Join Us in 2025!
Doors Open 6 pm & Cocktails 6:00 – 6:30 pm
Lecture 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Save your spot now for this popular winter series of experts discussing the wildlife of the Chesapeake Bay, paired with appetizers and beverages.
The cost is $20 per person per lecture for members and $25 per person per lecture for non-members.
January 16, 2025 – SOLD OUT!
Birds! Birds! Birds!
Join CBEC’s own Judy Wink and CBEC volunteers Adele Clagett and Anne Brunson on a year-round bird adventure. We’ll share interesting tidbits and fun facts about birds you can find at CBEC—and sometimes in your own back yard—in the winter, spring, summer, and fall.
February 20, 2025
A Shell-Shocking Story: Soft Shell Clams in the Chesapeake Bay
Oysters and crabs get all the attention, but did you know that soft shell clams play a significant role in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem? Important filter feeders, the soft shell clam population has also experienced significant declines in recent years. Heather Brunelle will teach us about clams in the Bay, including their ecological and economic impacts, and will introduce us to her research about these interesting creatures.
March 20, 2025
Wild Sex: How Nature Does It!
Nature is WILD, and sometimes competition for reproduction is fierce–from birds and bees to orchids! Join naturalist Kerry Wixted and learn how different plants and animals procreate in odd, interesting, and sometimes deadly ways.
Kerry Wixted, a Maryland naturalist with over 15 years’ experience studying flora and fauna of Maryland. She has previously worked for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. She holds a B.S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Management from Frostburg State University, and a M.S. degree in Biology from West Virginia University.
April 10, 2025
It’s a Shore Thing: What Archaeology Tells Us about Tidewater Living
Maryland’s Eastern Shore is distinctive geographically and culturally from the rest of the state, or the “western shore” as referenced by its denizens. For millennia, Eastern Shore life has been intimately intertwined with water. Archaeological investigations tell us not only how people utilized waterways and the resources within and around them but also how groups adapted their procurement and social strategies as the freshwater Susquehanna evolved into the estuarine Chesapeake Bay. Recent excavations on the upper Choptank River provide a glimpse into how the river shaped the diets of the various groups who have lived here and connected people economically and culturally to others in the region and across the Atlantic Ocean.
Dr. Julie G. Markin is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Archaeology Program at Washington College. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and History from the University of Alabama and her doctoral degree in Ecological Anthropology from the University of Georgia. Dr. Markin examines how environmental abundance, social systems, and production intersect to fuel [or preclude] the rise of socially and politically complex societies. She is currently engaged in developing a clearer picture of the social and economic landscape of the Chesapeake Bay region prior to European arrival, with a particular emphasis on the nebulous Eastern Shore. A strong believer in collaboration and public education, Dr. Markin has worked in partnership with the Archeological Society of Maryland, Maryland Historical Trust, and Caroline County Historical Society during her investigations of Barwick’s Ordinary.
LOCATION
CBEC Education Building, 600 Discovery Lane, Grasonville, MD 21638
The lecture duration is from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.