The Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay initiates smack in the middle of New York State where the Susquehanna River rises in Ostego Lake to splash south through the Catskills, jig and jog through Pennsylvania’s Appalachians, amble on past corn fields and pastures and a notoriously abandoned nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island before crossing the Mason-Dixon Line into Maryland and easing into the Bay at Havre de Grace. The Susquehanna and its tributaries drain nearly half of Pennsylvania, and back during the last Ice Age when cubic miles of the planet’s waters were locked in glaciers and the seas were correspondingly lowered, the river ran straight to the Atlantic Ocean. In time the glaciers melted and the Atlantic rose to drown the river’s lower reaches, widen its creeks, and populate the resulting complex ecosystem with oysters, clams, crabs, ducks, geese, osprey and eagles defying enumeration.
The Chesapeake Bay.
When our colonist forebears peered from the hardwood forests that canopied the shores of the bay’s rivulets and inlets and marshes and the broad expanse of its central reach, they discovered a cornucopia, nourishment to eternity. Oyster beds measured in acres and leagues. Waterfowl whose daytime flocks darkened the sky and whose nighttime snoozing rafts carpeted the waters. Endless schools of striped bass and white perch exceeding any angler’s fantasy. For the ensuing two centuries the settlers satisfied their appetites without making a dent in the bay’s bounty. But by the middle of the 19th century, as the populations of nearby Washington, DC, and Baltimore and Philadelphia surged into the millions, the demand for aquatic delicacies prompted the Chesapeake’s watermen to go commercial, and the fauna of the bay diminished with the bison and the carrier pigeon.
Boatwrights devised beamy shallow-draft sailboats — skip jacks — and outfitted them with winch-controlled iron rakes on cables to plow up the oyster beds. Gunsmiths invented the punt gun, a ten-foot-long monster with an inch-and-a-half bore which the fowl hunter cradled in a prow notch on his narrow punt as he paddled silently to the verge of the mass of sleeping ducks and blasted away. Thereupon his patient, twitching Chesapeake Bay Retriever bolted over the gunwale to deliver the scores of dead and wounded for the first stage of their market journey. The punt guns so rapidly depleted the stock of waterfowl that in the early 1900’s the authorities rendered its use illegal. So the gunsmiths contrived a replacement contraption that fanned up to twelve legal-sized shotguns in a single array with a staggered firing mechanism. Ka Blam! The hunt went on.
Those days are gone. Weekenders and retirees have largely replaced the gritty men who mined the bay’s creatures for a living. Sure, oystermen with iron backs and steel arms still work the bottom, but they do it now by standing in their boats and yanking the crustaceans out of their slumber with rake baskets on twenty-foot poles. And crabbers long line over their transoms at first light, relying on their crabby prey to hang on to the bait until they can slip a net under them. But . . . most of the boats are runabouts skipping over to the harbor at St. Michaels for lunch or sailboats heeling over on the light chop.
You could save yourself some dough and do your offspring a favor by taking their tuition money and using it to set them up in the lawn mowing business on the Eastern Shore where mansion after mansion resides gracefully above the waterline surrounded by leagues of manicured grass, with a duck blind situated in the shallows.
With assists from ecologists and regulators, Mother Nature is making a comeback on the Chesapeake. Osprey proliferate to the status of nuisance, assembling their chaotic nests on every channel marker and other elevated structure including the roofs of boats. Bald eagles circle as the osprey hunt, and tilt over for diving thievery when the osprey snatches up his dinner.
Though I grew up a scant two hours north of the Chesapeake I never spent any time there until a recent weekend when John and Judy Mistretta invited me for a stayover at their bayfront home in another version of paradise.
And the bayside butter-drenched beer-assisted crab dinner over in Oxford? Man . . . that is good eating.
hutch adventure 2 
Hutchinson: You do have a way with words. Makes me think of Bill Bryson. Love, helen
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I think you have a book or two in you, Bill. Give it some thought!
Kit
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We love your writing Bill!
Kevin and Leslie Woski
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Yes, there ought to be some kind of travel log from these adventures. So good to continue hearing from you. Thank you.
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Sounds like a wonderful connection with new friends. I spent a year at Pax River Naval Air Station and have fond memories of Chesapeake Bay. Great job capturing it’s rich history. Safe travels. Barry
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I especially enjoyed this writing, Bill. A beautiful subject showing the positive and negative impacts man has had on the Chesapeake Bay. I am so glad you are doing what you love- travel, adventure, and spreading appreciation for this country’s bounty. “Keep up the good work” ! Richard and I think of you fondly and often and will always look forward to seeing you again. Hugs to you and your amazing family!
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Bill,
your research and writing continue to dazzle. Keep these coming….Anne
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Thanks for the visit to Chesapeake Bay! I had never been there… until now!
