For the 8th consecutive year, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md. is participating in the national Blue Star Museums program to offer free, general admission to all active-duty military personnel and their immediate families from Memorial Day weekend, May 26, 2018 through Labor Day, September 3, 2018.
Blue Star Museums represents a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to offer free admission to the nation’s active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. The list of 2018 participating museums will be available at arts.gov/bluestarmuseums in May.
Located near the nation’s capital on the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore, CBMM’s 18-acre waterfront campus offers 12 exhibition buildings to explore in a few hours or over multiple visits. Highlights of the experience include climbing and exploring the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse, interacting with shipwrights restoring authentic, wooden Chesapeake boats, renting a small craft to paddle the Miles River on your own, taking a river cruise on the 1920 buyboat Winnie Estelle, and engaging in numerous hands-on exhibitions, family-oriented activities, and other programming and events.
This year’s Blue Star Museums represent not just fine arts and maritime museums, but also science museums, history museums, nature centers, and dozens of children’s museums.
While at CBMM, guests can see progress on the log-hull restoration of the 1889 bugeye Edna E. Lockwood, now underway in the shipyard through her re-launch at OysterFest on October 27, 2018. Special exhibitions include Kent’s Carvers and Clubs: Guides, Gunners and Co-Ops: Exploring the Chesapeake: Mapping the Bay; and Lines of the Floating Fleet.
The free admission program is available for those currently serving in the United States Military—Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard as well as Active Duty, Reservists, National Guardsman, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps—and their family members.
Qualified members must show a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card for entrance into a participating Blue Star Museum. Free admission is extended to up to five family members.
The program excludes festival admission, with CBMM offering free, year-round general admission to all active military individuals.
Free, on-site parking is available, with more information at cbmm.org or by calling 410-745-2916.
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About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more about NEA.
~ Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum