SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY| WEDNESDAY| THURSDAY| FRIDAY| SATURDAY

5:30pm: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge: Spanning the Bay

In 1952, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge changed everything for Maryland, with far-reaching effects on everything from commerce to commuting. It fueled the growing tourism industry, transforming tiny beachside resorts such as Ocean City into bustling summertime destinations. Discover the vision, struggles, and engineering genius that led to the creation of this state treasure!

6:30pm: Chesapeake Bay by Air

Chesapeake Bay by Air captures the unparalleled wild beauty, rich history, and natural serenity of the bay from 2,000 feet above. The program marries gentle verse, prose, and music with dramatic images captured by high-definition cameras that bring the region into razor-sharp perspective. Viewers are transported to many of the Chesapeake Bay's most stunning locations, from dawn over the Susquehanna River, and the mysterious carved marsh of Blackwater Wildlife Refuge to the tranquil fishing village of Smith Island and the smokestacks of Sparrow's Point. Cameras also soar above the ancient Calvert Cliffs, Annapolis, and bustling Baltimore, the steel spans of the Chesapeake Bay Bridges, and historic Point Lookout.

7:30pm: 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.

7:30pm: The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal: Gateway to the World

The story of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is one that is little-known but fascinating. This critically-important 14-mile-long trade route used extensively for international shipping is known as “Baltimore’s back door,” a money saving shortcut between the port of Baltimore and points north via the Atlantic Ocean. The canal’s construction in the early 1800’s was a catalyst to Baltimore’s booming growth as a major inland port. Today, it’s a nautical gateway to Baltimore that carries more than 40% of all trade traffic into the port. This program shares the canal’s history and impact to the area through the stories of ship pilots, historians, lock operators, re-enactors, engineers, authors and others.

8pm: NEW Water's Edge: Black Watermen of the Chesapeake

The unique relationship between African Americans and the Chesapeake Bay contains an abundance of untold stories, tales revealed in Maryland Public Television’s new documentary, Water’s Edge: Black Watermen of the Chesapeake. Stories of bravery and resilience illuminate an industry packed with African American pioneers. Meet an ambitious steamboat captain who revolutionized recreation for Black Marylanders in the early twentieth century, a pair of renowned sailmakers from Oxford, and innovators such as the present-day captains who are surviving by shifting their businesses to meet a changing market. 

9pm: Chesapeake Decoys: The Nature of Waterfowl Art 

Explore the ancient art of the waterfowl hunt–and the fine art it has inspired. Chesapeake Decoys: The Nature of Waterfowl Art takes viewers to 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.

9:30pm: 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. A visual spectacle, this special also introduces viewers to the legends, lore, and fascinating maritime history behind these beacons of the past.

>> View Featured Lighthouses Map

10pm: Conowingo Dam: Power on the Susquehanna

When it was opened in 1928, the Conowingo Dam was celebrated worldwide as a miraculous engineering feat. The dam’s unique story and place in Maryland history is now told in this one-hour documentary that recalls the drama and controversy that has swirled around the structure since its opening in 1928. From the drowning of an historic Maryland village and rich valley farmland to stories focusing on town life downriver, the Conowingo Dam’s story is rich in history and irony–a tale that has waited nearly 90 years to be told.

8pm: NEW Discovering the Dove

In Discovering the Dove, a 30-minute documentary special, 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. Join historians and craftspeople in unraveling the mystery of what the 17th century ship might have looked like.  Discover clues in passenger diaries, period artwork, and sunken ships, and visit the shipyard at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum to watch as the New Maryland Dove takes shape, plank by plank. Finally, accompany the crew of the new vessel for her maiden voyage across the Chesapeake Bay to Historic St. Mary’s City − a journey that highlights just how much we can discover about the past through recreating it.

8:30pm: NEW Kent County’s Storied Landscape 

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. Walk the pristine coastline where Native Americans once lived, and meet an archaeologist uncovering evidence of a centuries-old oyster roast. Learn how footprints of English settlements reveal evidence of early colonial trade, and find out what a new map of the region has revealed. Follow a young man as he walks an African American graveyard, seeking out his ancestors' lost heritage. Then squint into the rising sun as watermen continue to harvest the Chesapeake Bay’s iconic rockfish, oysters, and crabs using the fishing techniques of the first indigenous people.

9:00pm: NEW Pop’s Old Place 

Welcome to Pop's Old Place on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where farmer Darlene Goehringer and her family have worked the land for more than a century. Today, Darlene looks to the future as she tries to balance sustainable farming methods with her need to sustain an income.

9:30pm: Power of the Paddle

Witness one man’s voyage across the length of the Chesapeake Bay on only a stand-up paddleboard. The film follows his grueling feat, difficult for even the most well-conditioned athlete, and his effort to raise money for oyster restoration. The journey from the northernmost reaches of the estuary south to where the Bay meets the open ocean is physically and emotionally challenging − and, some might say, crazy. 

7pm: NEW Search for the Cooper: A River Hidden in Plain View

Search for the Cooper is about four teenagers who kayak, hike, muck, and bushwhack for six days along the neglected Cooper River in Camden County, NJ. Their unprecedented challenge is to find the source of the river, 17 miles upstream from its mouth on the Delaware River. As they embark upon their journey, the teens quickly discover there is much more to Camden County than they anticipated.

7:30pm: Troubled Tributary: Maryland’s Patuxent River 

The Patuxent River is the longest river in Maryland and a crucial tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Despite the central role the river has played in the history of the Bay's environmental movement and abundant conservation resources funneled to it over the years, the Patuxent remains a polluted river. Its riverkeeper, Fred Tutman, explains why he believes minority communities are disproportionately affected by poor water quality.

8pm: NEW Upstream, Downriver 

Fresh water. Imagine a day without it. We use it to grow food, transport goods, generate power, support industry, and provide sanitation. Upstream, Downriver opens with beautiful, intimate footage of our human connection to the rivers that flow through the hearts of our cities, towns, and rural areas. The film follows these rivers to communities where frontline activists are fighting for clean water equity and climate justice across the U.S. Interwoven with their inspiring, powerful stories is historical context that reveals the systemic disregard for many disadvantaged communities. 

8:30pm: NEW Headwaters Down

Filmed over 13 days and across 250 miles of river, Headwaters Down is the story of the James River told through the eyes of five friends. Once the most polluted waterway in America, the James is recast as a monument to a river’s innate resilience and the incredible progress that can be made when we try to heal our rivers instead of commoditizing them. From the humble headwaters in the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Fall Line whitewater in the crew’s hometown of Richmond, Virginia, Headwaters Down is an exploration of the James River’s past and present and a living documentation of the many different ways in which anyone can get out and experience the beauty, history, and awesome power of this underappreciated river.

9:30pm: Water’s Way: Thinking Like a Watershed 

Millions of beaver ponds and dams once sponsored a lush mosaic of wetlands throughout the Chesapeake region. These slowed and spread and retained water flowing to the Bay from every creek and river, letting it soak in and percolate through the ground. Because beavers have been gone for so long − they were trapped out of the Chesapeake Bay watershed by 1750 − there is an “ecological amnesia” as to the benefits they conferred, the world they created, and how the watershed “thought” for thousands of years.

Water’s Way: Thinking Like a Watershed  explores the impact of development, agriculture and the channelization of streams and creeks on the natural processes that once worked to control runoff and filter the water – and how natural elements like beavers and trees could aid efforts to restore the Bay.

7pm: Eatin' Crabs: Chesapeake Style

We've roamed the state in search of the greatest stories of the blue crab and tell all in Eatin' Crabs: Chesapeake Style, MPT's rollicking foray into the world of the blue crab, from dockside to table. From Baltimore's busiest harborside districts and most famed crab shacks to beloved and isolated locales from Ocean City to Oakland, Eatin' Crabs: Chesapeake Style captures the world of crab-loving − a uniquely Maryland slice of life − and cracks it open for all to see.

7:30pm: Eatin’ Crabcakes: The Best I Ever Had

From G&M's goliath-sized crab cakes to tried-and-true recipes that have survived kitchen-based tests and trials of the ages, Eatin' Crabcakes: The Best I Ever Had is the ultimate crab cake treasure hunt across the Chesapeake region. This follow-up to the popular Eatin' Crabs: Chesapeake Style is a fun-loving, kitchen-hopping adventure that traverses the state in search of crabcake heaven.

