Beach to Bay Heritage Area Museums

The Beach to Bay Heritage Area (BBHA) has a rich and complex history, thankfully, the area is chock full of museums to help tell the many aspects of our story. In addition, the BBHA has created a Museum Passport to incentivize visitors to explore our local museums while also encouraging cross-promotion between museums.

Heritage, History, & Museums

Museums are more than just places to get history lessons or to take children on field trips; they are an excellent way to learn about and experience our heritage and culture. From the more traditional museum experience to an interactive experience with our natural resources, our museums have much to offer.

Heritage is about the people and places of a region. While all the area’s museums share pieces of our heritage, some place a special emphasis on what the BBHA likes to call “FolkWays.” FolkWays tell the story of our people – where they lived, how they lived, their stories, and their homes. The Burgess Rural Living Center is a prime example of a FolkWay museum. Here visitors can see what Somerset County living was like in the late 19th century all the way up to the 1930s. Exhibits explore the day-to-day routine of the region’s inhabitants from household chores like laundry to farming.

Further north in the village of Allen, there is the Allen Historical Society Museum. Situated in the 1883 Huffington-Pollitt House, the museum aims to preserve and share the history of the historic village. Much like the Burgess Center, exhibits showcase early village life through artifacts, including a working 1915 Edison Diamond Disc Phonograph. The Allen Museum also displays local Black and Native American history, containing pieces on Thomas E. Polk Sr, a local Buffalo Soldier, and the Pocomoke Indian Nation. That brings us to another facet of our deep history.

European colonial history tends to take center stage when examining our past, and while it is an important element of American history, that is only part of our story. Our extensive history spans thousands of years, pre-dating Captain John Smith’s exploration of the peninsula. Evidence suggests that Native Americans inhabited the region at least 12,000 years ago! Thousands of years of history can be difficult to cover, but the Delmarva Discovery Museum in Pocomoke has an exhibit doing just that. Their Native American exhibit delves into the peninsula’s early history with an arrowhead collection, wigwam reconstruction, canoes, and more. Likewise, the Rackliffe House in Berlin also helps demonstrate indigenous history on the coast, explaining how Native Americans lived at the time of European contact through first-hand accounts and a look into the Assateague group of Native Americans.

On top of our indigenous history, the Eastern Shore has plenty of Black history to share as well. Some of the earliest Africans to arrive in the area during British colonization arrived as slaves in 1619. The White Lion, an English privateer ship, landed at Point Comfort in Virginia after intercepting a Portuguese slave ship in the Gulf of Mexico. Their captives were sold as slaves to local planters. This interaction marks the beginning of the large-scale forced importation of enslaved Africans to America. While many Black Americans remained enslaved up until the abolition of slavery in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment, many were born free, gained freedom through manumission, or escaped from bondage. Our Black history is a history of courage, resilience, and achievement. The Germantown School Community Heritage Center is a living example of Black success in the Berlin area. Located in the Germantown community, it is a surviving Rosenwald School first built in 1922 through a community initiative to give their children an opportunity for an education. Over 5,000 Rosenwald Schools were built throughout the South to provide an education for Black children in the rural South and only about 500 remain standing.

Maybe you’re more of an outdoors person. If so, then there’s our natural history and environment to explore as well. Our nature has helped define our heritage and shaped our identities here on the Shore. Many museums recognize this and have incorporated nature into their operations. Furnace Town Historic Site, nestled between the Pocomoke State Forest and the Nassawango Creek Preserve capitalizes on its location by integrating nature trails into the old company town and iron furnace. Pemberton Historical Park also found a way to blend history and nature by turning what used to be part of an old 18th century plantation into a 262-acre park with 4.5 miles of trails to explore.

The museums within the Beach to Bay Heritage Area are an excellent way to get introduced to the region’s history and develop a deeper understanding of our heritage and culture. They find ways to share our history in a variety of formats that range from the traditional museum experience, to highlighting the less explored aspects of our history, or even incorporating nature to tell our story. While you’re out there, don’t forget about the BBHA Museum Passport Program! After visiting and getting your passport stamped by at least six sites, visitors will receive a free Beach to Bay Heritage Area baseball cap! So, pick up a passport at a museum and start experiencing our unique heritage.