To Better Share the City’s Chesapeake Heritage with the Public
The National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office and Historic Annapolis announced today a new partnership to better share the story of Annapolis’s Chesapeake Bay heritage with the public. The partnership centers around the Annapolis Historic District, recognized in 1965 as a National Historic Landmark, and Annapolis’s historic City Dock, designated by the National Park Service as a Chesapeake Bay Gateway in 2001.
Over the next five years Historic Annapolis and the National Park Service will collaborate with the City of Annapolis and other partners, including the Chesapeake Conservancy, to enhance Annapolis as a Chesapeake Bay Gateway. The agreement calls for: better interpreting and connecting residents and visitors with Annapolis’s rich Chesapeake maritime heritage; improving public access to authentic cultural and natural resources and the Bay; and fostering stewardship of those resources by residents, visitors, organizations, and the community.
The first year’s award of $107,000 from the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay Gateways program, plus an equal amount of non-federal resources provided by Historic Annapolis, will build on and help implement the plan for a re-envisioned City Dock now being developed by Historic Annapolis and the City.
The work supported by the NPS Gateways funds includes: facilitating the on-going outreach strategy for engaging citizens in planning for City Dock; developing an implementation strategy for the forthcoming City Dock consensus plan; conducting a feasibility study for the future of the last original watermen’s home in Annapolis, the historic Burtis House, including its potential as a venue for telling the City Dock and Chesapeake story; and creating an overall interpretive master plan for City Dock. This initial work will take place over the coming year.
“Historic Annapolis and the City are doing truly innovative, collaborative work in re-envisioning the future of City Dock and we are proud to join the effort,” said Wendy O’Sullivan, superintendent of the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office. “City Dock and the entire historic district are local and national treasures—true gateways to the Chesapeake Bay. We are thrilled to enter a long-term partnership for enhancing access to these treasures and telling the Chesapeake story.”
“There are few brands more widely respected and loved in America than the National Park Service,” said Robert Clark, president of Historic Annapolis. “And we think there is no better place for connecting people with the Chesapeake Bay than the Annapolis Historic District and City Dock. We are tremendously excited over the potential this partnership with the National Park Service brings for enhancing how we tell the Annapolis story and give people access to the Bay.”
“Congratulations to Historic Annapolis and the National Park Service on their new partnership,” said Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley. “For generations, our City Dock has been the maritime entrance for all people coming to Annapolis. It has recently been designated as a Site of Memory Associated with the UNESCO Slave Route project. The City Council looks forward to receiving the citizen consensus plan created through a partnership with Historic Annapolis, will get to work on implementation decisions and will be interested in interpretive ideas that Historic Annapolis develops in this new partnership.”
"One of Annapolis's greatest treasures is City Dock. It's a favorite place for both locals and visitors. But one thing that seemed to be missing is an engaging way to tell the story and provide a sense of the rich history of the Chesapeake and Annapolis," said Chesapeake Conservancy president & CEO Joel Dunn. "We're thrilled to be part of this partnership which brings together the right leadership, creative talents, and innovative thinking to be successful."
