Program Schedule: April 19-25, 2026
| Time | Program Details |
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5:30 PM  | Chesapeake Beacons Chesapeake Beacons is a breathtaking survey of the Bay’s most treasured navigation landmarks, complete with stunning bird’s-eye aerials, up close and personal tours, and dramatic time-lapse views that capture their iconic beauty. Discover the legends, lore, and fascinating maritime history behind these beacons of the past. |
6:00 PM  | Chesapeake Decoys Explore the ancient art of the waterfowl hunt–and the fine art it has inspired. Chesapeake Decoys explores the Chesapeake marshlands, where hunters share in an age-old tradition, and to the Easton Waterfowl Festival, where intricate decoys carved from blocks of wood fetch generous sums from enthusiastic collectors. |
6:30 PM  | Resurrecting Poplar Island Witness the rebirth of a unique Chesapeake ecosystem in Resurrecting Poplar Island. Once home to a thriving community, Poplar Island was reduced to a few wispy bars of sand by the 1990s. Its reconstruction remains one of the most ambitious environmental engineering projects on the planet. |
7:00 PM  | Lifeblood: Chesapeake River Stories (P) NEW Sustained by a vast network of over 100,000 rivers, creeks, and streams that thread through six states, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed carries billions of gallons of water, impacting lives and livelihoods along the way. Discover how rivers connect, sustain, and inspire through tales of whitewater kayaking the Potomac, gold prospecting on the Susquehanna, creating fine art from Patuxent driftwood, and more. |
| Time | Program Details |
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7:30 PM  | Saving Chesapeake Bay: A Cleaner Future (P) NEW Is the Chesapeake Bay actually getting cleaner? After a 40 year commitment to restore the Bay, many wonder whether it’s really on track to recover. What still needs to be done to make Chesapeake Bay’s waters noticeably better so its fisheries can thrive for years to come? "Saving Chesapeake Bay: A Cleaner Future" explores that question and more. |
9:00 PM - 9:20 PM  | Unfiltered (P) NEW Oyster farming is spreading across the Eastern Shore, but farmers and environmentalists fear new challenges presented by the Bay’s changing tides! "Unfiltered" explores how conservation, culture, and industry are mingling in the region to create new hurdles and opportunities for farmers new and old. |
9:20 PM - 9:30 PM  | Moon Crab (P) NEW The horseshoe crab, one of Earth's oldest living species, is now struggling with extreme population decline. Moon Crab reflects on nature's cycles with archival and experimental visuals, showcasing an array of techniques, including eco-processed film developed with seaweed, for an immersive view into the crab's subaquatic world. |
9:30 PM  | Creatures of the Chesapeake Watch a seahorse stalk its prey, marvel at the simple elegance of the moon jellyfish as it glides through the water, and listen for the distinctive foghorn sound of the oyster toadfish. Get to know these Creatures of the Chesapeake and more in this up-close look at residents of North America’s largest estuary. |
10:00 PM  | Oysterfest This three-part collection celebrates the Bay’s favorite bivalve in all its glory. Lifeline: A Chesapeake Oyster Documentary chronicles the decline of the Chesapeake’s native oyster population. The Incredible Oyster Reef highlights the ecological significance of the wild oyster reef as an anchor for the ecosystem. The Local Oyster Stout uncovers the development of Maryland’s first farm-to-table oyster stout beer. |
10:30 PM  | Water's Way: Thinking Like A Watershed Explore how the natural processes that control runoff and filter our water are impacted by urban development, agriculture and changes to streams– and learn how beavers and trees are helping restore the Chesapeake Bay! |
11:15 PM  | Cold Stunned Every year, hundreds of endangered "cold-stunned" sea turtles wash ashore in Cape Cod Bay, at risk of illness or even death due to the frigid winter waters. Cold Stunned explores the work that the National Aquarium does, together with conservation partners, to rescue, rehab and release these turtles into warmer waters. |
| Time | Program Details |
|---|---|
7:00 PM  | Maryland Farm & Harvest Episode 1304 (Bay) The Hutchison Brothers Farm earned the 2024 Aldo Leopold Conservation Award for a commitment to soil and water conservation. Then, in a privately owned high-tech lab, Ferry Cove Shellfish quietly reshapes the future of the Chesapeake Bay. Finally, Chef Jordan Lloyd dispels the month with an "R" myth and prepares Oysters Rockefeller with an Eastern Shore twist. |
