Small pirates swarm at Piney Point for children's program

PINEY POINT, MD — Almost 50 small pirates, armed to the teeth with Solo cup and tin foil hand hooks and other gear, swarmed the Piney Point Lighthouse, Museum and Historic Park on Saturday.

Children ages 3 through 9 were welcome to attend the fifth annual Pirate Day!, where each child could gather to learn more about what it meant to be a pirate and the history of Southern Maryland’s watermen.

The museum hosted two sessions of the children’s program, from 9 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 4 p.m. With a small entrance fee, children were encouraged to dress as their favorite swash-buckling seaman or woman.

Each child was assigned a pirate’s name as they wandered with their parents or guardians around the museum grounds. Each child could visit stations, manned with pirate volunteers, to collect and create items such as: paper flags, bandanas, temporary pirate tattoos. They could walk the plank, take a tour of the lighthouse and the Maritime Building, as well as gather together for a costume contest and treasure hunt.

When Captain April Havens is not guiding young pirates around the museum grounds, she is the site supervisor for Piney Point and the acting museum division manager.

“We’re going for quality, not quantity with this program. So each session of this program had up to 24 children participating at any point. We limit the number so each child will have more individual attention with our volunteers,” said Havens.

There were pirates on the Potomac at one time, said Havens.

“They were mostly seen in the Chesapeake Bay and because we are a facility on the river, it fits with our mission and theme of providing a recreational and educational programs for the county, this program just fits right in to what we offer the community,” said Havens.

The children at the program get to participate in hands-on learning, which is very important for the age group involved in the programs, said Rachel Harris, Museum Marketing and Development Specialist.

“I was so excited to see how many children were going to be here, especially girls. Because I always wanted to be a pirate when I was a little girl but I never got the chance. This is a great opportunity to learn about pirates and the local history as well,” said Harris.

Although they enjoy pretending to be pirates, Hunter the Horrible, Rancid Robbie, and Noah Steal Your Loot are usually playing video games in their spare time. Both Hunter and Robbie have attended the children’s program at the museum for four years now.