The Reedville Fishermen’s Museum (RFM) celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2018!!!

The Reedville Fishermen’s Museum is located in the heart of the historic district of Reedville, a working fishing village founded in 1874 by Elijah Reed. The William Walker House, the oldest dwelling in Reedville, opened as the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum in 1988. The Covington building (now the main museum galleries) was constructed in 1995 along with an additional shop building, the Pendleton, which houses our boat and model train shops. Local craftsmen volunteer their time to restore vintage boats and build new ones, and also host our annual Family Boat Building event. The Model Shop volunteers create our exhibit dioramas and run their special huge HO scale railroad layout, which is open for special events and the month of December for the annual train show.

Our dock is home to two National Historic Register vessels, the buy boat Elva C and the skipjack The Claud Somers. In addition, Also, a restored flat bottom deadrise boat, the Foggy River, now serves as a floating classroom on how to fish for oysters and crabs. A recent addition is a full sized 1980s aluminum purse boat that originally was part of the Omega Protein fleet

The museum features a large gift shop which offers many hand-crafted items made by local artisans, plus a large selection of area related books. Volunteer docents provide tours to all visitors of our buildings and grounds. Our museum is an affiliate member of the Council of American Maritime Museums and is dedicated to preserving the heritage of the maritime history of the lower Chesapeake Bay area and the watermen who have plied their trade here for hundreds of years, and the menhaden industry that has existed in Reedville for over a century.