by Tina McCloud
NORTHUMBERLAND—The Reedville Fishermen’s Museum, 504 Main Street, Reedville, will open for the season Thursday, April 2, with four new exhibits through 2026.
The museum is full of artifacts and memorabilia telling the story of the Northern Neck’s historic commercial fishing history. Outside on campus are several classic boats, at the dock and on shore.
Activities planned for the year include concerts, skipjack cruises, family boat building, golf cart party, fireworks, crabbing for kids, an antique boat show and holiday celebrations.
Three new exhibits will welcome visitors to the Watermen’s Gallery.
Images by Kodachrome will feature more than 50 photographs by Mike Fontaine. His compelling photography comes from his artist’s eye and his heart. His mission is to convey the importance of working watermen and women to the Chesapeake Bay way of life. He shoots from his boat, Kodachrome, or from the boats of the watermen who have welcomed him as one of their own—a rare privilege.
Fontaine started shooting seriously about a year ago. When he first started photographing on the public oyster beds, he didn’t know there was a state law against interfering with commercial watermen and many were suspicious. After he started posting photos to Facebook and offering complimentary pictures to captains, the door was opened to their world. He has also shot photos of crews at work on menhaden boats.
The photos are in black-and-white and color, appropriately matted and framed and are for sale.
A Northern Neck Master Gardeners exhibit highlights their Shoreline Evaluation Program. It focuses on the shoreline problems waterfront homeowners may experience and ways to address those concerns.
One option a home owner can consider is a living shoreline, using native plants to stabilize banks and create buffers to reduce erosive forces. The RFM demonstration garden explores this approach, and posters show before and after scenes of this restoration project. Visitors can tour the garden behind the adjacent Bethany United Methodist Church.
A large display board explains the benefits of riparian buffers and illustrates ways these vegetative borders can be created, often with minimal effort or expense. The aim of the exhibit is to encourage visitors to look at their own properties and identify ways they can enhance their shorelines, thereby improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
Another exhibit highlights Smith Point Sea Rescue, an all-volunteer organization founded by community members more than 50 years ago. Members undergo rigorous, ongoing training to competently respond to emergencies on the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. They never charge for their services and do not receive any government funding, depending on donations from private citizens, businesses and foundations.
Their exhibit displays memorabilia from past to present, including citations for their life- and property-saving actions. One of their most stirring rescues occurred in April 2023, when a boat sank with eight people aboard. When Sea Rescue arrived, all eight—fortunately wearing flotation devices—were in the water. Sea Rescue pulled all eight safely into their boat.
A poster from 2013 advertises the 30th anniversary of the Reedville Fishing Derby. The event, since discontinued, was a fund-raiser for the squad and an economic boost to the community, bringing thousands of visitors to the area.
In the museum lobby and the Walker House, Chesapeake Bay Quilts by Logan O’Bier (Curated Avalon) will be on display. She will exhibit about 20 quilts and a selection of punchneedle artwork. A reception to meet O’Bier will be held in the museum lobby from noon-2 p.m. April 4.
The museum will be open to the public from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in April and May. The museum also will be open from 1-4 p.m. Sundays from May 24 through September 6.
Admission, which includes entrance to all museum exhibits, is $10 for adults, $5 for ages 65 and older and veterans, and free for ages 17 and younger and active duty military members.
Tina McCloud is a public relations volunteer at Reedville Fishermen’s Museum.
