The 2015 Museum Small Craft Association annual meeting will be held Monday, October 5 and Tuesday, October 6 at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michaels, Maryland. Museum small craft professionals and others who share an interest in small boat conservation and restoration, skills preservation, documentation, history, interpretation and research are invited to meet, learn about recent developments, exchange ideas, and talk with their peers. The MSCA meeting follows the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival which will be held on Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4.
The meeting program will include presentations and discussions on a variety of small craft and museum related topics, opportunities for informal discussions, a dinner on Monday evening, and a visit to a local boatbuilder. Please let Richard Scofield rscofield@cbmm.org know if there is a topic you are interested in, or if you’d like to make a presentation or lead a discussion.
The museum has reserved a block of rooms for Sunday night through Tuesday night at the St Michaels Inn (formerly Best Western St Michaels) which is 2 miles from the museum. Rate is $89.99 / night. Phone number is 410-745-3333. Ask for a room in the Museum Small Craft Association block. St Michaels also has several other inns and bed & breakfast establishments, and accommodations are also available in Easton, approximately 12 miles from the museum. Camping on the museum grounds will not be available during the MSCA Meeting.
The MSCA meeting follows the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival which will be held from the evening of Friday evening, October 2 through mid-day on Sunday, October 4. MASCF participants bring a wide variety of traditional boats. Activities include workshops, demonstrations, a sailing race which typically includes boats from small dinghies to a log canoe, row and paddling races for both adults and children, and model boat building for children with an opportunity to sail the models in a small pond in addition to general messing about in the boats. Registration for MASCF is separate from MSCA Meeting registration, and MASCF participants may camp on the museum grounds for MASCF only.
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is located on 18 waterfront acres and occupies 35 buildings, 12 of which house exhibits open to the public.. The Museum offers exhibits, demonstrations, boat rides on the Miles River, and annual festivals that celebrate Chesapeake Bay culture, boats, seafood, and history. The Museum’s fleet of historic Chesapeake Bay watercraft is the largest in existence with 11 vessels on floating display at the Museum’s docks, and its small boat collection includes crabbing skiffs, workboats, and log canoes. The fleet is maintained in the public’s eye by master shipwrights and their apprentices.
For more information about the meeting and the Museum Small Craft Association visit www.museumsmallcraft.org or contact David Cockey davidcockey@gmail.com
For more information about the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum visit http://www.cbmm.org
Submitted by David Cockey, July 13, 2015; updated July 20, 2015
