The Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park will be the first one in the nation celebrating black maritime history and shipbuilding tradition. The museum is in historic Fells Point and will honor Frederick Douglass, Isaac Myers and other local black leaders.
Frederick Douglass lived in Baltimore for a period of time, working in the Fells Point shipyard as a young man. Isaac Myers founded The Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Co. in 1868, the first black-owned-and-operated shipyard in the nation.
“In Maryland, we know that African-Americans were very closely related to the water and often had occupations and skills that were connected to maritime life. We?re going to extend that story by talking about the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company,” said Museum curator Dianne Swann-Wright. “And we?re going to talk about how blacks who lived here in Baltimore and Fells Point came to the shipyards to work and earned enough money here to be able to support their families.
“What we?re hoping is that we?ll be able to do three things. We want to be able to preserve artifacts that people will want to see, we?re hoping we?ll be able to reclaim stories that have been lost and that we?ll be able to share them with our visiting public.”
The project, which cost $12 million, is part of the Living Classrooms Foundation and is a working shipyard/marine railway and deepwater pier. The museum is housed in the newly restored Sugar House, the oldest remaining industrial building on Baltimore?s harbor. The museum officially opens to the public on June 28.
If you go
» 1417 Thames St., Baltimore
» Officially opens to public: June 28
» More info: http://www.livingclassrooms.org/Facilities/fdimmp.html
