It would take many, many moons to explore every aspect of the Chesapeake Bay. What a wonderful way, however, to spend a lifetime I believe this would be. What is the Chesapeake Bay? It is actually an estuary stretching from southernmost Virginia to northernmost Maryland having a distance of 180 miles. If you were studying about the Chesapeake Bay in school days textbook it might be described as a tidal area where ocean water and fresh water mingle.

For sightseers and tourists, one could describe the bay as an astonishingly beautiful, productive and diverse natural environment. The Chesapeake Bay has some very special places to visit that include parks, refuges, museums, historic communities and water trails. Along Maryland’s Western Shore you will find:

• The Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Visitor Information Center at 26 West Street, Annapolis, Maryland. Annapolis is the capital city of Maryland and is a history lover’s paradise in my opinion. As you walk through the city of Annapolis along the waterfront you can feel centuries of Bay traditions. The visitor center is a starting point to help you find your around the city and to other nearby Chesapeake Bay areas. There are two facilities. The primary center is near the State Capitol building on West Street. Hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. seven days a week. The other visitor information center is an information booth at City Dock and operates only April 1 to October 1. There are no fees involved with getting information from the Visitor Centers.

• Annapolis Maritime Museum: This museum can help you get a real sense of what makes the Chesapeake Bay area unique.

• The Calvert Marine Museum: Exhibits, programs, lighthouses and boats. Located in Solomons where the Patuxent River joins the Chesapeake. Fossils from millions of years ago show the shallow ocean once covered and now the Chesapeake Bay. There is a twenty-eight-foot three-log canoe, a tobacco press and boats from Solomons shipyards, 15 aquariums from 50 to 3,500 gallons, to explore the aquatic life of the Chesapeake estuary, which display plants and animals from the Bay, and the upper Patuxent River. The museum is open daily 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. except New Years, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Adult fee is $7.00, Senior (55 and older) $6.00, children ages 5 to 12 is $2.00, children under 5 is Free. More information: 410-326-2042.

A visit to the Chesapeake Bay area is not complete without exploring some of their lighthouses. Keep in mind that the Bay is more than a beautiful body of water as you add this region to your list of vacation ideas. It is a complex, highly changeable and sometimes dangerous natural wonder. Although there are coves of calmness and tranquility, there are also miles of open water where ocean tides surge and in a moment’s time the blue skies can darken to a solid black with looming storms. For the mariners, this meant life-threatening conditions. How did the mariners find their way safely through the Chesapeake Bay? The lighthouses were their guiding eyes.

Devastating shipwrecks were common in the Bay regions. As ship traffic increased, water-borne commerce through the Chesapeake Bay became the life line of our nation. Safe passage through the Chesapeake Bay area demanded dependable solutions. Congress passed the ninth law giving jurisdiction over navigational aids to the federal government. In 1792, the first lights illuminated the Bay’s entrance at Cape Henry.

The 1800s began a flurry of lighthouse construction to keep pace with fast growing Bay commerce and technological innovations like the steam-powered vessels. The steamers loaded with passengers and cargo sailed up and down the Chesapeake Bay areas. Dozens of lighthouses and lightships were in service along the Bay’s western shore by 1860. Lighthouses or lightships were markers at the majority of the Bay’s most harrowing obstacles to navigation by the year 1900.

The Chesapeake Bay lighthouse employees were often there alone with great demand, dedication and perseverance as keepers of the lighthouse. The lanterns were lit with oil. The lighthouse keepers had to lug heavy cans of oil, usually up steep, narrow steps to fill the lamp that had to be kept burning day and night in all kinds of weather. The lamp and lantern needed constant maintenance and a demanding schedule of daily record keeping documenting the facility’s operation. Being the keeper of the lighthouse also meant saving lives and risking one’s own life. The keepers of the Sharps Island screw pile light once spent 16 hours drifting down the Bay after ice destroyed the lighthouse from its foundations.

For the most part only men were lighthouse keepers. The job was just too strenuous for most females; however, there were a few women who proved themselves able to meet the demands of the lighthouse keeper. The Bay’s most famous female lighthouse keeper was Fanny Salter. She operated the Turkey Point Lighthouse at the head of the Chesapeake Bay for more than 20 years. She retired as being the last woman lighthouse keeper in the nation.

Some of the lighthouses in the Chesapeake Bay include:

• The Concord Point Lighthouse: Was constructed in 1827 and sits adjacent to the Susquehanna River. This lighthouse protected the large volume of commercial river traffic from the shoals and currents of the Susquehanna Flats. It is the oldest continuously operated lighthouse in the State of Maryland. No entrance fee charged. The lighthouse is open April through October on Saturdays and Sundays, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. 410-939-3213

• Cave Point Lighthouse: Built in 1828 and located four miles north of the entrance to the Patuxent River. Transferred to Calvert Marine Museum. The light is still active. The optic and radio building are owned by US Coast Guard. The lighthouse site is open to the public through tours originating at the Calvert Marine Museum.

Source: The Chesapeake Bay Region Tour Guides, Chesapeake Bay Tour Guide

Important Disclaimer: The URL address in the resource box of this article is not associated with any of the attractions mentioned in this article. This article and the web site are offered as a resource for formulating vacation ideas.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.

© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reserved