ST MICHAELS, MD.- Exploring the Chesapeake–Mapping the Bay, a new exhibition opening Saturday, May 19 at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md., will look at the different ways the Chesapeake Bay has been portrayed over time through mapping and charting. The exhibition continues in CBMM’s Steamboat Building through March 17, 2019.

The exhibition will view changes in maps over time as an expression of what people were seeking in the Chesapeake—for natural resources, for safe passage, or for commercial opportunities. The exploration begins with European exploration in the 16th century, and continues with the growth of settlement in the region in the 17th and 18th centuries. Scientific surveying methods brought improved accuracy in the 19th century, and special purpose maps showing railroads or tourist routes and destinations proliferated in the 20th century. More recent decades have introduced satellite imagery, geographic information systems, and Google maps, which continue to change how we view and understand the Chesapeake Bay region.

Exploring the Chesapeake—Mapping the Bay includes both maps—graphic representations of land features—and charts, which provide specific graphic information useful for piloting a vessel across the water. More than 40 maps and charts from CBMM’s permanent collections and from several private collections are included. Guests can also walk the length and breadth of the Bay on a giant floor map, or monitor the movement of commercial shipping through modern mapping technology.

“Maps and charts have helped people around the Chesapeake Bay to explore and navigate for centuries,” commented CBMM Chief Curator Pete Lesher, who is curating the exhibition. “Having CBMM’s collection maps accessible—and many that will be seen by the public for the first time—is a meaningful way to connect today’s audiences to the Bay’s history of exploration.”

CBMM has a rich collection of historic maps, several of which have been exhibited from time to time, but this is the first time the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum has told the Bay’s story by focusing specifically on maps.

Exploring the Chesapeake looks at maps that have been created as part of a sales pitch for the region and its bounty, beginning with some of the earliest maps of the Chesapeake colonies, which sought to lure settlers to the region. Significant to the story are charts developed to help mariner’s make a safe passage through these waters, as improved surveying methods produced increasingly accurate charts through the 19th and 20th centuries. When the oyster fishery boomed, charts were adapted to include information about where these valuable bivalves abundantly grew along the Bay’s bottom. Maps also help track how much and how fast the Chesapeake is changing, through natural changes like eroding shorelines, and man-made changes including dredged channels and artificial islands.