8pm: NEW Eatin' Blue Catfish: Chesapeake Style 

There’s a new item hitting restaurant menus, grocery stores, and dinner plates across the Chesapeake Bay region. Though Chesapeake cuisine is mostly known for its iconic native species like blue crabs, oysters, and rockfish, local chefs are now touting the blue catfish, a tasty and meaty but unwelcome guest in the Chesapeake watershed. The population of this invasive species has mushroomed, threatening to upset the biological balance of the Bay. Now, a coalition of wildlife managers, seafood marketers, commercial watermen, and recreational fishers have come together to tackle the problem. Visit the kitchens of Maryland-area chefs as they get creative, testing delicious ways to prepare and serve this savory predator in preparation for a seafood cooking competition.  Get your forks and appetites ready as we see which chef has what it takes to get the judges excited about Eatin’ Blue Catfish: Chesapeake Style!

8:30pm: 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. There are favorite Chesapeake-born dishes from colonial cookbooks, crab shacks, German home-kitchen cooks, southern Maryland farms, Eastern Shore chicken-fry kitchens, and Smith Island fresh-off-the-boat Chesapeake supper tables. So pull up a chair and sample the best dishes the Chesapeake region has to offer!

9pm: Eatin' Oysters: Chesapeake Style

The lowly oyster is a delicacy the world over, yet many people say enjoying one is an acquired taste. Here in Maryland, home of the Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Oyster is king. Whether it’s slurped raw on the half shell or fried, baked, braised, or roasted, it’s a favorite. Eatin’ Oysters: Chesapeake Style takes viewers around the Chesapeake region in search of who’s eating oysters, who’s shucking, why they love them, where to find the best of them, and the best ways to eat them.

9:30pm: Oysterfest

Oysterfest is a collection of three short films showcasing the Bay’s favorite bivalve in all its glory. Lifeline: A Chesapeake Oyster Documentary chronicles the decline of the Chesapeake’s native oyster population, with a particular focus on the impact of over-harvesting. The Incredible Oyster Reef explores oysters as a keystone species and highlights the ecological significance of the wild oyster reef as a home for fish, crabs, and other marine life. The Local Oyster Stout tells the story behind the development of Maryland’s first farm-to-table oyster stout beer.

10pm: Tidewater

Located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, the Hampton Roads region of Virginia is home to the highest concentration of military assets in the country, making its vulnerability to sea level rise a threat to American national security itself. Tidewater is a 30-minute documentary exploring the attempts of a wide range of stakeholders, from ordinary citizens to the U.S. Navy, to tackle the challenges posed by climate change and sea level rise within this community.

10:30pm: The Sentinels

Sentinels are those who stand guard, watch over, and look ahead. Today, a new corps of 'sentinels' is working together under the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership to steward and defend many of our last intact landscapes from disappearing in a tidal wave of urbanization, encroachment, and land conversion. They fight for clean air, clear water, and the freedom to roam for both people and wildlife. These individuals also play a vital and unheralded role in protecting our national security.

7:30pm: Search for the USS Scorpion

The War of 1812 hit the Chesapeake hard: Britain's Royal Navy was the most powerful force in the world and her warships raided bayside towns with impunity. In Baltimore, Revolutionary War hero Joshua Barney could not sit idly by. To mount a counter strike, he assembled a mosquito fleet dubbed The Chesapeake Flotilla, and from his flagship The USS Scorpion, Commodore Barney led a charge against the fearsome Royal Navy. After a series of daring battles, the Flotilla was chased up the Patuxent River and intentionally scuttled to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. Any local would be happy to tell you about the shipwrecks − that their grandparents used to cast fishing lines into them − yet for those that went looking, the lost fleet always remained elusive. Was local legend and lore all that remained of the Flotilla? The Search for the USS Scorpion is a documentary special that puts the viewer on the front lines of marine archaeology. Embedded with a team of scientists from the US Navy, we travel over rivers and underwater to follow the clues and piece together a mystery of history. Could it be that the lost flagship of Commodore Barney's Flotilla has finally been found?

