The Captain Avery Museum's posted hours for this fall and winter are by appointment only. Its calendar from now through December 13 is the fullest on the peninsula.
That gap between the hours and the calendar shows how the West River changes after October. From November on, the local calendar runs out of two buildings. One is the museum on East West Shady Side Road. The other is Galesville Memorial Hall on Main Street. Between them, plus two kitchens on Riverside Drive that stay open every day, you have most of what's going on locally from Veterans Day to the middle of December.
The water side has already closed
October was the last outdoor stretch. On October 3, Galesville's Maritime Heritage Festival brought local seafood, restaurants, food trucks, music, boat tours and a boat parade to the waterfront. Two weeks later, the Captain Avery Museum held its annual Oyster Fest on October 17, with fresh-shucked oysters, music, children's activities and local vendors, according to Eye On Annapolis's event listing.
Now the season has turned. Pirates Cove in Galesville lists its Dock Bar as "Closed till Spring 2027." In April, that same dock bar opened the 2026 season with new furniture, new umbrellas and a kickoff fundraiser. For the next five months or so, the river's social calendar runs indoors.
The museum that's "closed" has the busiest calendar
The Captain Avery Museum sits at 1418 E. West Shady Side Road. Its 2026–2027 Fall/Winter Open Hours say museum visits are by appointment. To arrange a tour, call 410-867-4486 or email [email protected]. The grounds are open dawn to dusk, 365 days a year.
Here's what the museum has posted between now and mid-December:
| Date | Event | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Write by the Bay | Starts 1:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Fall Seasonal Watercolor Workshop | 4 to 6 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Holiday Mosaic Art Workshop | 4 to 6:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | SoCo Seed Collective winter greenery workshop, free | 10 a.m. to noon |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Tea with the Sugar Plum Fairy & Nutcracker Prince | 1 p.m. |
| Sun., Dec. 13 | Tea with the Sugar Plum Fairy & Nutcracker Prince | 1 p.m. |
Several of these have themes worth knowing before you sign up. Write by the Bay is a holiday session this month, and the prompt asks whether you have a story about a Thanksgiving or Christmas that was special. The watercolor workshop sticks to fall subjects in a warm autumn palette. Both are on November 14, so you can make a Saturday afternoon of the two.
The December teas are the events to plan ahead for. The National Ballet Company returns for a family-friendly, two-act mini ballet featuring the Sugar Plum Fairy, Clara, the Mouse King and the Nutcracker Prince. Guests get tea, cocoa and holiday sweets, and afterward children can greet the dancers and pose for photos. The museum calls it "Great for toddlers!" Reservations are required, and you can make them through the museum's Tea with the Nutcracker page.
The SoCo Seed Collective workshop on December 5 is free and focused on winter greenery. A Saturday morning spent making something green for the front door is about as seasonal as Shady Side gets.
The weekly routine behind the special events
The calendar above shows the one-off events. Bridge is what keeps the museum busy every week. Here's the schedule on the museum's Bridge page:
- Bridge lessons, beginners: Thursdays, 4:30 to 5:15 p.m.
- Bridge lessons, intermediate: Thursdays, 5:30 to 6:15 p.m.
- Social Bridge: Tuesdays, 1 to 3 p.m., and Friday mornings starting at 10 a.m.
Lessons carry a $5 suggested donation, and Social Bridge is free. The current lesson series began September 3, 2026. The museum's homepage and its Bridge page list different end times for the Friday session, so call 410-867-4486 before you plan a lunch around it.
Taken together, the weekly bridge sessions and the Saturday workshops mean someone is usually at the museum, even though it is open to visitors by appointment only this season.
Up the road, Galesville Memorial Hall keeps the civic calendar
The second building is Galesville Memorial Hall at 952 Main St. The West River Improvement Association holds its gatherings there. Along with its monthly board meetings, it has three special events on the calendar between now and the holidays.
Veterans Day Celebration, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 11 a.m. This one falls on the holiday itself, a weekday, so plan around a late morning.
WRIA Bake Sale, Saturday, Nov. 21, 9 a.m. It's the same Saturday as the museum's mosaic workshop, which starts at 4. You can stop by Main Street in the morning and still be at the museum that afternoon.
WRIA Holiday Social, Saturday, Dec. 5, 6 p.m. That's the same day as the free SoCo greenery workshop in Shady Side, which runs 10 a.m. to noon. December 5 is the one date this season when both buildings are busy, the museum in the morning and Memorial Hall in the evening.
The WRIA board also meets on the first Monday of each month at Memorial Hall, and those meetings are open to all members.
Two Riverside Drive kitchens that stay open every day
With the dock bars shut, winter meals on this part of the river come from two addresses a few doors apart on Riverside Drive in Galesville.
Pirates Cove, at 4817 Riverside Dr., lists these hours for the restaurant:
- Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
- Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., with brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Reservations are by phone only at (410) 867-2300, not by email. The restaurant describes itself as open year-round. If you plan to go to the Nutcracker tea on Sunday the 13th, Sunday brunch ends at 1 p.m., right when the tea starts, so book brunch for the following weekend.
Stan & Joe's Saloon is at 4851 Riverside Dr. Its posted hours run every day of the week. Sunday is 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m., Monday is 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday is 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m., and Friday and Saturday is 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Its 9 p.m. Saturday close works for a dinner before the WRIA Holiday Social on December 5. Neither restaurant puts a date on its posted hours, so call ahead around Thanksgiving and the December holidays.
A Saturday-by-Saturday look at the season
The weekends ahead line up like this:
- November 14: Write by the Bay at 1:30 p.m. and the watercolor workshop at 4, both at the Captain Avery Museum.
- November 21: WRIA Bake Sale at Memorial Hall at 9 a.m., then Holiday Mosaic Art at the museum from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
- December 5: SoCo Seed Collective greenery workshop at the museum from 10 a.m. to noon, then the WRIA Holiday Social at Memorial Hall at 6 p.m.
- December 12 and 13: Tea with the Sugar Plum Fairy & Nutcracker Prince at the museum, 1 p.m. each day, reservations required.
Veterans Day is the only midweek event, on Wednesday, November 11, at 11 a.m. in Galesville.
I grew up on the water around here, and every fall the same question comes back: where does everyone go once the boats come out? If you're on the Shady Side peninsula or near Galesville and want to talk about the off-season, or about anything else on the West River, reach out to me at Selling The Chesapeake. Let's Connect, and maybe I'll see you at a Saturday workshop or at Memorial Hall on December 5.
