Welcome to Eastport

Eastport's distinctive history, character, and identity grew from maritime roots, with shorelines once so crowded with wooden workboats that it was said a cat could cross the peninsula from boat to boat without getting its feet wet. Once a separate town, Eastport was annexed to Annapolis in 1951 but retained a distinct local flavor and spirit, later symbolized by yellow "We like it this way" flags first flown in 1998 when the community created the mock "Maritime Republic of Eastport" and declared independence from Annapolis during a temporary bridge closure. The McNasby Oyster Company moved from Annapolis City Dock in 1919 and became the last of many oyster-packing houses in Annapolis, where watermen sold their harvest and oysters were shucked, sorted, cleaned, canned, and shipped as far as Canada. After William "Mac" MacNasby died in the early 1970s, unsuccessful efforts were made to revive the oyster business, but declining oyster and crab populations ended those efforts, and the building became the home of the Annapolis Maritime Museum. Shuckers in the 1920s were mainly African-American and worked all day standing in individual stalls to protect their feet from piling oyster shells. Nearby, the narrow Barge House, measuring 12 feet by 49 feet, was built by Winson Gott between 1916 and 1919 for the McNasby Oyster Company as housing for oyster shuckers, designed to float on a barge in summer and be hauled ashore during oyster season. After the hurricane of 1933, it was secured on a permanent foundation, later became the first home of the Annapolis Maritime Museum in 1991, and now serves as the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse Interpretive Center; both it and the McNasby building were heavily flooded by Hurricane Isabel's 8-foot tidal surge in 2003.

Annapolis, Maryland · United States