9:44pm: Secrets of the Chesapeake

Secrets of the Chesapeake travels the Chesapeake region – east and west, north and south, from mountain to marsh – to ask locals for sage advice to discover and uncover the most unusual places to explore and things to do for the weekender. But these aren't ordinary tourist destinations. Instead, they're spots that only a native would point to: remote shorelines where beachcombers can find beautiful and rare sea glass; an island gem-of-a-seafood-shack; quiet crossroads where tragic local history comes alive. Secrets of the Chesapeake takes viewers to places they'll never forget where they'll meet people they've only read about.

10:41pm: 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.

9am: NEW Wetlands of Wonder: The Hidden World of Vernal Pools 

A panoramic voyage into vernal pools, unique and isolated seasonal wetlands found in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia that usually emerge around forests, seasonally-flooded woodlands or floodplains. The film follows a year in the life of the species that call these habitats home and follows efforts by scientists and biologists to track environmental changes in these natural areas.

4pm: NEW Island Empire 

Island Empire follows the story of the Cobb family from Massachusetts who settled on a deserted barrier island off the coast of Virginia in the 1830s. The Cobbs took a big, empty sand bar and through sheer grit, determination, and perseverance, through tragedy and setbacks, created a vibrant, working community for nearly 100 years.

4:45pm: 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. This short film explores the work that the National Aquarium does, together with conservation partners, to rescue, rehab, and release these turtles into warmer waters. For more information on sea turtle recovery efforts, visit aqua.org/cold-stunning

5:30pm: NEW Eatin' Blue Catfish: Chesapeake Style 

There’s a new item hitting restaurant menus, grocery stores, and dinner plates across the Chesapeake Bay region. Though Chesapeake cuisine is mostly known for its iconic native species like blue crabs, oysters, and rockfish, local chefs are now touting the blue catfish, a tasty and meaty but unwelcome guest in the Chesapeake watershed. The population of this invasive species has mushroomed, threatening to upset the biological balance of the Bay. Now, a coalition of wildlife managers, seafood marketers, commercial watermen, and recreational fishers have come together to tackle the problem. Visit the kitchens of Maryland-area chefs as they get creative, testing delicious ways to prepare and serve this savory predator in preparation for a seafood cooking competition.  Get your forks and appetites ready as we see which chef has what it takes to get the judges excited about Eatin’ Blue Catfish: Chesapeake Style!

6pm: NEW Water's Edge: Black Watermen of the Chesapeake

The unique relationship between African Americans and the Chesapeake Bay contains an abundance of untold stories, tales revealed in Maryland Public Television’s new documentary, Water’s Edge: Black Watermen of the Chesapeake. Stories of bravery and resilience illuminate an industry packed with African American pioneers. Meet an ambitious steamboat captain who revolutionized recreation for Black Marylanders in the early twentieth century, a pair of renowned sailmakers from Chestertown, and innovators such as the present-day captains who are surviving by shifting their businesses to meet a changing market. 

7pm: NEW Kent County’s Storied Landscape 

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. Walk the pristine coastline where Native Americans once lived, and meet an archaeologist uncovering evidence of a centuries-old oyster roast. Learn how footprints of English settlements reveal evidence of early colonial trade, and find out what a new map of the region has revealed. Follow a young man as he walks an African American graveyard, seeking out his ancestors' lost heritage. Then squint into the rising sun as watermen continue to harvest the Chesapeake Bay’s iconic rockfish, oysters, and crabs using the fishing techniques of the first indigenous people.

7:30pm: NEW Discovering the Dove

In Discovering the Dove, a 30-minute documentary special, 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. Join historians and craftspeople in unraveling the mystery of what the 17th century ship might have looked like.  Discover clues in passenger diaries, period artwork, and sunken ships, and visit the shipyard at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum to watch as the New Maryland Dove takes shape, plank by plank. Finally, accompany the crew of the new vessel for her maiden voyage across the Chesapeake Bay to Historic St. Mary’s City − a journey that highlights just how much we can discover about the past through recreating it.