The Calvert Marine Museum is pleased to announce the publication of its newest book on the building and builders of wooden boats in Southern Maryland. Boats for Work, Boats for Pleasure: The Last Era of Wooden Boatbuilding in Southern Maryland is co-authored by Richard J. Dodds, curator of maritime history, and Robert J. Hurry, museum registrar.  

Building wooden boats in Southern Maryland is a tradition that goes back almost four centuries. Today, the art and skill of building wooden boats has almost died out in the region.  The book serves as an overview of the last generation of wooden boatbuilding, a period of about seventy years from the 1930s until the first years of the twenty-first century.  With few exceptions, most of the builders in Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary’s County were individuals - self taught, and adept at working from eye rather than from drawings.  Many of these boats were built for local oystermen when there were oysters to harvest.  The decline in the oyster industry, the growth in fiberglass boats, and the scarcity of good lumber, all contributed to the disappearance of the wooden boat builder. 

The book is the result of documentation compiled by museum staff and through interviews with builders or their descendants. It is a record of a generation of craftsmen who provided the means to harvest the Chesapeake’s bounty and enjoy the pleasures of recreational boating.    

Boats for Work, Boats for Pleasure: The Last Era of Wooden Boatbuilding in Southern Maryland is for sale in the museum store for $19.95. For more information about the publication, please contact Richard Dodds at (410) 326-2042, ext. 31 or Robert Hurry at (410) 326-2042, ext. 35.