The Ecological and Cultural Preservation of the Chesapeake Bay

Christina Lynn Ball

In Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Art & The Book Program Corcoran College of Art + Design Spring 2014

© 2014 Christina Lynn Ball All Rights Reserved Corcoran College of Art + Design

We hereby recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by Christina Ball entitled The Ecological and Culture Preservation of the Chesapeake Bay be accepted as fulfilling, in part, requirements for the degree of Master of Art and the Book.

Graduate Thesis Committee

______(Signature of Student)

Christina L. Ball ______(Printed Name of Student)

______(Signature of Advisor and Program Director)

Kerry McAleer-Keeler ______(Signature of Advisor and Program Director)

______(Signature Committee Reviewer)

Antje Kharchi ______

(Printed Name Committee Reviewer)

______(Signature of Committee Reviewer)

Casey Smith ______(Printed Name Committee Reviewer)

i Table Of Contents

Signature Page i Table of Contents ii Acknowledgements iii Thesis Statement iv List of Figures v Abstract vi Introduction 1 Chapter I | Landscape 2 Pollution and Underwater Grasses Erosion 3 Case Study: Holland Island 4 Case Study: Poplar Island 5 Chapter II | Seafood 6 Oysters History of the Chesapeake Oyster 7 Oysters and the Environment 9 Blue Crabs 10 Crabbing 12 Crab Industry 13 Chapter III | Shipbuilding 14 Indigenous Boats: Pungy and the Bugeye Indigenous Boats: Skipjack 15 Case Study: Rebecca T. Ruark 16 Case Study: Rosie Parks 17 Chapter IV | People 18 Chesapeake Watermen History of the Watermen 19 The Work of a Watermen 20 Regulations on Watermen 21 Future of Watermen 22 Chapter V | Places 24 Case Study: Crisfield Maryland 25 Case Study: Deale Island 27 Case Study: St. Michaels 28 Case Study: Smith Island 30 Conclusion 32 Figures 35 Endnotes 37 Bibliography 43

ii Acknowledgements

I am happy to acknowledge the multitude of people that have been instrumental in putting this thesis together.

First and foremost I would like to thank my thesis committee at the Corcoran College of Art + Design whose input has been invaluable throughout this entire process, Assistant Professor and Director of the Art + the Book Program Kerry McAleer-Keeler; Assistant Professor Casey Smith, Associate Professor Antje Kharchi and Adjunct Instructor Sarah Noreen Hurtt.

Thanks to Alice Powers for her writing expertise and enthusiasm. She questioned and helped me find my voice through the depths of research. I especially need to thank my fellow classmates who have been honest and given incredible advice, always reminding me to step back and look at the subject from an outsider’s perspective.

The entire staff at Anne Arundel County Public Schools, department of Design Print Services for patience and support during these last few months. Each one has been influential and helpful during the process. A special thanks to Susan, Mike, Jen and Steve who have filled in for me and helped me stay on task.

Thanks to Su Anne Martinez at West Annapolis Artworks and Fine Framing for her advice, support and materials to make this all possible.

Joe, I am in debt to your support during this entire experience. Without you, I could not have made it this far with a smile on my face. You’ve brought numerous oysters, listened to stories, helped with the endless research and added enthusiasm. You have been patient and understanding and for that I am grateful.

This thesis would not be what it is without the love and support from my family and friends. Mom and Dad thank you for always letting me be who I am and never stifling my artistic endeavors. You are my biggest supporters, and I appreciate all you have done. To my brothers Jimmy and Jon who remind me that I need to step away and laugh it off once in a while. To my In-laws, Aunts, Uncles and numerous crazy cousins who have been supportive and tolerated this undertaking. Mary Ann thanks for listening and understanding. Brooke, even though you are far you are always at my side and my partner in crime. Joan, I am happy you came along, thank you for the hours of review, advice and understanding in the shared passion of the Chesapeake Bay.

I want to acknowledge the lives of Mr. Wheatley Ward and Fred Henkensiefken, who knew and understood Chesapeake waters in ways that could never be put on paper.

This thesis is in memory of my Grandparents whose lives inspired and made all of this possible through the love of books and the idiosyncrasies they have bestowed upon me.

And last, Dallas who taught me patience and unconditional love, we had fun together.

iii

Thesis Statement

Change along the Chesapeake Bay is inevitable. The landscape shifts and transforms with every storm. People who depend on the water for their livelihood are getting few and far between. Inevitably the physical, economic and social traditions of the Chesapeake Bay are vanishing. Our modern society needs to see the importance of protecting not only the bay itself but also the cultural heritage of the Chesapeake from the threat of extinction.

iv

List of Figures

1. Oyster Tongs

2. Oyster Dredge

3. Pungy

4. Bugeye

5. Skipjack

v

Abstract

The traditions and landscape that make up the Chesapeake Bay are not like any other. The people and places unique only to the bay region are disappearing rapidly due to environmental changes and modernization. Resources like Chesapeake crabs and oysters have shaped the economic makeup of the bay and surrounding areas. Losing these resources will have devastating effects on the market, the people, and on the environment. Modernization is inevitable, as a culture can we go into the future and not look back?

vi 1

I. Introduction

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Europeans called the Chesapeake Bay the “noblest bay in the universe.”1 Historically it has been an environmentally rich estuary with an abundance of life and vegetation; however, years of development, overharvesting and disease have put it in danger of becoming depleted of most resources. The unique people of the

Chesapeake who have come to depend on the bay’s resources have been slow to adjust to the new reality.

When crabs and oysters were once plentiful, it was not uncommon to hear tales of multiple bushels of crabs being caught in one afternoon. Now crabs and oysters are verging on extinction. Oysters have defined the way the bay has been worked for centuries. Crab feasts are a summertime tradition and have become synonymous with the Chesapeake Bay. These losses are devastating, not only for the seafood industry, but also to the bay’s culture.

The people who live and work along the shorelines have a unique history. Chesapeake watermen use boats that are built specifically for the shallow waters of the bay and are armed with specialized harvesting tools and methods unique to the region. People who traditionally worked the Chesapeake have depended on its resources for generations.

Change along the Chesapeake Bay is inevitable. The landscape shifts and transforms with every storm. People who depend on the water for their livelihood are getting few and far between. Inevitably the physical, economic and social traditions of the Chesapeake Bay are vanishing. Our modern society needs to see the importance of protecting not only the bay itself but also the cultural heritage of the Chesapeake from the threat of extinction.

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II. Landscape

In the Algonquian language, the Chesapeake Bay is translated into the “Great Shellfish Bay.”2

The Chesapeake is the largest estuary in North America. An estuary needs to be “well enclosed, provide easy entry and exit for open sea water and enjoy a vigorous infusion of fresh water from one or more rivers.”3 There are 19 rivers, 400 creeks and streams that run into the bay.4

Saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean flows in and out of the mouth of the Chesapeake. The word estuary comes from the Latin verb “aestuare” which is defined as to “heave, boil, surge and to be in commotion,”5 which is a perfect description of the constantly changing Chesapeake Bay.

The bay is about 200 miles long and has approximately 11,684 miles of shoreline. At its widest it spans roughly 22 miles, while it is only a mere 3 miles wide at its northernmost reaches. It holds more than 18 trillion gallons of water but only has an average depth of 21 feet.

The Chesapeake is considered one of the most diverse estuaries in the world with more than

300,000 species of plants and animals.6 In 2012, 17.7 million people were estimated to live within the watershed,7 spanning six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania,

Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

-Pollution and Underwater Grasses-

In the summer it is not uncommon to find signs posted along the bay that say, “Hazard…do not swim.” After a significant rainfall boaters and swimmers will check bacteria levels before going out on the water. Soil and debris from the land flow into the bay during and after frequent summer storms. “Thousands of tons of soil from construction, rapidly running into a stream, can be as deadly as a spill of oil or raw sewage.”8 Pollution has caused places in the bay to be almost as “devoid of oxygen as the surface of the moon.”9 Polluted land equals polluted water. In 2012,

8.5 billion pounds of pollution ran into the bay weighing more than the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier.10 Deforestation and land development are the worst culprits. Forests filter out pollutants. 3

As human population increases, the health of the bay decreases. The bay has been pushed to its limit, and is struggling to hold the new population.11

Underwater grasses are essential to the Chesapeake Bay because plentiful, healthy grasses equal a clean healthy bay. Grasses respond quickly to environmental changes in the bay, and scientists look to them to signal a comeback or to warn of distress.12 Grasses are the “nucleus for the survival of so many species.”13 They are homes to small, vulnerable creatures and provide food to ducks, geese, fish and other animals that inhabit the bay.14 Grasses help clarify water and improve conditions for other aquatic plants to grow.15 They also protect against erosion acting as a buffer between land and sea.16

- Erosion -

Erosion and rising sea levels threaten the mainland and islands in the Chesapeake Bay.17 Loss of land as a result of rising waters destroys habitats and food sources along coastal wetlands.18 The islands of the Chesapeake Bay are made up of silt and clay, making them more susceptible to erosion than islands with rock foundations.19 High winds, heavy rains and strong waves from violent storms can dramatically change a shoreline.20 Waves will undercut loose soil and knock down forests, making the terrain more vulnerable. This wave action puts the organisms that reside in the marshes and shallow waters in danger. Newly exposed land is carried away until only little pieces remain.21 Hoping to help slow erosion and its impact along the shoreline, surrounding states have created “critical areas” which regulate development.22

The following are two case studies—the first one illustrates an island that disappeared, and the second discusses another an island that was revived.

