Curriculum

We paint the stories of our human engineered landscape, explaining how settlement and clearing forever changed the primeval forest that once covered the Shore. Our murals tell the tale of vanished indigenous tribes, the tragedy of slavery, the rise and fall of Maryland tobacco, the rise of wheat and how it was part of the triangle slave trade between Europe, the Americas and Africa. 

We paint the stories of the racially diverse waterman’s culture that existed on the Chesapeake from the 1700’s until the 1950’s. We teach about the decimation of the Chesapeake seafood industry through over harvest, pollution and natural disasters, and the story of how the sink box and the punt gun led to the collapse of the wildfowl population that once blackened regional skies.

This is the forgotten history that created the modern landscape of the Eastern Shore. Our children don’t know what is growing in the wide open fields which they transit to and from school on a daily basis.  They are amazed when an eagle or a hawk comes into view.  Few local children have access to, or understanding of, the local waters, even though their families have been connected to this place for centuries.

Our program tells our collective local story, and with the help of families from our far flung communities - who always have fascinating tales to add to the process of mural creation - we teach our kids why their lives and family legacy matters.