Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum — Attraction in St. Michaels

Before visiting a place I always check their website and reviews to determine how accessible a place is. There was little mention on the reviews but the website of this museum said multiple times that the location is accessible. There really needs to be an industry standard because this was anything except accessible. We paid $32.00 to spend ten minutes before we realized that I could not navigate this property. Even the areas that has a ramp, had traffic flow where anyone who used a cane or walker will have to walk all the way around in order to use the ramp.

Let’s set the stage. I have limited mobility and primarily use a walker, however, sometimes I use a cane. After paying the admission and going through the orientation with the docent, I made my way out to the complex of buildings and places to visit.

There is no easy flow to visit these buildings. To get to the boat shop you have to go all the way around the building and then double back to get to the next location. If that isn’t bad enough, they have gravel all over which made it nearly impossible for me to push my walker through. They do have a few benches throughout, but it just wasn’t enough. It was if they gave no thought to visitors with mobility challenges.

We were so disappointed and we wound up leaving because I couldn’t get my walker through the gravel. One if the things we couldn’t figure out, why is it called a museum when there isn’t any building that interprets very much? There are signs here and there and it really is a nice property if it’s a nice day, but we saw very little interpreted. Even though I couldn’t go to the different buildings, my husband did run ahead to see what was and it was not a museum in the typical sense at all.

Before we left, the woman in the museum store did offer to give us out money back but that wasn’t the point. We were really looking forward to visiting the property and it was really disappointing how little they planned for visitors with accessibility concerns. Even though they saw me struggling they did nothing to alleviate...

We didn't know what to expect with this museum, but were really impressed by it! It is very well worth the visit, and there's more than enough to see in the 2 days the admission fee covers. At the beginning, someone went over the map with us, and explained some about the buildings. That was really helpful. It's not just a museum, but an entire complex of various buildings that are really each museums. I couldn't possibly do it justice by describing it- if you are considering going, you definitely should! I really enjoyed seeing the variety of boats, and the building that was built all around an oyster boat was probably my favorite. You could walk through it, hearing about it with the narration, and seeing all the different parts. There were fun facts about oysters all around, as well as a complete history of the oyster business in the area, canning, and even oyster wars! The lighthouse was pretty interesting, and showed all of the keeper's quarters set up, as well as some information about the various keepers, and a big map of all the area lighthouses. There was a whole building that showed about the blue crab, and the crab picking industry. There was a building that had lots of history and information about people enjoying the water in various ways over the years. As you walk around, the view of the harbor and the water is beautiful as well. The museum store is beautifully arranged, and contains a great variety of souvenirs and items having to do...

I have visited many maritime and seaport museums across the country and this is hands down one of my new favorites. Even my girlfriend who was quite skeptical since she's not exactly into nautical history was surprised by how much she liked it. From climbing the lighthouse to the interactive exhibits of oystering, I feel like the museum offers a little bit for everyone. It's rather large and your ticket is good for two days which helps if you want to see everything! Docents were stationed around the property and really nice and knowledgeable. This included someone right outside the ticket office who helped orient you to the property since there are so many buildings! We will definitely visit again when our travels bring us back to...