Havre de Grace Decoy Museum
Located on the banks of the historic Susquehanna Flats, the Havre de Grace Decoy Museum houses one of the finest collections of working and decorative Chesapeake Bay decoys. The museum preserves the historical and cultural legacy of waterfowling and decoy making on the Chesapeake Bay.
The Decoy Museum's collection consists of approximately 2700 objects. The majority of these objects are decoys, most of them wooden and dating from 1930 to 1990, and the work of over 300 regional decoy makers is represented. In addition to decoys, the museum owns decorative carvings, boats, guns, textiles, books, documents, and photographs. The museum is pleased to be able to display nearly three-quarters of its collection to the public via its exhibits.
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Hours
The museum is open 7 days a week, Monday through Saturday from 10:30 AM until 4:30 PM, Sunday from 12:00 PM until 4:00 PM.
Business hours are from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
Closed New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, & Christmas
The Museum will be closed the day the city of Havre de Grace holds it's 4th of July Parade and Fireworks. This day may or may not be the 4th of July. Please call in advance for the exact date.
(Note: Many places fill to capacity on busy, nice weather days, especially holiday weekends. Please call ahead or visit the official website to get the most up-to-date information before visiting.)
Fees
The museum charges the following admission fees:
- Adults, $6.00
- Seniors (age 65 and older), $5.00
- Youth (ages 9 to 18), $2.00
- Children (ages 8 and under), free
- Members, free
Adult tours are $4.00 a person (for a group over ten people) and youth tours are $2.00 a person (for a group over ten people, Pre-K through Grade 12).
Activities
The museum offers four permanent exhibits:
- "What Is A Decoy?" The museum's main gallery examines the basic function and construction of decoys, then delves into the diversity of decoy styles.
- "Gunning the Flats" This exhibit places decoys within their historical context by investigating the tools and techniques used by local hunters throughout the past two centuries for both market and sports hunting.
- "CARVERS GALLERY" Occupying the entire second floor gallery, this exhibit allows visitors to analyze and compare the styles of the area's great carvers while enjoying the incredible vista of the Susquehanna Flats from the second-floor gallery.
- "Carving Workshop" Visitors can explore the original workshop of legendary carver R. Madison Mitchell exactly as it appeared during his lifetime.
The museum also maintains a library full of resources on decoy carving, decoy carvers, decoy collecting, hunting, waterfowling, wetlands ecology, guns, bird identification, and bird biology. Located on the museum's second floor, the library holds more than 600 volumes and a small assortment of archival material.
History
The museum was established in 1986 as a private, non-profit institution existing to preserve the historical and cultural legacy of waterfowling and decoy making on the Chesapeake Bay.
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