This is the inaugural post of beautifulswimmers, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s education blog. Ideally, this will be a resource for our docents and volunteers at the Maritime Museum, and will be used as a way to share information, stories, and links, but it will also be open to the public as a general educational forum.

This blog takes its name from a book that revolutionized the public perception of the Chesapeake and the people who worked the water, the classic “Beautiful Swimmers” by William W. Warner. “Beautiful Swimmers” drew attention to Chesapeake conservation- not only the natural resources of the Bay, but also the cultural resources. Truly our watershed’s “watershed” moment. From then onward, the field of Bay conservation and education became established, and an understanding of the need to preserve and document our Chesapeake way of life gained momentum.

Since I’ll be writing the posts, I’ll introduce myself- name is Kate Livie and I’m the director of education here at the Maritime Museum. (Those unfamiliar with our organization can check out our main website here: www.cbmm.org) It’s a wonderful place to visit and learn, and it is just as wonderful to work and teach here.

I hope you enjoy the content and photos I’ll be sharing, and I hope to hear from you in the comments as this blog continues.