7:30 PM  | Outdoors Maryland: Episode 3705 (Bay) River otters are popping up in some surprising places, and researchers want to know if these top predators are truly thriving. At Annapolis’ adaptive sailing center, meet Marylanders who aren’t letting disabilities keep them from a Chesapeake adventure. And across the state, scientists survey waterways for freshwater mussels. |
8:00 PM  | Racing Rivals: Log Canoes of Chesapeake Bay On breezy summer weekends, racing fleets of Chesapeake Bay log canoes compete in an iconic display of speed, agility and elegance! Racing Rivals: Log Canoes of Chesapeake Bay celebrates this uniquely Chesapeake sport and the passionate sailors vying for coveted trophies. |
8:30 PM  | Bay to Baltimore (P) NEW Ultramarathon open water swimmer and painter Katie Pumphrey hopes to become the first person to swim 24 miles from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Baltimore’s newly swimmable Inner Harbor. As she trains for and promotes this difficult swim, Pumphrey must face a public who thinks she's crazy to swim in the historically polluted waters. |
9:00 PM  | Power of the Paddle Witness one man’s voyage across the length of the Chesapeake Bay on only a stand-up paddleboard! Power of the Paddle follows Chris Hopkinson’s grueling 240-mile journey across the Bay to raise money for oyster restoration. |
9:30 PM  | Discovering the Dove The centuries-old story of Maryland’s founding enters a brand new chapter as a team of shipbuilders endeavor to recreate the Dove of 1633...without a blueprint. Follow along as historians and shipbuilders unravel the mystery of what the 17th century ship central to Maryland's founding might have looked like. |
10:00 PM  | The Search for the USS Scorpion The Search for the USS Scorpion uncovers the muddy murk of the Patuxent River, where underwater archaeologists are in the midst of a treasure hunt after discovering what they believe is the War of 1812 warship used by Commodore Joshua Barney. |
10:30 PM  | Kent County's Storied Landscape: Place, Past and Present How is history expressed in a landscape? Kent County, in Maryland, lies between the Sassafras and Chester Rivers on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. In an era of building, development and habitat destruction, Kent County is unique in its continuity of working agricultural lands and waterways that embody patterns of life from prehistoric times to today. Watch Now: Kent County's Storied Landscape: Place, Past and Present |
| Time | Program Details |
|---|---|
7:00 PM  | On Water's Edge Rising sea levels can present major challenges for communities along Maryland’s Eastern shore– and perhaps nowhere are they felt as acutely as in Crisfield. Explore the city’s past and present relationship to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay– and what it might look like in the future. Discover the challenges posed by living On Water's Edge, along with potential solutions that could rebuild a more sustainable economic backbone. |
7:30 PM  | Salted Earth Plunge deep into the heart of an invisible and creeping crisis that's transforming the Mid-Atlantic – the inexorable rise of sea levels. In Salted Earth, we hear from environmental experts as well as residents who live in these affected areas. The threat is not just the swelling sea, but the encroaching salt that kills forests and affects farmable land. |
8:00 PM  | Chesapeake Rhythms Chesapeake Rhythms celebrates the seasonal movement of some of the region’s iconic species.Captivating visuals and lyrical prose chronicle the comings and goings of creatures like the tundra swan, monarch butterfly, and the American eel. |
8:30 PM | Resurrecting Poplar Island Witness the rebirth of a unique Chesapeake ecosystem in Resurrecting Poplar Island. Once home to a thriving community, Poplar Island was reduced to a few wispy bars of sand by the 1990s. Its reconstruction remains one of the most ambitious environmental engineering projects on the planet. |
| Time | Program Details |
|---|---|
7:00 PM  | Potomac by Air Beginning in West Virginia, the fly over event captures the flow of the Potomac River as it rapidly descends through the Appalachian Mountains into the Piedmont region of Maryland, then proceeds south past the Great Falls into the nation’s capital, before ending in the Chesapeake Bay. A scenic journey of the river's natural and man-made history along with America's monuments and memorials. |
8:00 PM | Lifeblood: Chesapeake River Stories (P) NEW Sustained by a vast network of over 100,000 rivers, creeks, and streams that thread through six states, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed carries billions of gallons of water, impacting lives and livelihoods along the way. Discover how rivers connect, sustain, and inspire through tales of whitewater kayaking the Potomac, gold prospecting on the Susquehanna, creating fine art from Patuxent driftwood, and more. |
