The Ida May Project  area specific, long-term, interdisciplinary project geared toward community, education and story sharing. It includes an ongoing blog, and in 2012 featured a museum exhibition, a documentary film, and a community outreach program supported by a Maryland Traditions grant. 

 

The Chesapeake Bay Skipjack is an oyster dredging workboat on the brink of extinction that has been the livelihood of the place we call home, Chance, MD for generations. Our family has been involved with Skipjacks for more than 100 years.  This project is the result of 6 years of research, documentation and labor.  From 2005-2011, we worked with Gordon and Elbert Gladden, Tom Evans and Frank Antes to rebuild our family Skipjack, the Ida May, while video documenting the process. This documentation was then used in various contexts of the project. It was serialized on a weekly blog, which acted as a restoration resource, enabling the community to follow the progress.  It was also used to create an audio/visual installation as well as being the material for a documentary film. In addition to being screened at the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival, and the Delmarva Discovery Center as part of a comprehensive exhibition in 2012, the documentary travelled to public libraries around Maryland as part of a community outreach program. The Ida May is currently docked in Deal Island Harbor and regular updates on the boat can be found by clicking this LINK.  Contact us to order a DVD of the documentary