A waterman harvests fish and shellfish for a living. Each season has its catch to harvest and its gear to prepare.
Watermen and their families have worked on the Bay for hundreds of years. To succeed, they must be flexible. Their living depends on their ability to adapt to variations in the weather, seasonal migration of the catch, and the marketplace.
[Caption:]
Chesapeake Bay watermen Charlie and Patsy Higgs gut bluefish, 1981
[Additional plaque below:]
A waterman's shanty
This building is a replica of a Chesapeake Bay crabber's shanty. Tool shed, work room, and gathering place, it is where he plans the season, prepares gear, tends the catch, tells tales with friends, and, on occasion, just hides out.
"When a man's worked the water all his life, he'll just keep coming back, even if it's to sit around the dock."
Waterman quoted by John Whitehead in Watermen of the Chesapeake.
[Caption:]
Waterman's shanty, Smith Island, Maryland, c. 1985
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