Adze to Whittling Knife- Chesapeake Boatbuilders as Decoy Carvers
to
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum 213 N Talbot S, Saint Michaels, Maryland 21663
April 11, 2020–March 7, 2021
Chesapeake Bay-area craftsmen produced boats—and decoys—that were regionally distinctive. Boatbuilding was often a full-time occupation, and decoy carving was more typically a sideline. A few boatbuilders, used the same carpentry skills to produce both boats and decoys. From the prolific decoy carvers of the Susquehanna Flats at the northern end of the Bay, to carvers whose production was much more limited, some of the Chesapeake’s most shapely decoys came from the hands of carvers who made their principal living building watercraft for fishermen, hunters, or boaters.