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- Case Study: Holland Island-

Holland Island was home to half a dozen families in the 1850s. In 30 years the community grew to more than 360 people, living in about 60 homes. In 1910, Holland Island was one of the most populated islands in the Chesapeake Bay.23 The island was about five miles long and one and a half miles wide.24 It had a two-room schoolhouse, its own post office, a church, lighthouse, community hall and several general stores.25 Residents farmed and worked the waters for nearly a quarter of a century.26 The town had a band and its own baseball team that would travel by boat.27

Strong winds and waves pummeled the western side of the island. The shore gave way bit by bit. By 1900, the inhabitants’ homes and businesses were in danger of being flooded by the bay.28 In an effort to slow the erosion, the residents built stonewalls and sunk old boats as riprap.29 They hung on to their homes as long as possible, but the last inhabitants were forced off the island in 1922. Everything that could be saved was shipped to the mainland. They took homes apart and reassembled them on solid ground. Even the schoolhouse was repurposed as a warehouse in Crisfield, Maryland.30 Some residents continued to return for crab season until nothing substantial was left of the island.31

The entire western portion of Holland Island had disappeared by 1942, leaving the remainder as a bird refuge. A lone house and a few gravestones were all that remained of the once-vibrant community. In 1995, in an attempt to save what was left of the island, former watermen and Minister Stephen White bought the remaining two-story Victorian house. White and his wife tried everything to slow down the erosion and salvage what was left of the homestead. Eventually, poor health and financial struggles forced White to give up and move back to the mainland.32 In October of 2010, after 125 years, the house gave way and collapsed into the water.33 Holland Island is now a mere sandbar visible only at low tide.

5

-Case Study: Poplar Island-

Poplar Island is located about 15 miles southeast of Annapolis and 34 miles south of Baltimore.34

At its peak, the island consisted of 1,100 acres of farmland and homes. It supported 100 residents, a schoolhouse, a church, its own post office and a sawmill. As in the case of Holland

Island, Poplar Island’s residents were forced to leave around 1920, due to erosion.35

Once abandoned, the island served as a vacation spot and hunting retreat. Presidents

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman hunted on the island.36 Land was eroding at a rate of 13 feet per year, and by 1990 all that remained were “islets” rising above the surface of the water.37 In the end, it was reduced to about four acres of land. A former resident noted Poplar used to be farmland but “now no one but ghosts live there.”38

In 1998, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along with the Maryland Port Authority and other Federal and State agencies decided to save Poplar Island using dredged materials from the shipping channels of Baltimore.39 The shipping channels leading to Baltimore are used for large cargo ships and must be dredged on a regular basis. About 4.7 million cubic yards of sediment need to be taken out every year.40 Materials dredged from Baltimore needed to go somewhere; however, depositing the contaminated dredged material into open waters created environmental concerns and limited the options for disposal.41

To recreate Poplar Island, a footprint of sand in the shape of the original island was built and reinforced with stones. It was divided into different sections called “cells.”42 Dredged material is mixed with water and pumped into cells where it dries to create new terrain.43

Volunteers and environmental organizations are planting new grasses and shrubbery along marshes, creating new habitats. In 2008, Poplar matched its footprint from the 1850s.44 The island grew to 1,140 acres in 2012.45 To protect against future erosion, stone and culverts have been put in place to force tides away from direct contact with land.

The island is now home to an abundance of wildlife. Diamondback terrapins are being 6 raised in Maryland classrooms and released on Poplar in the spring. A diverse bird population can be seen along the island, with over 170 different species being observed.46 The once disappearing Poplar Island is now a thriving wildlife sanctuary and a model for habitat restoration.47

Holland and Poplar Island are two examples that demonstrate the impact of erosion; it will always be a threat to the landscape of the bay. There are many examples of lost communities and terrain that have now become material for history books and folklore. Science and technology have evolved to protect and restore the landscape. Residents have become aware and are involved in the restoration process. The bay will always be in a flux of movement but we now have hope that all will not be lost to the elements.

II. Seafood

- Oysters-

Over-harvesting, disease and pollution have all but wiped out Chesapeake oysters. By 2007, the population had fallen to 1% of their historic numbers.48 Diseases such as MSX (multinucleated sphere unknown) and Dermo started killing oysters in the 1940s and 1950s. Both are natural parasites found in bay waters that dramatically affect oysters, but will not harm humans.

Overharvesting has also had a major impact on the oyster population. Watermen have been compared to a “shark in your aquarium.”49 “Using a technology that has changed little in 300 years, oystermen roam the Chesapeake and treat it as a common resource to be exploited.”50

Older watermen will still deny that they have any negative influence on harvests, but many are now aware of their impact and accept the dire situation. Their livelihood depends on a growing oyster population.

Since before the American Revolution the people of the Chesapeake had an infatuation with oysters. British settlers toasted the Chesapeake oyster in 1607, and Captain 7

John Smith found them to be “large and delicate in taste.”51 He said that the Native Americans

“were well acquainted with the oyster and valued them highly.”52 During Smith’s Chesapeake voyages, ships would occasionally run aground on the plentiful oyster reefs.53 In 1610, an oyster was reported to be 13 inches long, and a century later they were reported to be four times the size of English oysters—having to be cut in two before eating. An oyster discovered in 1708 was said to be the size of a “horse’s foot.”54

-History of Chesapeake Oysters-

Settlers first identified oysters as a hardship food, complaining during tough economic and political times people were “reduced to eating oysters.”55 For nine weeks starving colonists in

Jamestown were reported to eat nothing more than oysters and a pint of corn a piece per week.56

Kent Islanders “took to eating oysters only when they were faced with starvation.”57 An English visitor to the Eastern Shore noted, “no matter how poor these people are, they always manage to live well, having for their every meal what people of the outside world consider dainties.”58

Settlers would harvest oyster shells, using them for brick mortar, road construction and garden paths.59 Appreciation for oysters started around the time of the Revolutionary War, and so began the Chesapeake “oyster boom.”60

The first method of gathering oysters was observed from the Nanticoke who raked large piles from creek bottoms with forked sticks. Colonists observed this harvesting style and started using this method during the mid-17th century.61 Not much has changed, tonging for oysters is still common today. Tongs (Figure 1) are a pair of long iron rakes with long handles joined together like scissors. Baskets are formed above the rakes. The heads are lowered to the bottom of the bay, and the handles are opened and closed until oysters are felt between the heads. Tongs are closed, and oysters are collected in the baskets and raised above water.62 If the bay is frozen, oystermen will cut holes into the ice—large enough for the tongs to go through. 8

Over 6,000 tongers were working the bay in 1880.63

Catching oysters became a regular occupation by 1737.64 At the peak of the industry, watermen harvested “a record 15 million bushels of oyster.”65 New technologies came about.

Watermen from the northern United States had invented a dredge (Figure 2). This is a “scoop- like instrument pulled by rope or cables across oyster bars by a sailing ship.”66 Dredgers (or drudgers, according to watermen) harvested significantly more than tongers. This aggressive harvesting device introduced a harrowing period in the history of the Chesapeake Bay.

New England dredge boats entered the bay in 1850 and brought with them a “great oyster rush.”67 Outsiders profited from the abundance of oysters, but it was at the cost of the environment and the local oyster supply. Oysters were harvested to the point where they were not able to reseed.68 In 1830 dredging was banned for non-Maryland residents, and in 1865 all oyster dredging was banned unless the boat was powered by sail.

Bans did not stop illegal dredging on bay waters. Tongers were outraged and started taking the law into their own hands.69 Different laws and regulations along bay waters started a violent battle between Maryland and Virginia’s watermen. Maryland instituted an Oyster Navy that policed waters and encouraged hostility. There were many attacks that resulted in the killing of watermen during the Chesapeake “Oyster Wars.”

Along the shores of Maryland, oysters became a massive market. By 1860, The

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad annually carried over 3 million pounds of oysters out of Crisfield,

Maryland.70 In the 1870s, “nine million bushels were being shipped out of Crisfield, 25 thousand barrels of shell oysters and 300 thousand gallons of shucked oysters to Baltimore and New

York.”71 Oyster packing, transportation and preservation became a substantial industry. Several gallons of oysters were placed into a keg and sent to market. It wasn’t uncommon for a dishonest packer to dilute kegs with large amounts of water and ice.72 Trade grew tremendously after the development of steam canning allowing for long distance transportation.73 9

-Oysters and the Environment-

Oysters are succulent, great for the economy and vital to bay waters. They act as a filter and at at one point could clarify the entire body of the Chesapeake Bay in three to six days. Today, with the decline of oysters, it would take about a year.74 Oysters pump water through their gills to feed (about 2 gallons per hour)—this in turn cleanses water, allowing sunlight to filter through, creating food and healthy grasses.75 A healthy oyster bed resembles a coral reef, providing a hard surface and crevices for creatures to call home. These reefs grew so thick during the Civil War that they were called “oyster rocks” and were navigational hazards for sailing ships. 76

The nonprofit Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) was formed in 1994 and is the largest of its kind in the Chesapeake Bay. “Nearly four billion oysters have been planted on

1,500 acres of reefs and 1,700 tons of shells have been recycled for harvesting new growth.”77

Watermen are using their boats and equipment to help scientists re-plant oysters. Oyster reseeding efforts have been successful and new programs now in place are encouraging the growth of oysters.

