Preservation Guidelines
The Rock Hall Fishing Shanty is a significant and unique survivor of an important period in Rock Hall and Chesapeake Bay history. It has a relatively high degree of integrity based on the ability of the remaining architectural fabric to allow for preservation and/or recreation of missing architectural features with a high degree of accuracy. It is also one of very few remaining Chesapeake Bay fishing shanties. There were once hundreds of them up and down the Bay, and Rock Hall was noted for the number here. There are believed to be fewer than 10 remaining.
The goal of the restoration will be to return the ark boat to its appearance during the period of significance (c. 1885 – 1930)) while retaining, intact, as much historic fabric as possible. As a significant historic property its treatment will be guided by the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties, specifically the Standards for Historic Vessel Preservation Projects.