LEONARDTOWN — The new St. Clement’s Island Museum in Coltons Point has walls, a roof and a view of the island through window openings that are still waiting for glass, and St. Mary’s County is pushing to have it open in time for Maryland Day in March.
The county’s recreation and parks director gave that update to the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board at its November meeting, showing three construction photos and calling Maryland Day the goal. “We have a hard deadline on this project,” he told the board.
Maryland Day, March 25, marks the 1634 landing of the colony’s first English settlers on St. Clement’s Island, and the museum on the mainland shore is where the county holds its annual ceremony. That ceremony did not happen this year. The county paused the 2026 mainland event because of construction and said the tradition would return in 2027 at the finished building, so the opening date now carries a public promise.
Where construction stands
The director described the interior as roughed out, with the window openings facing the island not yet filled. A second photo showed the approach from the parking lot, and a third showed the side of the building that he said is furthest along.
Museum staff are working on the exhibits in parallel, he said, and concept drawings were shown to the board at an earlier meeting.
County records trace the pace of the job. The Museum Division’s board of trustees was told in March that the foundation was in place and the elevator shaft was up, according to that board’s minutes. In May, trustees heard that foundation and infrastructure work was continuing and that an exhibit firm was developing concepts.
A schedule that has moved
When the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County awarded the construction contract to W.M. Davis Inc. in July 2025, the county’s announcement estimated completion in December 2026. The Museum Division’s 2025 annual report later described construction as expected to last 18 months, which from a September 2025 start points to early 2027.
The director did not give the advisory board a completion date beyond the Maryland Day target, and he did not discuss the project’s budget.
The county broke ground on Aug. 26, 2025, after commissioners moved money from the capital reserve to close a funding gap. The original museum building was demolished to make room for the replacement.
What is being built
According to the county, the new museum is a two-story, 9,450-square-foot building on the footprint of the old one. Plans call for:
- A children’s activity room and a formal conference room
- An interior circular staircase and an elevator
- Redesigned exhibits that keep elements of the original museum and add perspectives from the Piscataway people
- A new exhibit on Maryland’s founding developed with the Smithsonian Institution
- The first-landing mural, reinstalled in the first-floor gallery
- Landscaping with native plants
While the building is closed, the county has run the seasonal water taxi to the island and a limited museum store from an annex across the street.
The museum update was one item in a director’s report that also covered the department’s national reaccreditation review next spring. The advisory board canceled its December meeting and is next scheduled to meet in February, about six weeks before Maryland Day.