It is essential to the future of the bay that watermen and scientists have a working relationship. Watermen have a personal understanding of the movement of the water and the organisms that depend on it. Science provides research and data that explain the circumstances and what can be done to help. There are many instances where a scientist will charter out a workboat and collect data, while a watermen collects oysters. Although they do not always agree, in the end both watermen and scientists are working to have the health of the bay restored and maintained for future generations.

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Blue Crabs

Along the bay it is a summer time tradition to sit at a picnic table and eat crabs with friends and family. It is not uncommon to find locals taking advantage of a long season, eating crabs in later fall months. Different peculiarities are involved with the crab “picking” tradition—ranging from what to drink, what to put on the crabmeat (butter or spices), to how one dissembles a crab. A person will spend an average of “four minutes and thirty seconds” to only get “two ounces of meat per crab for their troubles.”78 It is said that the Chesapeake “has provided more crabs for human consumption than any body of water in the world, great oceans included.”79

No other crab in the world has been as sought-after as the Atlantic Blue Crab.80 Their fossils date back over a million years.81 Their scientific name is “Callinectes Sapidus Rathbun.”

Broken down, Callinectes means “beautiful swimmer” in Greek, Sapidus means “tasty” in Latin, and “Rathbun” is after Dr. Mary J. Rathbun who gave the crab its official name.82 Dr. Rathbun named over 998 new species of crabs (a record in the craniology annuals), and this is the only time she included culinary attributes.83

Reports of people eating crabs date back to the 1730s, when English composer William

Byrd wrote of eating a “flat crab the size of his hand.”84 During the 17th century there was little interest in crabs because of “the conservatism of English eating habits.”85 Crabmeat was gaining popularity by the 1800s. Crisfield, Maryland, had started their crab industry in the 1870s, and by the 1880s, crabbing was considered an “occasional leisure-time activity, something to keep the pot full in idle summer months.”86 Soft crabs were sought-after and became known as the delicacy they are considered today. In 1836, a Philadelphia doctor wrote that soft crab were “an exquisite treat for those who are fond of such eating.”87

A Blue Crab’s lifespan is only three years. A fully mature female crab, or “Sook,” can produce eight million eggs at a time and can release several million fertilized eggs in her lifetime.88 A waterman once said if each one of the spawns hatched, “The bay couldn’t handle 11 them all…and think how mean the bastards are.”89 Another watermen defending his catch said,

“Now you know if we wasn’t potting and them eggs mostly hatched, crabs would crawl up out of the water and conquer the earth,”90 It is estimated that only one in every million eggs produces an adult crab. 91

With only five pairs of limbs, blue crab have “no less than 70 well articulated joints” which allow them to swim sideways, forwards, backwards, and in this incredible “helicopter style rotation.”92 They see well, and tests have shown that they have “almost 360-degree vision.”93

Crabs eat pretty much any plant or animal at the bottom of the bay—including each other if desperate. During mating, male crabs, or “Jimmies,” becomes the perfect husband by taking great care and consideration to his mate, more so than any other crabs.94 In order for Blue Crabs to grow, they molt by undergoing an extensive process of removing their outer shell and growing a new one. Crabs are vulnerable and physically weakened during this process—burrowing deep in grasses and mud for protection. With its exoskeleton exposed, the crab is what is commercially known as a “soft shell crab.”

Crabs are ideal for the Chesapeake because they thrive in shallow, brackish waters.95

During spring, they are found in shallower waters (from 3 to 14 feet), but come fall, they move to water that is about 30–50 feet deep.96 The crab is adaptable and can survive in situations that most other creatures cannot, including polluted waters and waters with very low levels of oxygen.97 Migratory patterns help to protect crabs against the long-term effects from polluted waters.98

Weather effects the movement of crabs. They follow warm water but tend to stay away from sunlight.99 Cool or rainy days in the summer change their routine, and they stop wherever they are, burrow, and wait for a better day. A dormant crab is capable of burying itself six inches or more in the mud.100

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-Crabbing-

With the decline of oysters, Blue Crabs are the main seafood industry found in the Chesapeake

Bay. “Crabbing” is the act of catching a crab. “Compared with oysters, crabbing is held the more agreeable occupation. It is also more of a family affair, affecting the lives of more people for a greater part of the year.”101 One oystermen said “I like to oyster better than crabbing. Oysters ain’t always running off where you got to find ‘em again.”102

Watermen have developed different types of gear and techniques over the years to

“outguess and outsmart crabs.”103 There are several ways to catch a crab, the simplest being

“chicken necking.” “Chicken Necker” is a term watermen use to describe a newcomer to the water because crabbing armatures often use chicken necks as bait. This process involves bait, string and a net. One end of the string is attached to a pier; bait is tied to the other end of the string and is then thrown into the water. As a crab tries to escape with the bait, the string becomes taught. The string is carefully pulled out of the water until a net can catch the crab from underneath in a quick, clean swoop—otherwise the crab will release its grip.

Using a “pot” is another method for capturing crabs. A square metal trap is loaded with bait and thrown overboard. Crabs can get in, but not out of the traps. A crabber will go every few days and “check the pots.” Legend says the harder a crab hangs onto a pot in the summer, the higher the chance that the weather in the northeast will be changing soon. “They’re smart.

They know what’s going on.”104

Trotlining is the classic method of catching Blue Crabs. This is the oldest form of crabbing and is still used today both recreationally and commercially. A trotline is a string with multiple pieces of bait attached. This line is weighted down and spread anywhere from one to three miles along the bottom of the water in a depth of four to 20 feet. After leaving the line out for a set period of time, it is brought back slowly to the surface of the water via a winch on one side of the boat. A net will catch the crabs as they emerge from the water. 13

-Crab Industry-

Towns along the bay could not survive without crabs, and the industry needs watermen’s skills to catch them.105 Crabs were too perishable to be sold anywhere but locally at the start of the industry. The invention of “iceboxes” and commercial production of ice steamboats helped create the first widespread demand for the crab industry.106 Over 13 million Maryland soft-shell crabs were shipped out of Crisfield in 1904.107

Crab picking is a very difficult skill. Women in picking houses say “stabbing arsters ain’t nothing to learn’…and then remind you that oysters or clam shucking is left to clumsier male hands.”108 Crabs are “split, quartered and dissected for every gram of meat“ by women and men in the “picking room”109 of packinghouses and restaurants. It is said that no machine can

“extract the whole back-fin that is the pride of the Chesapeake.”110

Along the bay and its tributaries people depend on the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab.

The crab-meat processing plants around the bay benefit from the crab industry, but “also truck drivers, bait suppliers, seafood dealers, restaurants, grocery stores and gear providers directly benefit from crab harvest”—“as well as hotels, fishing boat manufactures, and mechanics that indirectly benefit from the resource.”111

In the 1990’s Blue Crab numbers decreased 28% from the annual average of 581 million in the 1990s.112 Millions of dollars were spent to stabilize the crab population with little positive results.113 Restrictions on catching female crabs are now in place in Maryland and

Virginia. Crab populations have become so unreliable that markets are shipping Blue Crabs in from states like Louisiana and North Carolina. Crab populations fluctuate widely. In 2013, there were only 300 million crabs harvested.114 If the bay loses its crab population, it would put an end to the last of the bay’s major fisheries. The survival of Chesapeake communities would be threatened—symbolizing a great defeat in the fight to save the bay.115

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III. Shipbuilding

The first local ships were built specifically for Chesapeake Bay waters. A prospering industry existed in the colonies before the close of the 17th century.116 Many historians say this period is one of the “richest expressions” of American boatbuilding.117 “Here shipbuilding as a profession had its American beginnings; here the first of our purely local watercraft was developed.”118

Shipbuilding introduced new industries such as sail making, spinning sailcloth, and rope making as well as helped the iron industry and encouraged many others.119 The Chesapeake “was well adapted by nature to shipbuilding” because of the abundance of creeks and rivers along with large forests and diverse tree populations the bay. 120

-Indigenous Boats: Pungy and the Bugeye-

Boats were designed and built to serve specific purposes throughout the bay. The Pungy (Figure

3) was an oyster boat and considered one of the most “elegant merchant vessels in the world.”121

These strong sailing vessels were developed in 1840.122 Favored by oyster dredgers, they were colorfully painted with large masts.123 “It is remarkable that the vessel intended for the lowest and most degraded offices (such as carrying manure, oysters and wood) are of elegant and symmetrical proportions.”124

The Bugeye (Figure 4) came about in 1860 as an upgrade to the original wooden canoe used for oyster tonging. It was cheaper and easier to build than the Pungy. The Bugeye became a popular sailing vessel and was preferred by watermen, hitting its peak in construction in the mid–1880s.125 The origin of the name has been disputed for centuries. Some say it got its name because it could turn on a “bug’s eye,” others dispute this claiming that the name came from the

Scotch word for oyster shell “buckie,” others argue it is a reference to the “bugs eyes” seen on the front of the boat.126

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-Indigenous Boats: The Skipjack-

The Skipjack (Figure 5) is the pride of the Chesapeake Bay. Skipjacks first appeared on the bay’s waters in 1890s, with the flat bottom and straight sides making it easy to navigate. Cheaper and easier to build than the Bugeye, Skipjacks were simple, easy to maintain and suitable for smaller catches.127 It allowed watermen to harvest oysters economically during harder times along the bay. The boat earned the name “Skipjack” because it resembled a bluefish that would skip on the surface of the bay.128 In addition to oystering, Skipjacks were also used to transport goods to farms and communities throughout the bay.

