President's Letter

When you visit this year, you will undoubtedly see the changes made to reinforce our ability to deliver our mission— exploring and preserving the history, environment, and culture of the entire Chesapeake Bay region, and making this resource accessible to all —by prioritizing the guest experience and enhancing our central interpretive themes and concepts.

The new Norman & Ellen Plummer Center for Museum Collections is completed, ensuring our commitment to the preservation of our collection objects and to increased access.

We are delighted to share that the reading room is busy with appointments from visiting researchers, scholars, and students viewing many of our behind-the-scenes objects, books, and ships plans.

The new Welcome Center—immediately noticeable as you drive under the original Tilghman Island drawbridge and enter campus—is completed, with enhanced exhibition space and a new Museum Store. The last of the exhibition installations are being ticked off before we open the doors, with a public celebration to be announced soon.

Our latest exhibition, The Changing Chesapeake, is open through Feb. 25, 2024, and demonstrates how we’re pushing boundaries and setting new levels of success, inviting artists and non-artists from around the region to explore their perspectives on how climate change and the impact of humans on the environment shape their Chesapeake community both now and into the future.

I am extremely proud of CBMM’s inaugural Education Professionals Gratitude Day, celebrated in June. CBMM shares a deep connection with our local school systems. In Talbot County Public Schools, all third-, fifth-, and seventh-graders in the school district participate in annual field trips and in-classroom experiences, in addition to our Rising Tide after-school program open to local middle school students.

School staff play a critical role in our community’s collective future, and we were proud to share our gratitude with them. Anyone involved in education—all PK-12 public, private, and charter school personnel, including teachers, paraprofessionals, school and district administrators, and support staff who provide maintenance, transportation, security, clerical, food, and other services within schools—spent a day on campus enjoying live music, frozen treats, and gratitude. Many thanks for your support this past year, and please do take advantage of everything new on campus at your CBMM! See you soon!

- Kristen L. Greenaway, CBMM President & CEO