For our 10th wedding anniversary Kris and I stayed overnight at the Perry Cabin Inn in St. Michaels, Maryland. While the town has a certain charm that makes it appealing to couples looking for a romantic getaway, there are definitely fun places to see that make it a great day trip location for the whole family as well.
One of those places is the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Honestly I had nothing to go on here other than a lot of positive reviews on TripAdvisor. None of my friends had been there so we were winging it. Boy was I glad we decided to go. We had way more fun than we could have expected.
The museum is large, set in a park-like waterfront setting and dedicated to preserving and exploring the history of the Chesapeake Bay. The museum offers lots of hands on activities for the kids as well as a variety of fun photo ops.
Standard admission gains you access to the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse, 12 exhibition buildings, changing special exhibitions and the opportunity to see their floating fleet of historic boats. General admission is good for two days, excluding festivals. In our opinion, only one day is needed to see the entire museum but depending on how long you let the kids explore each of the areas, it’s nice having the option for a second day. The cost is $15 for adults (ages 18-61), $6 for children (ages 6-17) and free for children five and under. Yay Hannah!
We did not do the 45-minute scenic river cruise aboard the Winnie Estelle as a storm was rolling in and they were cancelling cruises. We had already purchased the tickets, but the museum easily refunded the money. The cost is $10/person for non-members and $3/person for non-members ages 6-17. The rain had no chance of dampening our fun (haha…see what I did there.) We checked out a few more indoor exhibits and made our way through the gift shop. The museum exit takes you through the gift shop, which can be a tricky thing as a parent. KIDS.WANT.ALL.THE.SOUVENIRS! We have a tradition of buying Christmas ornaments so I’d say we managed to leave the gift shop fairly unscathed.
This is definitely one of those places I’d bring extended family to if they were in town for a visit. Having lived outside of D.C. for 14 years we’re always looking for places to take visitors that doesn’t involve the National Mall. This is a good alternative. Exploring the Chesapeake adds a whole new dimension to life in the DMV.