In 1865, Maryland passed a law only allowing boats with sails to dredge for oysters.

Over 600 Skipjacks were working on the bay as oysters peaked.129 In 1901, it became the main dredge boat along the bay.130 Chesapeake Skipjacks are the last working fleet of boats under a sail in America.131 This was a time when a father passed the ship and traditions onto his son.132

When I was young on Smith Island and working with my father, I swore that I would never work a Skipjack, after growing up on them. Then I realized how much I love to run her under sail and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.133

New boat captains were buying what was left of the old Skipjack fleet in the 1990s, trying to learn to maneuver them without the direction of an experienced waterman. No job is said to be harder than working on a Chesapeake Skipjack while dredging for oysters.134 Only ten of these working boats remained in the original working fleet at the beginning of the 21st

Century.135 The existing seaworthy Skipjacks run educational charters for nonprofit organizations.136 A Skipjack captain once said “Who would have ever believed that in the whole lower Chesapeake Bay there’d be no use for such boats (workboats) anymore.”137 The real concern is if this old fleet of workboats is going to last. “Ironically, it now appears that they could outlast the oysters.”138 Many old Skipjacks have been bought by newcomers and repurposed into pleasure boats.139 16

Two Skipjacks will be discussed in the following case studies. The Rebecca T. Ruark sank to the bottom of the Choptank River—only to be rescued with help from the community.

The second ship, the Rosie Parks, has been fully restored and is a remarkable representation of the iconic working Skipjack.

-Case Study: Rebecca T. Ruark-

Built in 1886, the Rebecca T. Ruark is the oldest Skipjack in the working fleet. In November of

1999, Rebecca had a beautiful day of sailing. A storm approached with 60 mph winds and heavy rain. Watermen Earl White once said “Don’t let nobody tell you it can’t get bad on the bay and get bad fast. I’ve been out there on them Skipjacks, and storms come from nowhere.”140 The boat started to take on water and began to sink, forcing the crew into the cold bay waters.141

Fellow watermen rescued the men, but the Skipjack sunk beneath 20 feet of water.

Captain Wade Murphy attempted to raise the Rebecca T. Ruark, but it proved time- consuming and expensive. If the 113-year old boat was not rescued within a few days, it would be gone for good. The community came together and asked the Governor of Maryland to help save the boat. In two hours a crane from Baltimore was prepared, and within three days the

Rebecca T. Ruark was pulled out of the water.

Public attention and fundraising efforts brought Rebecca T. Ruark back under sail again. Resurrection of the Rebecca created a Save the Skipjacks Task Force that set up a

Skipjack insurance fund, created opportunities for reseeding oysters and allowed the state to set up “reserved oyster beds” for dredging only available to Skipjacks.142 Appreciation for the

Skipjacks is made evident through the community’s effort to save the Rebecca T Ruark.

Captain Murphy says he would rather be dredging under sail than anything else and

“there’s nothing prettier than harvesting oysters under sail when there’s oysters to harvest and you’ve got a good boat and a good crew.”143 The boat can now carry 35 passengers, allowing 17 cruises during off-season.144 Designated as a National Historic, Landmark Rebecca T. Ruark was successfully re-launched back into the bay in 2012 and won first place for the 11th time during the Deale Island Skipjack races.

-Case Study: Rosie Parks-

Boat builder Bronza Parks built hundreds of boats in his lifetime. The Skipjack Rosie

Parks was built in Dorchester County in 1955 for his brother and was named after their mother

Rosina Parks.145 Parks built Lady Katy, Martha Lewis and Rosie at the same time—it is said the

Rosie was the fastest of them all.146 Famous for its wins during the Deale Island Skipjack races,

Rosie is regarded as the most recognizable Skipjack.147 She still has some of her original working equipment, the original fabric has been retained, a set of original sails are still in good condition and many original structures are still in place.148 Rosie is generally regarded as one of the best examples of the old working Skipjacks on the water.

For two decades Rosie Parks was used as a workboat. The Chesapeake Maritime

Museum in St. Michaels Maryland purchased the boat in 1975. This was the first time a

Museum bought a Skipjack to be “preserved afloat,” becoming a “symbol of the preservation prospect for the dwindling fleet of surviving skipjacks.” The museum decided to have the ship restored “in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Vessel

Preservation Projects.”149

The community was invited to be a part of the restoration project. It was important in the process that families were able to be involved. Community days were set up inviting anyone who wanted to learn about boatbuilding and willing to work hard and to participate. “This project is not just about this boat. Its about the family, the stories, the history.”150 After a great celebration the Rosie Parks was launched back into the bay on November 3, 2013.

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IV. People

People along the shores of the Chesapeake have been slow to modernize, compared to the rest of the country. They have been said to be in a “Sleeping Beauty trance” or a “Rip Van Winkle

Sleep.”151 Some Chesapeake islands have been continuously inhabited since the 1600s, and have seen little influence from the outside world. Visiting one of these communities is reminiscent of visiting a town from 1860.152 Many speak in an Elizabethan dialect on islands along the Eastern

Shore of Maryland and Western Shore of Virginia.153 The people “appear to outsiders as if they were stuck in time—the cultural richness and relative isolation of these areas are reflected in the distinct dialects that can still be heard.”154

Life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was isolated and had little outside influence.155

The bay and rivers have offered a perfect spot for “self-contained community of farmers and watermen.”156 By 1820, many towns along the bay had reached their maximum growth and would remain “relatively unchanged into the 20th century.”157 Towns never expanded, no investments or developments influenced their growth. Outsiders were, and still are, considered

“foreigners.” With no highways or bridges, few people ventured into these small towns.

-Chesapeake Watermen-

“My father raised me a watermen and it’s all I know how to do. They say ‘follow the water one year the same as the next.’ Ain’t no sense in it, but I do it all the same.”158

The first known use of the term “watyrmene” was in 1400, in a Middle English Alliterative poem.159 Watermen were thieves who took to the water in eleventh century England.160 The term later referred to the taxi men “who [ply] for hire on a river.”161 On the Chesapeake, the term came to describe men who worked the water for a living. Watermen have a unique history in relation to the bay because their livelihood depends on it. These men have traditionally had 19 a tough time, economically and socially. They have been compared to the cowboys of the Wild

West, “those rugged individuals who spend so much time alone, out in the elements, pursuing their own ideals and not worrying about others.”162 Most watermen cannot and will not do anything else for a living. They are an independent group of men and could be “the last living specimens of an almost extinct species, except in political theory; the independent, the individual man.”163 A visitor from Philadelphia noted that the men who worked the waters of the Chesapeake could “almost be called an amphibious race.”164

People traditionally romanticize the watermen and their lifestyle. Smith Island resident and watermen Milton Evans said it best: “Ain’t no glory in oysterin’…a man who doesn’t want to work hard isn’t going to make it in the water business.”165 The watermen are aware of the unique qualities of the Chesapeake and the things that endanger it.166 They “want to be left alone while they work; they are loyal to the country and will make basic quick “no-nonsense decisions” as needed.”167 Watermen are loyal to each other. There is competition, but in the end they will always lend a hand.168 “There’s one thing about the people on this island, white or black, you’ll never see anybody want for anything. Everybody looks after one another.”169

-History of the Watermen-

The first settlers along Maryland’s Eastern Shore became true waterman: they had no other resources available to them.170 Right before the Revolutionary War land prices were rising and tobacco became an unstable market. People in bay colonies looked to shipyards and started exploiting resources from the bay.171 During the Revolution, watermen sided with the British trading goods with warships because of their hatred towards “arrogant” slave owners—claiming the watermen were treated as badly as the slaves. It wasn’t uncommon for watermen to turn to piracy and attack American ships. Many revolts against the Revolutionary Government took place along the bay172 20

During the Civil War, watermen “professed loyalty to the Union and enjoyed a thriving illegal commerce with the Confederacy.”173 Many did not pay attention to race. As long as they were making money together, “Jim Crowism was a landsman’s occupation that had no place on the Chesapeake Bay.”174 These men wrote their own rules. Fights and drunkenness were common and laws did not apply. “The bay country bred a fierce recklessness in men who pitted their lives against the wild elements of the Chesapeake.”175 Human life was cheap, and the colonial watermen “followed a code of justice enforced by knife and gun.”176 Kidnapping and shanghaiing immigrants were common occurrences. Crewmembers were promised riches on shore, only to be beaten and overworked once aboard the ship. There are many stories of

“slavery before the mast.”177 This was a violent time on the Chesapeake Bay and research has uncovered innumerable instances of rape, arson, and murder.

The male population abandoned waterfront communities during the day, and returned with a vengeance at night. Watermen would end their workday in a tavern where they would tell stories, fight, and drink. Sometimes a jug of whiskey was their only contact with “urban

America.”178 At the taverns a man or women could get “drunk for penny, and dead drunk for two pence.”179 The Methodist religion finally tamed the watermen. The first Methodist preacher arrived on the Eastern Shore in 1790. After several attempts, religion finally won them over.180

It was said people along the shores had “a harsh life and a stern God who served as a vengeful overlord of the Chesapeake’s inland sea.”181

-The Work of a Watermen-

“The Chesapeake can be seductive, yet overwhelming and cruel.”182 Watermen do full time what most of society see as recreation. They “didn’t have a whole lot and didn’t need a whole lot. They just enjoyed themselves and worked as they pleased.”183 Watermen know and follow the water. They have an understanding of the bay and its living things—watermen have 21 contributed as much to science as any biologist who has worked on the Chesapeake.184 The bay changes everyday; thus, the watermen must understand the significance of the change in tides, temperatures, salinity and phases of the moon.185 Lives along the bay go day to day, and challenges often come about that cannot be predicted.

