HISTORY The Havre de Grace Maritime Museum, situated where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay, tells the story of this region’s rich maritime heritage. Teeming with numerous species of flora and fauna and having highly navigable waters, made this unique environment setting the perfect backdrop for generations of inhabitants- from the earliest Native Americans over 10,000 years ago, to the first European colonists in the 1600’s, to today’s thriving community of the 21st century. In 1782, the Marquis de Lafayette is said to have looked down over the town as he rode along the Post Road and commented that it was a charming harbor of “havre de grace”. Founded by a historically-minded group of local citizens, the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum was incorporated in 1988 as a private, not-for-profit, educational institution dedicated to the collection, documentation, preservation, and interpretation of the maritime skills and heritage of the Lower Susquehanna River and Upper Chesapeake Bay.