9:00 PM  | Headwaters Down: Tidal River Headwaters Down: Tidal River follows five friends as they attempt to finish documenting Virginia’s James River, one of the most consequential waterways in North America. They start in Richmond, Virginia and continue 110 miles to the Chesapeake Bay. The crew visit several historic sites, including the site of the Kepone Chemical Disaster, The Battle of Pocahontas, and Jamestown Island. |
10:00 PM  | Conowingo Dam: Power on the Susquehanna Drama and controversy have surrounded the impressive Conowingo Dam since its opening in 1928. Its story, rich in history and irony, includes the drowning of an historic Maryland village, the loss of rich valley farmland, and the profound impact on downriver communities—a tale that has waited nearly 90 years to be told. |
11:00 PM  | Reviving the Forgotten River Explore the trials and triumphs of the Anacostia and its river heroes as they fight for a cleaner, swimmable, and fishable river. Guided by riverkeeper Trey Sherard and community activist Dennis Chestnut, Reviving the Forgotten River takes viewers on a journey through the troubled past and present of the waterway. |
| Time | Program Details |
|---|---|
7:30 PM | Bay to Baltimore (P) NEW Ultramarathon open water swimmer and painter Katie Pumphrey hopes to become the first person to swim 24 miles from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Baltimore’s newly swimmable Inner Harbor. As she trains for and promotes this difficult swim, Pumphrey must face a public who thinks she’s crazy to swim in the historically polluted waters. |
9:00 PM  | Secrets of the Chesapeake Take a trip along the bay, uncovering the most unusual places to explore and things to do for the weekender. These aren't ordinary tourist destinations, they're spots that only a native would point to: from a hidden cove of shipwrecks to an island seafood-shack...quiet crossroads where local history comes alive! |
10:00 PM  | Downee Ocean, Hon! From the beach to the boardwalk, the ferris wheel to fishing, ocean sunrise to bay nightlife, Downee Ocean, Hon! captures the OC experience– the rich history, family traditions, & small-town charm that's kept it one of the East Coast's top vacation spots. |
| Time | Program Details |
|---|---|
5:30 PM - 6:15 PM  | A Passion for Oysters To most, oysters are a tasty delicacy, yet this humble shellfish has inspired wars, piracy, socio-environmental conflicts, and libraries of legislation for more than two centuries. A Passion for Oysters explores these issues and more, evoking the history, culture, art, and science surrounding the Chesapeake oyster. |
6:15 PM - 6:30 PM  | Nassawango Legacy Take a look at one family's multi-generational efforts to protect a Chesapeake Bay stream and The Nature Conservancy's work to assure that it continues to flourish as an 11,000-acre preserve. |
6:30 PM  | Eatin' Oysters: Chesapeake Style Here in Maryland, home of the Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Oyster is king. Take a tour around the Chesapeake region in search of who’s eating oysters, who’s shucking, why they love them, where to find the tastiest ones, and the best ways to eat them. |
7:00 PM  | Eatin' the Chesapeake: The Five Feasts From the quiet brackish shallows at Elk Neck, Maryland to the rolling hills and beauty of southern Maryland farms, and on to the lively talk and song of Eastern Shore church halls, 400 years of seafood, seashore, and traditional cooking is coming home to Marylanders and their neighbors. So pull up a chair and sample the best dishes the Chesapeake region has to offer! |
7:30 PM  | Eatin' Blue Catfish From the quiet brackish shallows at Elk Neck, Maryland to the rolling hills and beauty of southern Maryland farms, and on to the lively talk and song of Eastern Shore church halls, 400 years of seafood, seashore, and traditional cooking is coming home to Marylanders and their neighbors. So pull up a chair and sample the best dishes the Chesapeake region has to offer! |
8:00 PM  | Water's Edge: Black Watermen of the Chesapeake In mid-nineteenth-century Maryland, African Americans who lived and worked on the water experienced a limited form of freedom. Water's Edge: Black Watermen of the Chesapeake chronicles unsung Marylanders that revolutionized an industry, dreamed beyond their circumstance and are still keeping this tradition alive today. Uncover the stories of bravery and resilience, illuminating an industry packed with pioneers. |
9:00 PM  | Visions of the Chesapeake (Pledge) Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum Chief Historian Pete Lesher interviews master photographers Dave Harp and Jay Fleming, whose work features the ever-changing land- and seascape of Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries, and its people. |
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