Chesapeake watermen are seasonal. “They tong and dredge for oysters in fall and winter and then change fishing gear and wait for Blue Crabs to appear in late spring and throughout summer.”186 With the rise and fall of numbers, they have to supplement one harvest with another. Since they rely on several different fisheries, when one is slow, they are able to pick up the slack with another. In colonial times, they would transport produce from Norfolk to

Baltimore on their boats to make ends meet during summer months. Historically, they have done whatever it takes to stay on the water. If a crew is out for oysters and a school of fish swims by, they will likely drop everything and go after fish if the market is right.187 When it is too cold to work on the water, some get second jobs and prepare equipment for next season.

-Regulations on Watermen-

Watermen today are economically driven but confined to work within set regulations. They are told what to catch, how much, and when. Historically, they treated everything that found its way in and around the waters of the bay as theirs. “What the Lord provided, no landsmen should tell them how to harvest.”188 They would “tong oysters with the Devil if they could make money at it.”189 “Get today! Hell with tamar! Leave it till tamar, somebody else’ll get it”190 was a popular saying in 1870. “If a watermen caught the last oyster in the Chesapeake Bay, he’d sell it.”191

Watermen appreciate what environmental agencies do, but regulations interfere with their revenue. They understand the need for a clean bay more than anyone. They think the real problems are on land, in the way of pollutants being put into the bay. “The bay’s improvin’ and 22 they’re still after us…biggest problem is (the organizations) pushing for more regulation and legislation.”192 Those who work the waters have seen first-hand what waterfront real estate and industrial pollution can do to the bay.193 Watermen think that they are easy targets. Authorities need to stop making laws and look at society as a whole and its impact on the bay.

Responsibility for the Chesapeake Bay and its fisheries should be shared for the good and the bad.194 The greater need is to focus on cleaning up the bay and not just regulating those who work on it.

Watermen ask that organizations spend more time and energy on “good science, research and pollution controls.”195 They feel that they are being told what to do and are not getting a chance to contribute to the discussion. Today, it is not uncommon to have a waterman run for official governmental offices and win.

-Future of the Watermen-

No formal education teaches how to work on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The necessary skills, and knowledge have been passed down from one generation to the next. “Your’re gonna follow the water and drink whiskey and spend the rest o’ your life wondering why; you got watermen’s blood.”196 An old man working the water said his “Father, Grandfather and Great- grandfather were all watermen—I may be the last of them left to carry on this way of life.”197 In

1958, Captain Orville Parks said “If I was a young man looking for a way to earn my living, I’d run as far away from the water as I could”.198

College opportunities and modern technologies are taking the younger generation from the water. Working the water is a young man’s job though—you need “strength and willpower to hold on and work long tough hours.”199 A waterman will say he wants a better life for his son, but once his son chooses the water there is no prouder father.200 “‘Join the service’, I tell him. ‘Learn a trade’, I tell him. What’s he do?…Tonging [with his father-in-law].”201 A 23 waterman spent the summer working with his daughter and acknowledged that she “deserves everything I can give her. Sixteen years old and she spent the whole summer, almost seven days a week crabbin’ with me. Not many girls will do that.”202

Today men and women are leaving the water for more secure futures. It is hard to find people who want to work with their hands. “No, my boy says he ain’t going to mess with the water…don’t see no reason to punish hisself that way.”203 Once the younger generation leave, the older generations eventually have no choice but to follow.204 Some get off the water and come back to it. “Guess we just ate so many ‘arsters’ and crabs, that they run in our blood.”205

There is still a passion and drive to work the water, even if it means having to supplement with another job. And older waterman once commented,

Sometimes it looks like most of the men around here are older men and I wonder if there’ll be enough young ones to carry on when we’re gone…so many of them going to town and all. It always makes me feel good to see a young man’s face on one of these boats.206

Generations of tourists have visited the shores of the Chesapeake, fallen in love and moved there. Newcomers take out boats and tangle watermen’s trotlines and run over their crab buoys.207 Watermen realize that seasonal people are good for the market and the community’s economy even if they do get in the way.208 New towns and developments have taken over quiet shorelines. Property values go up, and locals are forced to move. They cannot afford houses in their own neighborhood—let alone their parent’s house. A lot of old families (and traditions) are disintegrating in this way.

Noise and stench from workboats disturb the new population. Commercial docks are now becoming high-end private marinas, and watermen are running out of affordable places to keep their boats. “The people come and say ‘we don’t want your smell, your mess, or your noise, but we sure do want your seafood!’”209 Outsiders complain about tools and gear, but many 24 watermen are trying to work full time and have five or six harvests that they need to prepare for.

In 2000, Solomons, Maryland created a county-owned wharf to be used by commercial watermen. This is a spot where they can load and unload their catch without hassle.210 Another marina opened in Shady Side, Maryland with an associated technology center on the same property. Watermen and scientists work together at “Discovery Village: where science and technology meet the bay.”211 This dock hosts community events and field trips, sometimes allowing working watermen to host students on their boats. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation uses Discovery Village for their oyster restoration projects.

Marinas are starting to pick up some of the decline from the seafood industry by bringing tourists and revenue. Watermen are finding full time work at boatyards where their knowledge is appreciated and put to good use.212 Boat captains now advertise charters for the public and rent their services for research. The watermen can still work their boats and, if need be, harvest crabs or oysters part time. There will always be a commercial boating and fishing industry along the Chesapeake Bay, but it will never be what it once was with all of the same players.

V. Places

Each town and island along the bay has a story to tell, all rich in tradition and a vital part of

Chesapeake history. Four such stories follow: Crisfield, Maryland, established the seafood industry along the bay; Deale Island was home to a famous seafood port and now home to the

Annual Skipjack Race; St. Michaels is a popular tourist destination; and Smith Island has held on to centuries-old traditions of the bay.

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-Case Study: Crisfield, Maryland-

Crisfield, Maryland, owes its very existence to oysters.213 The town is the birthplace of the

Chesapeake Bay’s commercial industry.214 John Crisfield was a financier, congressman and founder of the Eastern Shore Rail system.215 He saw Crisfield as the perfect location to collect oysters shortly after an abundance of oyster beds were discovered on the Tangier Sound adjacent to Crisfield. Realizing the potential, John Crisfield had a railway built between Salisbury and

Crisfield. John Crisfield is said to have baptized the town in his name by unceremoniously falling in the water in 1866.216 He said, “We feed off the oyster and live off their shells” and

“We’re the crab capital of the Universe, you know. The mostest soft crabs in the world, anywhere.”217

By 1872, Crisfield had the largest oyster trade in the state. Over 600 sailing vessels worked out of the port, and several million oysters were harvested annually.218 In 1879, Crisfield had “oysters, oysters, are everywhere, in barrels, in boxes, in cans, in buckets, in the shell and out.”219 The town was literally built upon oyster shells. Oyster shucking houses dumped oyster shells by the “billions all around their watery premises,” causing shells to eventually become solid ground.220 People would buy small plots of land on the water and continue to fill the area with oyster shells, creating backyards. Some would put pilings over the water and fill the area in until it was solid enough to build on.221 Several city blocks are built on oyster shells with an average depth of six feet.222

Crisfield has been called the “Venice of the Eastern Shore,”223 the “Tombstone on the shores of the Chesapeake” and the “Dodge City by the sea.”224 Like Las Vegas, Crisfield was a get-rich town. The rough attitudes and the lawlessness resembled an old mining town from the

Western frontier.225 Where a man can “make a fortune through hard-work, hard bargaining and luck.”226 26

Crisfield was a tough community with saloons, brothels and unruly watermen straight off ships. To tame the town’s reputation, the commissioners voted Crisfield a dry town in 1875.

It wasn’t until 1939 that this ordinance was repealed.227 Laws did little to influence the reputation of the town. It was the “Queen of honky-tonks, and mistress of the oyster of Tangier

Sound”.228 In 1904, the town was the greatest crab shipping port in the United States, with more sailing vessels than any other port in the nation.229

Every Labor Day, Crisfield sponsors the “National Hard Crab Derby.” In 1947, kids were debating about how fast a crab could run on dry land. Bets were made and a course was set.

A bushel of crabs was poured in the center of a circle. The first crab to make it out of a circle was deemed the winner, and a new tradition was born.230 Crisfield built a stadium known as the

“Crab Bowl” which seats 3,500 people for the annual event. The crab derby is four days of festivities, including the crowning of “Miss Crustacean,” cooking contests, crab picking races, and live music ending with a fireworks display.231

Crisfield is a proud community, rich in history. Like other communities along the bay, they are worried about rising sea levels and the effects of erosion. Super Storm Sandy hit hard in

2012, damaging many homes and displacing hundreds of residents. The community came together to rebuild from the devastation. Money from the government was used to build houses above flood levels, not, as proposed, for residents to move out of town.

The town is trying to move toward a sustainable future and was already in transition from seafood industry to “seafood heritage tourism” before the storm hit.232 Crisfield residents ask “What if you love the landscape that scientists predict will be under water in a few years?

