeake Bay’s waters and the Tred Avon River.

Flying Cloud is the second largest sailing log canoe still under sail, and was built on Tilghman Island, Md. in 1932 by the legendary John B. Harrison. Harrison also built Flying Cloud’s sister ship, Jay Dee a year earlier—the largest log canoe still in the fleet.

“Flying Cloud was designed to beat the best log canoes of the day,” said Flying Cloud Log Canoe Preservation Trust President Ned Hennighausen. “Her elegant lines, Honduran mahogany decks, and crew outfitted in white uniforms surely created a striking image on the water. Now, we can’t wait to see her out on the water and under sail again for next year’s sailing season. ”

Flying Cloud is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places and races under the No. 22, requiring as many as 18 crew to campaign her.

Cloud will receive restored rigging and new sails over the winter months, with a shake-down cruise led by Reightler, who was named Flying Cloud’s skipper in Oct. 2019. Capt. Reightler also has an important family connection with Cloud—John B. Harrison is his great-grandfather.

Reightler is also a retired astronaut and the U.S. Naval Academy’s Distinguished Chair in Space Science. He serves as a volunteer coach for the U.S. Naval Academy’s Varsity Offshore Sailing Team and is an instructor-skipper and Officer in Tactical Command for the Offshore Sail Training Squadron. Reightler’s log canoe experience started at an early age, serving as “bail boy” and progressing through boardsman, trimmer, tactician, and helmsman. For the past fifteen seasons, he has been a regular crewman on the log canoe Island Bird.

The Paul B. Prager family of St. Michaels, Md. provided a $75,000 challenge match towards Flying Cloud’s renovation in Oct. 2019. Paul Prager is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, CEO and Chairman of Beowulf Energy, and principal of Bluepoint Hospitality Group in Easton, Md.

The Trust announced late last year that a new Prager Family Trophy is to be awarded at the end of each sailing season to the log canoe winning the most sanctioned races on the Miles River. The Prager Family Trophy includes a metal sculpture of Flying Cloud by John C. North, II, with the annual winners receiving a keeper trophy to commemorate their victories.

During all races, Hennighausen says Cloud will fly a distinctive pennant of Navy blue and gold with a “Blue Peter” inset in honor of Paul Prager, a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. The pennant is based on an original design by Chesapeake and log canoe artist Marc Castelli.

“Significant work was needed on her center log,” said former Flying Cloud owner Allan Noble. “This work was essential in saving her, and we’re grateful for each supporter who helped make this re-launch possible.”

In 2014, Noble donated Flying Cloud to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md. Due to the museum’s heavy shipyard schedule, the log canoe was deaccessioned from CBMM’s collection. Noble says the Trust raised more than $150k to fully fund the restoration. Of significant help was a $20,000 donation from an anonymous donor, and 25 donated, limited edition prints of Cloud from artist Marc Castelli.

The last time Flying Cloud raced was in 2016. During that racing season, she experienced multiple failures of key components. Additionally—and as with all log canoes—time and the stresses of competition have deteriorated the logs of the hull, despite ongoing maintenance.

“Flying Cloud is an exceptional artifact of this sailing tradition unique to the Eastern Shore. Her careful restoration and return to the racing circuit are imperative if we are to preserve this piece of our maritime heritage,” said Hennighausen.

The Trust is continuing to seek donors, former crew members, and other interested parties to help campaign Flying Cloud for next year’s log canoe races. To make a donation or to volunteer to join her new crew, please contact Ned Hennighausen at ned.henn@gmail.com.  The Flying Cloud Log Canoe Preservation Trust is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, with charitable donations tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Wondering how to winterize your small diesel engine as the cold weather sets in? On Saturday, Dec. 5, join the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Marine Mechanic Josh Richardson for a virtual session on diesel engine maintenance, focusing on engine and transmission oil changes, fuel system treatments, and how to protect your engine from freezing.

Held via Zoom from 10–11:30am, participants are encouraged to ask questions while receiving an in-depth look at what’s involved in winterizing a diesel engine. The cost to participate is $10, with a 20% discount offered to CBMM members. To register, visit cbmm.org/dieselmaintenance.

CBMM members play a critical role in supporting CBMM’s rich legacy of educational programs, fascinating and ever-changing exhibitions, and maintenance of the largest collection of Chesapeake Bay watercraft in the world, including access to exclusive discounts, perks, and programming. To learn more about becoming a CBMM member, visit cbmm.org/membership.