On Sunday, November 15, more then 40 visitors toured the Steamboat Era Museum to see the completed Potomac Pilothouse restoration. Museum board members led visitors around the pilothouse and answered questions.
The largest piece of a Chesapeake Bay steamboat in existence, the pilothouse sat on top of the steamer Potomac, built in 1894, reported executive director Barbara Brecher.
In 1937, the steamer was decommissioned. Before it was demolished and the steel hull turned into a barge, the Colonna Brothers—owners of the shipyard where the Potomac was docked—removed the pilothouse and barged it to Taft Beach in White Stone where it served as a family cottage…