We can see the water is higher than it was. Trust me. The people of this community will figure it out.”233 There is plenty of work to be done and the community stands strong. “Crisfield was the seafood capital of the world. What are they going to do 50 years from now? Say,

‘Underneath that water used to be the seafood capital of the world?’…They need to take 27

Crisfield, and they need to figure out a way to preserve it.”234

-Case Study: Deale Island, Maryland-

Deale Island was originally known as “Devil’s Island.” The Methodist Church officially renamed it in the early 19th Century.235 It is watermen country; historically, most of the inhabitants have been working watermen. The island’s harbor is a working commercial fishery. It is only three miles long and home to several Skipjacks that still dredge for oysters. The town of Deale Island is rich with generations of Chesapeake traditions.

In the 18th century, the town was a hidden lawless land for pirates.236 When the pirates moved out, it still attracted trouble.237 During the American Revolution, royalists used the island to raid the lower bay until the Maryland Navy stepped in.238 The Methodist Religion eventually took over the troubled island. A minister by the name of Joshua Thomas took root and held a “camp meeting” in 1828. “More than two hundred sailboats and a steamboat or two brought worshippers from miles around.”239 This tradition has carried on until today with worshippers congregating annually for camp.

Deale Island is a historic icon of the Chesapeake. It was rich in oysters, crabs, fish, as well as boatyards, boat building and sail making.240 Working Skipjacks were frequent along the docks. One local waterman noted “we have a distinctive way of life down here, a good life that is rich in many things.”241 In 1881, a wharf was built to accommodate the large volumes of seafood. The wharf produced a thriving blue crab industry until the “Hurricane of 1933” hit and weakened the island. A few years later, the wharf had to be abandoned.242 Not much is left of

Deale Island. A small a soft-shell industry is still in operation and it remains a port for Skipjacks.

The population is getting smaller, and the island is slowly eroding away.243

Deale Island is home the annual Labor Day Skipjack race. Racing workboats on the waters of the Chesapeake dates as far back as 1871, with the first organized race officially taking 28 place in 1921. Each subsequent year a new race location was chosen along the bay.244 With the decline of workboats this tradition was lost. In 1959, a group of Deale Island watermen were talking about renewing the old Chesapeake tradition of racing workboats. They decided that

Skipjack races would be good for the morale of the community. “Cars were bumper to bumper on the island. Hometown folks who had not been home for years were there…the shorelines were dotted with visitors; race-boats were loaded with friends and relatives.”245 The infamous

Rosie Parks came in first place out of 14 boats that first year. This event continued and grew into two days of fishing, swimming, and boat docking contests, as well as local food and artists coming together. People from all over the Chesapeake come to watch the main event: The

Skipjack Race. It is a celebration to toast the end of summer and the beginning of oyster season.

It is a “homecoming” for the people of the Chesapeake246.

-Case Study: St. Michaels, Maryland-

St. Michaels is one of the oldest towns along the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In 1630, it was a trading center and became a shipbuilding port. “More than any other spot, the beautiful models of the bay craft were evolved and fashioned.”247 Some houses in town are original to the colonial period.248 The town was named for the Episcopal Church in 1677. The location was easily accessed for those who were only able to attend church by boat, causing the town to become a popular place on Sunday mornings. Saint Michael is considered the patron saint of Maryland, and it is said that Lord Baltimore’s rents were due on “Michaelmas Day.”249 The town eventually started taking on full-time residents and trading goods.250

On August 13, 1804, St. Michaels was warned of a planned attack from the British.

They evacuated the women, children, livestock and valuables and then proceeded to fill treetops with lanterns outside of town. All town lights were extinguished. The British fell for the trick and fired at the lanterns—missing all but one house. This was the first military black- 29 out on record.251 The house that was hit is called “The Cannonball House,” and St. Michael’s will be forever known as “The Town That Fooled the British.”252 St. Michaels had a bad reputation in the 1870s—thanks to the hard lifestyles of the local watermen.253

Modern-day St. Michaels is a small thriving town. Home to only about 12,000 residents, it hosts more than 100,000 people each year through tourism. It is one of the most desired tourist spots along the bay. One local commented that it should be called “St. Teeks’ for all we have now are antiques and boutiques.”254

Prior to 1950s, the town was self sufficient and relied on grain milling, boatbuilding, hardware and the surrounding farms. Outsiders were rarely seen.255 The 18-acre complex of seafood houses, docks and workboats gave way to the nationally acclaimed Chesapeake

Maritime Museum.256 The museum was founded in 1960 and has become a “premier institution” along the Eastern Shore.257

The Chesapeake Maritime Museum has become an institute where visitors are able to have hands-on experiences with all things related to the bay. The museum presents geological, cultural, and economic history, along with various boats powered by sail, steam, and motor.258 It has the largest collection of Chesapeake vessels in existence, and largest number of vessels afloat at their docks.259 The museum is a non-profit organization that focuses on preserving the history, protecting the people, lifestyles, and resources of the Chesapeake Bay. It hosts demonstrations, boat rides, and annual festivals that work to keep the public aware and involved in their collective history. The mission of the museum is to teach and raise awareness of what needs to done to protect the future of the bay.

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-Case Study: Smith Island, Maryland-

Captain John Smith discovered Smith Island in June of 1606. Contrary to popular belief, it was not named for the famous captain, but for wealthy landowner Henry Smith.260 The island is located in the middle of the Chesapeake, right off the port of Crisfield.261 The only way get there is by boat. The English and Welsh settled Smith Island in 1657, and some residents can trace their heritage back to the original settlement.262 Made up of three small towns—Ewell,

Tylerton, and Rhodes Point—a total area of 8,000 acres of islets make up the entire island; only

900 of the acres have inhabitants.263 Smith Islanders started as farmers, but due to erosion and the unsuitable landscape they became watermen.264 For centuries this has been a successful working community that relied on the crab population. In 1986, four million pounds of hard crabs were harvested, and in the 1990s, 95% of the nation’s soft crabs came from around Smith’s waterways.265

One visitor said “leave your beer at home, and bring your Bible, be prepared to work harder than you ever have—this is the real Smith Island.”266 The town’s reputation entices visitors; little has changed since the 17th century. The locals have their own dialect and speak with an old Elizabethan accent. It wasn’t until after World War II that the island got electricity.267 There is a small museum on the property and a few inns. The uninhabited section of the island is a wildlife life refuge and home to many ducks, geese and waterfowl.268 Smith

Island is famously known for their 8-to 15-layer-cakes that is the Maryland state dessert. In the

1800s, the women would bake this cake and send it off with the watermen to remind them of their family back home.269

With no organized government, people rely on each other and look to the church for guidance. There is no post office, local government, police force, or jail. News gets around from the seafood picking house where “women pick crabs and gossip; even the tourists are talked about.”270A one-room schoolhouse was in operation until 1997 when the state decided to send 31 the last two students in attendance to Crisfield schools. Every morning, students on Smith

Island must catch a boat to attend class.

Smith Island has been vanishing due to rising sea levels and erosion. The entire town never reaches more than three feet above sea level, and the average elevation is two feet.271 In

2003, Hurricane Isabel submerged the entire island.272 Inhabitants are now leaving the island for the mainland, but some brave young men look to the water for work like their forefathers did.

Young females see nothing but picking crabs and raising children in their future and are leaving.273 At its peak in 1900, the town had 800 residents, in 2010, it was home to only 210 people year round, with an average age of 50.274

In the last 150 years, the island lost over 3,000 acres of land.275 Erosion has wiped out most of the natural barriers and vegetation that protected the shores.276 This island is going to end up like Holland Island—another chapter in Chesapeake history. In 1994, the US Army

Corps of Engineers put several large bags of dredged materials along the island, creating a seawall to slow erosion.277 In 2012, Superstorm Sandy hit Smith Island hard and caused significant damage. In an attempt to move residents “out of harms way,” the State of Maryland offered the town one million dollars for nine of the most damaged homes.278 The townspeople are strong and proud. They refused, and as of 2013, Maryland is trying to work with residents to see what can be done to save the town from inevitable extinction. This is one of the last true treasures in the Chesapeake that has not been influenced by the modern world.

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VI. Conclusion

The future of the Chesapeake Bay rests on two entwined and complex issues: the potential ecological death of the estuary and the preservation of the culture of the people. The first problem, although complicated, is perhaps easier to address. Ecologically, the bay will always struggle. The damage has already been done. People are now starting to understand their responsibility for the health of the bay. History has shown what not to do—from here we can move in the right direction. There are many opportunities now available for the community to get involved in the clean up efforts of the Chesapeake.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation keeps the public informed with newsletters and events.

Many volunteer opportunities are offered giving hands on experiences. Museums like the

Chesapeake Maritime Museum offer activates and community days focused on restoration efforts and provide information to the public. Organizations like Discovery Village allow watermen, scientists and communities to work together and learn from one another. Schools are offering field trips and classroom projects that focus on the “Save the Bay” campaign, encouraging children to get involved. Individual families are raising oysters from their own piers and are becoming aware of what they can do to prevent dangerous run-off and pollutants in critical areas.

The land and the waters of the bay are constantly changing. “I guess it’s always either coming or going. It’s sure never standing still.”279 The better we understand the landscape, the more we will be able to slow down erosion and protect smaller islands and towns in danger.

