Oysters by the Bay- Step 2: Moving Away from Home

Name: Oysters by the Bay- Step 2: Moving Away from Home
Start: 2026-05-16T13:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-05-16T17:00:00-04:00
Location: Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum

Schedule

Sat May 16 2026 at 01:00 pm to 05:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum | Baltimore, MD

In our first trip following the life story of the oyster series, we met tiny larvae floating in massive tanks at Horn Point Laboratory. As they grow, the larvae give up the free-floating lifestyle and attach themselves to shells. The oysters, now called spat, are moved to cages tethered in a Chesapeake Bay oyster garden, where they continue to grow and become hearty. Now that spring is here, it’s time for the spat to travel to their new permanent home, an oyster reef along the edge of Fort Carroll, out in the Bay. Join us to watch their cages being pulled and learn about their new adjustment as they travel with us by boat to their new home.
We’ll travel on the sailboat Mildred Belle, an authentic Chesapeake Bay buyboat, one of only a few remaining and an important part of the Bay history and economy. The oystermen who ran these boats acted as the middlemen on the bay, purchasing fish, crabs, and oysters directly from fishing vessels working under sail, and then transporting the catch to market. This allowed the fishing fleet to continue its work on the water. We’ll learn about the boat, bird along the way, and continue our conversation about oysters. Don’t worry if you didn’t attend the previous trip: we’ll get you up to speed on oysters!