Saxis Island Museum

Grant: $10,000 to Restore Historic Milk House; Purchase Museum Display Cases  

The Mission of the Saxis Island Museum is to help preserve the history of Saxis Island and to document the lives of the people that made a living on the island and in the surrounding waters of Chesapeake Bay. While documenting the fading lifestyle of the Saxis Island watermen, the museum will help educate current and future generations on the dangers of misuse of the Chesapeake Bay and its ecosystems. Founded in 2011, the museum was granted 501(c)3 status in 2012. 

The Saxis Island Museum started with a temporary exhibit at the Delmarva Discovery Center and initially rented the left half of the Saxis Post Office building. After the Old Crockett Store was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved a grant to restore the historic structure. The museum exhibits were moved into the restored space in 2017, which now serves as the permanent home of the Saxis Island Museum. That same year, the Old Crockett Store was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today the authentically restored 100+ year Old Crockett Store contains many artifacts, model boats, decoys and photographs of buildings and the people of Saxis Island that have existed since the 1880s.’

The Fall 2023 Grant of $10,000 from ESVCF was to complete the restoration of a small antique, portable wooden milk house. There are several shelves inside for storing bowls of milk waiting for the cream to rise and pots of cream. According to Edward Barnes, a recognized Eastern Shore of Virginia historian, this milk house was probably built about the same time as the Old Crockett Store (1910) or earlier (1880-1910) when Saxis Island families had cows for producing their daily supplies of milk and cream.

In addition to restoring the antique milk house and moving it onsite, the grant request included the purchase of additional antique counters and glass showcases to display model boats, decoys, shore birds and other valuable artifacts that the museum has acquired since opening in 2017.

Summer 2024 Grant Update: The milk house was successfully restored and moved onsite in Spring 2024. Saxis Island Museum Board Chair Moody K. Miles notes: “No visitors nor locals, including those who grew up on Saxis Island or other places on the Eastern Shore, have known what its purpose was or even remember seeing it on Saxis or seeing another one anywhere in their travels. Restoring it and moving it to a public display place is becoming a storytelling opportunity. Many Eastern Shore residents visit the museum and say it’s their first visit to Saxis Island. In some ways Saxis Island is more remote than Tangier Island.”