Poplar Island is an example of successful science and a model for future restoration.

The culture of the communities that surround the bay—the watermen, their language, and their livelihood—is an important part of the history of the bay. In July of 1876, a journalist said, “The quaint old-time customs and ways of thinking which still cling about the people must be studied now before they give place to the new order of things.”280 33

The men and women who live and work along the Chesapeake have a special knowledge and understanding of the water that has been passed down from one generation to the next. The time spent and recorded with Chesapeake watermen and their families is unparalleled. It is important to listen and learn from those with first hand experience because of they have a distinct understanding of the bay. Their lifestyle, work ethic, respect for nature, value system, and perseverance is something to be admired, respected and preserved.281 With each passing generation we have lost a vital piece of the bay’s history. It is important to get children involved, teach them the importance of the bay and how their decisions have an impact.

What makes the Chesapeake so different from places like Colonial Williamsburg,

Virginia, is that it is not actors playing a part, but real people working in towns on the water, struggling to make ends meet. The “waterman is our society’s last free spirit, last free hunter, a fact that this same society can’t seem to accept or respect.”282 Watermen have been compared to

Native Americans before they were “civilized” by the government. They are threatened by governmental regulations, and the public has romanticized them into legends and folklore.283

The watermen’s lifestyle, work ethic, respect for nature, value system, and perseverance is something to be admired, respected and studied.284

It is important to preserve the heritage of the Chesapeake Bay and its people. The question is how to record a culture. The Chesapeake waterman needs to be captured—in audio, video, and books—before he is gone forever. Ethnomusicologists record the songs and stories of the Chesapeake’s inhabitants, many documentaries have been made about life on the bay, and books by both historians and fiction writers reflect on the towns and their traditions. Through this thesis project, perspective is given to life on the Chesapeake so that it can be respected and preserved.

34

A newcomer to the bay said he found “friends and a heritage” on Chesapeake waters, as well as learned to “catch crabs, paint boats, and raise hell.”285 Alas, the future of the bay and its traditions are now increasingly in the hands of tourists and outsiders. Tourism makes the

Chesapeake Bay vital. Some towns, like St. Michaels, are successful and prosperous because of it. The chartering of Skipjacks is keeping watermen afloat and on the water. But for many places, ghosts tell the Chesapeake story, an ethereal visitor’s guide to what once was.

35

Figure 1 Oysters Tongers at Work, Courtesy of Virginia Fisheries Laboratory Beitzell, Edwin. “Life on the Potomac River.” Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68-54236, 1968.

Figure 2 Oysters Dredge, Courtesy of Virginia Fisheries Laboratory Beitzell, Edwin. “Life on the Potomac River.” Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68-54236, 1968.

36

Figure 3 Pungy, Illustrated by Frederick Tilp Beitzell, Edwin. “Life on the Potomac River.” Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68-54236, 1968.

Figure 4 Bugeye, Illustrated by Frederick Tilp Beitzell, Edwin. “Life on the Potomac River.” Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68-54236, 1968.

Figure 5 Skipjack, Illustrated by Frederick Tilp Beitzell, Edwin. “Life on the Potomac River.” Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68-54236, 1968.

37

-Endnotes-

1 Middleton, Pierce. Tobacco Coast. (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), 38. 2 Miller, Henry. The Oyster In Chesapeake History. www.st.maryscity.org/Oyster%20in%20Chesapeake%20History.html. 3 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976), 4. 4 Lippson, Alica Jane and Robert L. Life in the Chesapeake Bay (3rd Edition). (Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 2006), 4. 5 Horton, Tom. Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), 9. 6 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001, 258). 7 Prudente, Tim. "Troubled Waters: The Fight To Clean Up The Chesapeake Bay." The Capital, September 30, 2013. 8 Ibid., 59. 9 Horton, Tom. Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), 18. 10 Jackson, Alex and Tim Prudente. "Troubled Waters: The Fight to Clean Up the Chesapeake." The Capital, October 29, 2013. 11 Ibid., 36. 12 Horton, Tom. Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), 169. 13 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 97. 14 Horton, Tom. Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), 171. 15 Ibid., 70. 16 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 97. 17 Sea Levels rise due to global warming. 18 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 7. 19 Fahrenthold, David. "Last House on Sinking Chesapeake Bay Island Collapses." The Washington Post, October 24, 2010. 20 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 7. 21 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976), 248. 22 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 8. 23 Fahrenthold, David. "Last House on Sinking Chesapeake Bay Island Collapses." The Washington Post, October 24, 2010. 24 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 96. 25 Ibid, 4-6. & Save Holland Island. History of Holland Island. www.savehollandisland.com/history.html. 26 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 4. 27 Wheeler, Timothy. "Holland Island Home Demise Marks 'End of Era'." The Baltimore Sun, October 22, 2010. 28 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 6. 29 Save Holland Island. Welcome Save Holland Island. www.savehollandisland.com/index.html. 30 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 97. 31 Ibid., 100. 32 Wheeler, Timothy. "Holland Island Home Demise Marks 'End of Era'." The Baltimore Sun, October 22, 2010. 33 Fahrenthold, David. "Last House on Sinking Chesapeake Bay Island Collapses." The Washington Post, October 24, 2010. & Sometimes Interesting. Sometimes Interesting. April 8, 2013. http://sometimes-interesting.com/2013/04/08/the-last-house- on-holland-island/. 34 Blakely, Stephen. "Poplar Island: Success in the Bay." Soundings. June 29, 2012. www.soundingsoline.com/news/coastwise/288525-poplar-island-in-the-bay. & US Army Corps of Engineers. US Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District. www.nba.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental/Poplar.aspx. 35 US Army Corps of Engineers. US Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District. www.nba.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental/Poplar.aspx. 36 Wood, Pamela. "An Island Reborn." The Capital Gazzette, April 26, 2008. 37 Ibid., n.d. & US Army Corps of Engineers. US Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District. ww.nba.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental/Poplar.aspx. 38 Peffer, Randall. Watermen. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 60. 39 US Army Corps of Engineers. US Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District. www.nba.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental/Poplar.aspx. 40 Wood, Pamela. "An Island Reborn." The Capital Gazzette, April 26, 2008. 41 Ibid., n.d. 42 Ibid., n.d. 43 Wheeler, Timothy. "Port Dredging Helps Reclaim Vanishing Land." The Baltimore Sun, January 2011, 2011. 44 Wood, Pamela. "An Island Reborn." The Capital Gazzette, April 26, 2008.

38

45 Blakely, Stephen. "Poplar Island: Success in the Bay." Soundings. June 29, 2012. www.soundingsoline.com/news/coastwise/288525-poplar-island-in-the-bay 46 Wheeler, Timothy. "Port Dredging Helps Reclaim Vanishing Land." The Baltimore Sun, January 2011, 2011. 47 US Army Corps of Engineers. US Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District. www.nba.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental/Poplar.aspx. 48 Nealon, Cory. Chesapeake Bay Oysters Fight Back Against MSX, Dermo - Daily Press. January 27, 2010. http://articles.dailypress.com/2010--1-26/news/dp-local_oyster_0127jan27_1_ryan-carnegis-msx-and-dermo-oysters. 49 Horton, Tom. Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), 120. 50 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 134. 51 Ibid., 6. 52 Ibid., 5. 53 Ibid., 6. 54 Middleton, Pierce. Tobacco Coast. (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), 66. 55 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 6. 56 Ibid., 6. 57 Middleton, Pierce. Tobacco Coast. (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), 67. 58 Jopp, Harold Jr. Rediscovery of the Eastern Shore, Delmarva Travelogues of the 1870's. (Wye Mills, MD: Chesapeake College Press, 1986), 169. 59 Middleton, Pierce. Tobacco Coast. (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), 68. 60 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 5. & Brewington, M.V. Chesapeake Bay — A Pictorial Maritime History. (New York: Cornell Maritime Press, 1953), 171. 61 Brewington, M.V. Chesapeake Bay — A Pictorial Maritime History. (New York: Cornell Maritime Press, 1953), 171. 62 Ibid., 171. 63 Ibid., 171. 64 Ibid., 171. 65 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 55. 66 Ibid., 13. 67 Ibid., 14. 68 Ibid., 87. 69 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 36. 70 Ibid., 14. 71 Ibid., 26. 72 Ibid., 27. 73 Ibid., 14-16. 74 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 49. 75 Horton, Tom. Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), 28. 76 Ibid., 29. & Jopp, Harold Jr. Rediscovery of the Eastern Shore, Delmarva Travelogues of the 1870's. (Wye Mills, MD: Chesapeake College Press, 1986), 165. 77 Jackson, Alex. "Troubled Waters: The Fight to Clean Up The Bay." The Capital, October 1, 2013. 78 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 185. 79 Ibid., xiv. 80 Ibid., 90. 81 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 93. 82 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 90. 83 Ibid., 90. 84 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 89. 85 Middleton, Pierce. Tobacco Coast. (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), 69. 86 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 77. 87 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 89. 88 Ibid., 93. 89 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 87. 90 Ibid., 86–87. 91 Ibid., 101. 92 Ibid., 94. 93 Ibid., 92. 94 Ibid., 29. 95 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 93. 96 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 179. 97 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 93. 98 Ibid., 97. 99 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 100.

