The Galesville Heritage Museum at 988 Main Street ended its season on November 1 with a wine and cheese reception, and nothing else is on its calendar until it opens again. The Dock Bar at Pirates Cove is closed until spring 2027. From now until mid-December, the West River's public calendar comes down to two buildings. One is Galesville Memorial Hall at 952 Main Street. The other is a waterman's house from around 1860 on the Shady Side peninsula. Twice this season, on Saturday, November 21, and Saturday, December 5, those two buildings split one day between them, from a morning event to an evening one.
Here is the full calendar, in order.
| Date | Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 | 1:30 to 3 p.m. | Write by the Bay, holiday stories | Captain Avery Museum |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | 4 to 6 p.m. | Fall Seasonal Watercolor Workshop, ages 21+ | Captain Avery Museum |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | 9 a.m. | WRIA Bake Sale | Galesville Memorial Hall |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | 4 to 6:30 p.m. | Holiday Mosaic Art | Captain Avery Museum |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | 10 a.m. to noon | Winter Greens & Cozy Crafts, free | Captain Avery Museum |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | 6 p.m. | WRIA Holiday Social | Galesville Memorial Hall |
| Sat., Dec. 12 and Sun., Dec. 13 | 1 p.m. | Tea with the Sugar Plum Fairy & Nutcracker Prince | Captain Avery Museum |
The house that was always busiest in winter
The Captain Avery Museum stands at 1418 E. West Shady Side Road in Shady Side. Its grounds and pier are open from dawn to dusk all year. The house itself is open for tours by appointment, which you can set up by phone or email. The museum's 2026–2027 fall and winter notice keeps that same appointment-only setup for the season.
The building fits the season. Its first owner made his living in the cold months. Salem Avery was born in 1831 and left Long Island in his early twenties. He was part of a wave of Long Island watermen, an older brother among them, who left over-fished oyster beds and came to Maryland in the 1850s. According to the museum's history of the Avery House, New York and New England oystermen had already been working Chesapeake waters in winter for two generations by the time he arrived.
Within ten years he had married Lucretia Weedon, a Mayo native, and bought the house and waterfront property where the museum now stands. Over the next 25 years he owned at least a dozen vessels, three sloops and nine schooners, and usually served as both managing owner and captain. He worked as a buy-boat captain, buying oysters from the tongers out on the water and carrying them to packing houses in Crisfield, Norfolk and Baltimore. The museum quotes an 1880 U.S. Fish report on how that trade worked out on the water:
"The runner (also known as the Buy Boat) will be anchored near some tonging ground, an empty basket or a small flag will be hoisted to the masthead as a signal that she is ready to receive oysters. In one or two days she will be loaded and is at once off for a market."
Avery was one of about 200 Marylanders licensed to run a buy boat. Officials estimated in 1880 that a captain earned $50 a month and each of his four crew members earned $18 a month plus board. The museum's history also says oystering season was especially hard on the family, because he could be away from home for a week at a time. The place now called Shady Side was known as the "Great Swamp" when he settled there. It got its current name shortly after his death in 1887, and the museum credits Avery and the other Black and white watermen and farming families with turning the sparsely settled swamp into a community.
The house stands today because of a purchase made in 1989, when the Shady Side Rural Heritage Society bought the waterfront parcel. The Society then restored the house to look roughly as it did around 1860. The group took the Captain Avery Museum name in 2010. So the December workshops will meet in the house of a man whose working year peaked in the cold months.
November 14: two sessions at the Avery house
The museum's November programs start on Saturday the 14th with two separate sessions. Write by the Bay runs from 1:30 to 3 p.m. This month's prompt fits the season: "Do you have a story of how Thanksgiving or Christmas was special?" Registration is through the museum's events calendar.
The Fall Seasonal Watercolor Workshop follows from 4 to 6 p.m. It focuses on fall subjects painted in a warm autumn palette and is open to adults 21 and older.
Bridge also runs every week on the same calendar. Bridge lessons meet on Thursdays, with beginners from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. and intermediate players from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m., and carry a $5 recommended donation. Social Bridge is free and meets Tuesdays from 1 to 3 p.m. and Fridays starting at 10 a.m. In weeks with no special event, those are the house's regular programs.
November 21: the first Saturday that uses both buildings
The day starts in Galesville. The West River Improvement Association's bake sale opens at 9 a.m. at Galesville Memorial Hall, 952 Main Street.
The afternoon event is in Shady Side. Local artist Tracie Cahan leads Holiday Mosaic Art, a hands-on introductory workshop on making holiday-themed mosaics, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Registration costs $40 for museum members and $50 for nonmembers. The workshop starts as the light is going in late November, so the Avery pier is worth a look before you go inside.
December 5: the same pairing, in reverse
On December 5 the order flips, with the morning in Shady Side and the evening in Galesville.
- 10 a.m. to noon, Captain Avery Museum. The SoCo Seed Collective leads Winter Greens & Cozy Crafts. It is free.
- 6 p.m., Galesville Memorial Hall. The WRIA Holiday Social at 952 Main Street. The association's own description is short: "Enjoy a social gathering with your neighbors at Galesville Hall."
That leaves a long gap in the middle of the day. Pirates Cove at 4817 Riverside Drive lists Saturday dining hours of 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Its posted schedule for the rest of the week is Monday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., with brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Dock Bar stays closed until spring 2027.
December 12 and 13: the last booking of the year
The season ends at the Avery house with Tea with the Sugar Plum Fairy & Nutcracker Prince at 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, and again at 1 p.m. on Sunday, December 13. Reservations are required. It is the only event on this calendar that runs on two days, and it is also the last one listed for the year.
The water stays open in daylight
After the tea, the West River's off-season comes down to whatever daylight allows. The Avery grounds and pier stay open from dawn to dusk. North of the river, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center keeps its public trails and dinghy dock open every day. From November through March, visiting hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., according to SERC's visitor page. That makes SERC an early-day stop, since the trails close before sunset for most of the winter.
The Galesville Heritage Society's fall newsletter called its village "this little place on the West River" that is "worth preserving." In November and December, the work of keeping that place going is mostly done by two small volunteer-run groups and their calendars: the West River Improvement Association at Memorial Hall and the Shady Side Rural Heritage Society at the Avery house.
If you own on the West River or are thinking about it, ask what the shoreline is like in December, when the dock bars are closed and the pier is open only until dusk, as well as what it is like in July. The Housecats Company can walk you through how this stretch of water changes from season to season, from Galesville to Shady Side. Let's Work Together.