CENTREVILLE — One year ago, Clayton Washington was in the hospital recuperating from a broken femur. While flipping through channels on his room’s TV he discovered a documentary about Black watermen and the seafood industry.
“I was engrossed in the great story of our African American heritage,” he said. “When it ended I started making calls.”
He contacted people who appeared in the documentary and asked them to join him and share the story with as many people as possible. “I know a lot of people hadn’t seen it and would not unless I made an effort to make sure they do.”
On Feb. 17, despite the threat of snow, a nearly sold-out crowd joined local and state government officials to view “Water’s Edge: Black Watermen of the Chesapeake.”
Among the documentary participants present were Marc Castelli, renowned painter of Chesapeake watermen; Lydia Williams, The Water’s Edge Museum; Monica Davis, director of The Water’s Edge/Bellevue Passage Museums; Kat DeShields-Moon, a fourth generation Bellevue descendant and Pete Lesher, chief historian of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Other participants were Captain Tyrone Meredith, Captain Tyrone Charters/Island Queen, Island Queen First Mate Vera Meredith and Dr. Clara Small, professor emerita of History, Salisbury University. Joining them were Queen Anne’s County Council member Jim Moran. John Kurtz, State Secretary of Natural Resources attended on behalf of Governor Wes Moore.
“Water’s Edge” , a seamless, captivating mixture of film, photos, and interviews progressed through an Eastern Shore journey of enslavement and freedom-seeking. The documentary first aired on Maryland Public Television April of 2023.
Exploring the connection of African American men and women who worked “hand in hand, heart in heart” on the water and land in packing and shucking houses, the documentary introduced the story of entrepreneur George Brown, a Black Baltimore steamboat owner whose Brown’s Grove Amusement Park predated Carr’s and Sparrow’s Beach. Also featured were Oxford sailmakers Downes and Albert Curtis, creators of sails for workboats, celebrities and politicians such as Johnny Carson, Jackie Gleason, and members of the Kennedy family. (Clayton Washington is Downes and Albert’s nephew).
Viewers learned about the entrepreneurial success of packing house owners William Colbourne and Frederick Jewett, at one time the largest employer in St. Michaels and originators of the crabmeat grading system still in use today.
After the screening Feb. 17 at the Kennard Cultural Heritage Center in Centreville, audience members were encouraged to ask questions of the panelists and discussed with them topics from Chessie sightings, the future of the seafood industry, public access to the water, rockfish restrictions, how to preserve the history of watermen and include it as part of the county’s school curriculum.
“Water’s Edge” proves family is the bedrock of watermen communities.
Fourth-generation descendants of Bellevue are spearheading efforts to create the Bellevue Passage Museum. Tyrone and Vera Meredith continue the tradition of their family and father, Captain Eldridge Meredith, the 101st Admiral of the Chesapeake. Bryson Jones, Captain Tyrone’s grandson, has declared his intention to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. The family of Captain Lewis Carter, a subject of the Kennard collection of Marc Castelli’s paintings, describes their pride in their patriarch. ”It makes me proud,” says his oldest daughter Rochelle, “he’s not your average waterman. If he can’t give his best he doesn’t give at all. For him, it’s more than money, it’s a passion.” For his younger daughter Yolanda, “seeing the painting makes me proud, even more proud when I speak about him. Everyone says how nice he is. I’m proud to have come from a generation of watermen.” Chelone Wilson, Captain Carter’s granddaughter, describes him as the true example of a hardworking man. “No matter how exhausted he is, he always makes sure that everything is truly done right. They don’t make them like him anymore. He’s a good provider, a caretaker, and just a humble guy.”
For Clayton Washington, himself a descendant of watermen, preserving the region’s African American maritime history is part of his greater calling. “I’ve been blessed to be on the path for 17 years and to learn more about my own heritage. I want to keep telling that story to others who don’t know it. If we don’t, who will?”
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