By Renée S. Gordon
“A ship, like a human being, moves best when it is slightly athwart the wind, when it has to keep its sails tight and attend its course…” —Chesapeake
From the first European sighting of the Chesapeake Bay area, by Spanish explorers in the 1520s, the region has been lauded for its beauty and abundance of wildlife and fish. Mid-16th century maps show that they called the bay Santa Maria. The earliest documented foreign visitor, Captain John Smith, arrived 82-years later and it is from his journals that we gather information on the geography, native population and culture. The Native Americans referred to the water as the “great shellfish bay,” “Tschiswapeki,” which to English ears became Chesapeake. The major tribes in the region were the Nantaquak (Nanticoke), Pocomoke-Assateague and Susquehannock. You can follow the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. nps.gov/cajo/index
more>>>> /Philadelphia Sun Travel article
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