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AH, Pennsylvania and vicinity…the area where I grew up also. Thanks for sharing, Bill. And, yes, you should gather all your writings and make it into a book. I think of you often and hope all the best for you and your ohana. God goes with you and is watching over you. You are welcome with us here on Oahu anytime.
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HI Bill,
Like the others, I applaud your writing and your research. So glad you are enjoying your travels. I cannot thank you enough for sharing with us. what light you bring to us all. Please keep on writing and sending
Much love to you
Mary
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Hi Bill, Great reading. It brings the place alive with all its beauty and warts. And you are enjoying it! I agree with the others, please keep on writing. Glen
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I agree with everyone Bill. You make it all come alive and I look forward to your sharing. You are creating new roads for your life!
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I agree with everyone Bill. I look forward to your writings! You have opened a new door to your life.
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Hi Bill,
Thank you for this beautiful tour of the Chesapeake Bay!
Love the history and as always, you paint such a gorgeous visual with your vivid words.
And definitely sign us up for that butter-drenched, beer-assisted crab dinner.
Yummy…
Sending hugs —
with love & gratitude,
Susan & Peter
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Thanks Bill, great you got to visit at this time of year. Your words so beautifully capture the essence (and history) of the bay. Enjoy your travels and can’t wait to read the next chapter.
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Bill, lovely piece of writing, thanks. I would argue that it is not the Osprey that have become the nuisance, it is, as Pogo pointed out, ….well, you know. Larry Murphy
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Bill,
Learn a little more history and culture from your writings. I have been fortunate to swim in The
Chesapeake and have escaped unharmed from any remaining pollutants.
The return of the eagles(not NFL) is quite exciting.
Are you still in the area. We just left our place in Rehoboth which is not far from your visit
To the eastern shore.
Let me know if you pass through Philly in the next week. Love to connect.
Harry Nothaker
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Dear Bill,
I always enjoy your posts and learn a little more history every time. You missed your calling, you would be a great teacher. Have you ever thought of writing a historical column for our Sonoma newspaper?
Hugs, Lorraine
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I’m happy you have traveling and your friends and family to watch out for you. Besides, you are giving your followers great travelogues to boot.
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Bill, you have such a wonderful talent at writing. Thank you for sharing with all of us!
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Bill, Glad you enjoyed you stay with us. We always enjoy showing people the richness of the history, scenery, flora and fauna. When someone appreciates it as you did it is immensely gratifying. We glad to have found you as a friend.
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Thanks for sharing dad. Tucker
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Thanks Bill, With you we learn more from the geography.
In France and Switzerland we are good but in USA we have “small” deficit !!!
Enjoy your travelling and friends
Bises
colette & Andi
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Bill,
What a wonderful delight to see you with Judy, John, Dale and Jim and what beautiful scenery and people to enjoy it with. We so enjoyed our time with you in Peru and Ecuador and would love for you to visit us whenever you find yourself in Georgia. Thank you for sharing your posts, I love the historical background you give about the places you visit. I have pictures to share with you and the rest that are great of you, I am just slower getting that to you but will do soon.
Happy to see you doing well. Safe travels.
Linda McLeod
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Dear Bill,
What an amazing and interesting blog. Felt as if you had channeled Michener in the description of the Bay. Aside from your eloquent message, we were lucky enough to see you again and enjoy a heated game of Oh Shit. Have to tell you that I read a book this week about a German family that loved playing the card game Oh Hell in the 1930s. If you remember, Louis said that is what his family called the game as good Southerners refused to be so obscene with their terminology.
Looking forward to hearing from you travels in Greece and will keep you up on happenings in MD and DE.
Still really hot here, laying low and taking dog walks early in the morning and after dark, Jet is good with the new walking regime.
Take care and our best,
Dale and Jim
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Quit having a great time and get into serious retirement.
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Bill – I enjoyed this immensely. As we discussed, Ann grew up just south of the Bay in far Eastern NC and spent summers on the Outer Banks. She and I would take the kids up there almost every fall to visit her mother. I would use the time to fish the surf for Blues and Striped Bass (locally known as Rock Fish). The reason I bring this up is because as the Bay has become healthier so has the Outer Banks, especially the sounds behind the islands. The interconnections of nature and people that you describe so well. In fact, written and illustrated so well with photos that I thought of John McPhee. Also, glad to see the pictures of John, Judy, Dale and Jim and know that spirited Oh Shit games continue. As Linda says, we hope you bring the Game to GA.
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What a gift to be able relay your travel experience so eloquently. I’m right there with you, buddy. Safe journey
and good eats.
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Hi Bill,
You have a wonderful way of expressing your thoughts and sharing them with your friends. We are looking forward to seeing you in Amsterdam and hearing first hand about your experiences, thoughts and plans.
Much love, Ems
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