39

100 Ibid., 53–54. 101 Ibid., 38. 102 Whitehead, John Hurt III. The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979). 103 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), xiv. 104 Ibid., 138. 105 Ibid., 239. 106 Ibid., 78. 107 Ibid., 84. 108 Ibid., 189. 109 Ibid., 187. 110 Ibid., 195. 111 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 91. 112 Jackson Alex, Tim Prudente. "Troubled Waters: The Fight to Clean Up the Chesapeake." The Capital, September 29, 2013. 113 Ibid. 114 Prudente, Tim. "Troubled Waters: The Fight To Clean Up The Chesapeake Bay." The Capital, September 30, 2013. 115 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 94. 116 Middleton, Pierce. Tobacco Coast. (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), 250. 117 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 70. 118 Brewington, M.V. Chesapeake Bay — A Pictorial Maritime History. (New York: Cornell Maritime Press, 1953). 119 Middleton, Pierce. Tobacco Coast. (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), 255. 120 Ibid., 253. 121 Burgess, Robert H. This was Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1963) 116. 122 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 99. 123 Ibid., 99. 124 Burgess, Robert H. This was Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1963), 11. 125 Ibid., 108. 126 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 99. 127 Burgess, Robert H. This was Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1963), 108. 128 Ibid., 110. 129 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 48. 130 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 100. 131 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 48. 132 Vojtech, Pat. Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks. (Centerville, Md: Tidewater Publisher, 1993), 7. 133 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 146. 134 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 182. 135 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 48. 136 Ibid., 45. 137 Sherwood, John. Maryland's Vanishing Lives. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995),149 . 138 Ibid., 149. 139 Peffer, Randall. Watermen. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 20. 140 Leggett, Vince. The Chesapeake Through Ebony Eyes. (Annapolis, 1999: Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Inc., 1999) 3. 141 Alvarez, Rafael. "Storm Sinks Rare Boat." Baltimore Sun, November 3, 1999. 142 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 48. 143 Martin, M.L.Faunce and Sandra. "Rebecca T. Ruark Rises." Bay Weekly.December 1, 1999. 144 Guy, Chris. "Recycling Old Skipjack." The Baltimore Sun, February 19, 2000. 145 Cooper, Dick. "Rosie Parks Restoration." Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. http://cbmm.org/rosieparks.html#News, accessed November 6, 2013. 146 CBS Baltimore. "Famous Skipjack Desperately Needs Repairs." CBS Baltimore. July 11, 2011. http://baltimore.cbslocl.com2011/07/11/famous-skipjack- desperately -needs-repairs/, accessed November 13, 2013. 147 Cooper, Dick. "Rosie Parks Restoration." Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. http://cbmm.org/rosieparks.html#News, accessed November 6, 2013. 148 Ibid. 149 Ibid. 150 Ibid. 151 Jopp, Harold Jr. Rediscovery of the Eastern Shore, Delmarva Travelogues of the 1870's. (Wye Mills, MD: Chesapeake College Press, 1986), 4. 152 Footner, Hulbert. Rivers of the Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), 8. 153 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 75. 154 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 90. 155 Footner, Hulbert. Rivers of the Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), 8.

40

156 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 4. 157 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 11. 158 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 63. 159 Ibid., 62. 160 The Mariner's Museum. Chesapeake Bay — Waterman. 2002. http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/cbhf/waterman/watt000.html (accessed Spetember 13, 2013). —. Chesapeake Bay — Oyster Wars. 2002. http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/cbhf/oyster/mod001.html, accessed September 13, 2013). 161 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 63. 162 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), ix. 163 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 187. 164 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 11. 165 Ibid., 129. 166 Whitehead, John Hurt III. The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), n.d. 167 Ibid., n.d. 168 Ibid., n.d. 169 Ibid., n.d. 170 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 66. 171 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 6. 172 Ibid., 8. 173 Ibid., 11. 174 Ibid., 23. 175 Ibid., 20. 176 Ibid., 7. 177 Ibid., 63. 178 Ibid., 32. 179 Ibid., 7. 180 Ibid., 9. 181 Ibid., 33. 182 Peffer, Randall. Watermen. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 61. 183 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 187. 184 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), xvi. 185 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 235. 186 Lippson, Alica Jane and Robert L. Life in the Chesapeake Bay (3rd Edition). (Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 2006), xvi. 187 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 187. 188 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 77. 189 Jopp, Harold Jr. Rediscovery of the Eastern Shore, Delmarva Travelogues of the 1870's. (Wye Mills, MD: Chesapeake College Press, 1986), 77. 190 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 49. 191 Ibid., 134. 192 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 131. 193 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 88. 194 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 259–262. 195 Ibid., 26. 196 Peffer, Randall. Watermen. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 60. 197 Sherwood, John. Maryland's Vanishing Lives. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995),142 . 198 Whitehead, John Hurt III. The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), n.d. 199 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 235. 200 Whitehead, John Hurt III. The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), n.d. 201 Peffer, Randall. Watermen. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 50. 202 Ibid., 48. 203 Whitehead, John Hurt III. The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), n.d. 204 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 239. 205 Peffer, Randall. Watermen. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 49. 206 Whitehead, John Hurt III. The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), n.d. 207 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 86. 208 Whitehead, John Hurt III. The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), n.d. 209 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 92. 210 Ibid., 200–201. 211 Ibid., 202.

41

212 Ibid., 95. 213 Jopp, Harold Jr. Rediscovery of the Eastern Shore, Delmarva Travelogues of the 1870's. (Wye Mills, MD: Chesapeake College Press, 1986), 99. 214 Ernst, Howard. Chesapeake Bay Blues. (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 90. 215 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 277. 216 Ibid., 277. 217 Ibid., 275. 218 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 17. 219 Ibid., 22. 220 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 276. 221 Jopp, Harold Jr. Rediscovery of the Eastern Shore, Delmarva Travelogues of the 1870's. (Wye Mills, MD: Chesapeake College Press, 1986), 99. 222 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 276. 223 Jopp, Harold Jr. Rediscovery of the Eastern Shore, Delmarva Travelogues of the 1870's. (Wye Mills, MD: Chesapeake College Press, 1986), 99. 224 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 276. 225 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 17. 226 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 102. 227 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 278. 228 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 22. 229 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 84 & 277. 230 Ibid., 286. 231 Ibid., 287. 232 Montgomery, Davis. "Crisfield, MD. beats back a rising Chesapeake Bay." The Washington Post Magazine, October 24, 2013. 233 Ibid. 234 Ibid. 235 Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers. (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1976.), 65. 236 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 107. 237 Ibid., 107. 238 Ibid., 108. 239 Ibid., 108. 240 Ibid., 111. 241 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 110. 242 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 112. 243 Ibid., 112. 244 Evans, Ben. "Bringing Back the Skipjack Races Back to the Bay." (Marylander and Herald, July 1978). 245 Ibid. 246 Ibid. 247 Footner, Hulbert. Rivers of the Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), 240. 248 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 216. 249 Footner, Hulbert. Rivers of the Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1979), 240. 250 Ibid., 240. 251 Town of St. Michaels. Town of St. Michaels - Town History. www.townofstmichaels.com/history.shtml, accessed November 12, 2013. 252 Ibid. 253 Wennersten, John R. The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay. (Centerville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 33. 254 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 215. 255 Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. History: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. www.cbmm.org/ab_history.htm, accessed 11 12, 2013. 256 Ibid. 257 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 217. 258 Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. History: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. www.cbmm.org/ab_history.htm, accessed November 12, 2013. 259 Ibid. 260 Historic Smith Island. Historic Smith Island. www.smithisland.us/history.htm (accessed October 24, 2013). 261 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 194. 262 Historic Smith Island. Historic Smith Island. www.smithisland.us/history.htm, accessed October 24, 2013. 263 Scheller, William. "Island of Calm." The Washington Post, March 12, 2000. 264 Ibid.

42

265 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 132. 266 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 196. 267 Wheeler, Timothy. "Smith Island debate buyout offered by state." The Baltimore Sun, May 12, 2013. 268 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 131. 269 Smith Island Baking Company. The story of Smith Island cakes. http://smithislandcake.com/about.php (accessed November 24, 2013). 270 Wennersten, John. Maryland's Eastern Shore. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Press, 1992), 195. 271 Scheller, William. "Island of Calm." The Washington Post, March 12, 2000. & Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 134. 272 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 9. 273 Horton, Tom. Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), 12. 274 Giles, Ben. "Scientists Warn of Smith Island's Demise, Residents are Skeptical." The Bay Beat, April 20, 2010. 275 Wheeler, Timothy. "Smith Island debate buyout offered by state." The Baltimore Sun, May 12, 2013. 276 Giles, Ben. "Scientists Warn of Smith Island's Demise, Residents are Skeptical." The Bay Beat, April 20, 2010. 277 Cronin, Willim B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay. (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 134. 278 Wheeler, Timothy. "Smith Island debate buyout offered by state." The Baltimore Sun, May 12, 2013. 279 Horton, Tom. Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), 35. 280 Jopp, Harold Jr. Rediscovery of the Eastern Shore, Delmarva Travelogues of the 1870's. (Wye Mills, MD: Chesapeake College Press, 1986), 71. 281 Blackistone, Mick. Sunup to Sundown Watermen of the Chesapeake. (Washington D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., 1988), 221. 282 Blackistone, Mick. Dancing with the Tide. (Centerville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 2001), 246. 283 Ibid., ix. 284 Blackistone, Mick. Sunup to Sundown Watermen of the Chesapeake. (Washington D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., 1988), 221. 285 Peffer, Randall. Watermen. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 195.

43

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