Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network

Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network https://www.nps.gov/cbgn/index.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_Gateways_Network The Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network is a partnership program of the National Park Service and a system of over 150 parks, refuges, museums, historic communities and water trails in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. As a partnership program, it is not considered a Unit of the National Park System. Sites in the greater Chesapeake Bay Watershed are eligible to participate in the Network, including sites in the Potomac River basin out to West Virginia and sites in the Susquehanna River basin out to New York State. The Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network connects you with the natural and cultural heritage of the Chesapeake Bay watershed through more than 170 exceptional parks, wildlife refuges, museums, sailing ships, historic communities, trails and more. Gateways Network partner sites and water trails are the special places where you can experience the authentic Chesapeake.

Voyages and Explorations Some journeys make good stories. Some make a mark on history. The travels of John Smith, who captained a small wooden boat across the Chesapeake Bay in the early 1600s, did both. Smith began exploring the Chesapeake Bay and rivers near James Fort as soon as he arrived in 1607. He traveled many of the Bay's tributaries before embarking on two major voyages during the summer of 1608. His expedition ranged from the James River in Virginia, to portions of the Chesapeakl"s Eastern Shore, the Great Falls on the Potomac River, and the mouth of the Susquehanna River near present-day Havre de Grace, Maryland. Smith and his crew sailed from a struggling English outpost into a world they knew little about. They had no maps to guide them. T hey traveled an enormous web of waterways, where forests were as vast as the marsh. And it was not vacant terrain. Both voyages lasted about two months and took place in a sma ll open boat, equipped with one sail and oars for paddling. Fifteen men traveled on the first voyage, between June 2 and July 21. They sailed and rowed up the Eastern Shore as far as the Nanticoke River, crossed the Bay near Calvert Cliffs, and explored the Patapsco and Potomac rivers. After a short stop at James Fort, Smith launched the boat again, with thirteen men on board. Between July 24 and September 7, they explored the Rappahannock, Patuxent, and Susquehanna rivers. In all, Smith documented nearly 3,000 miles of the Bay and its rivers, as well the location oflndian communities, with remarkable precision. along the shoreline met Smith at nearly every turn. - -Today, you can follow Smith's travels on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, learn the traditions of descendant American Indian tribes who still live here, and experience the richness of the Chesapeake and its rivers. By land and by water, you'll make discoveries of your own. A d ip tych sundial (which includes a compass) would have been among the instruments used for navigation in Smith's day. John Smith's map of the Chesapeake was remarkably accurate. Smith explored the landscape by boat and on foot. Indians acted as guides and shared information about areas that he did not reach in person. John Smith and Jamestown Adventures and Encounters John Smith arrived on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in 1607, along with three ships carrying English colonists. It was a business \'enture, run by the Virginia Company of London, \Vhich instructed the men to find gold and a westward passage to the Pacific Ocean. During his voyages, Smith visited many Indian communities on both shores of the Bay and near the mouth of the Susquehanna River. Some approached with caution or hostility, but Smith generally restrained his men and the tension of first encounters often shifted into trade and feasting. He received valuable help from Indian guides and interpreters. A Wiccocomico man named Mosco traveled with them during parts of both voyages. The colonists built a fort on what is now the James River in Virginia, on the Bay's western shore. This outpost later became Jamestown, the first capital of Virginia. Smith was one of the fort's leaders and helped see the men through difficu lt times. H is efforts in building relationships with the Indians were essential to the survival of the colony. Smith made note of many places known today, including Calvert Cliffs - which he called "Rickards Cliffs"- and the great marsh of Tangier Sound. When a storm blew awuy their sail, the men took shelter on Bloodsworth Island, whi<:h Smith dubbed "Limbo Isle," to repair the boat and search for drinking water. American Indians Native people occupied the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. The people were living in towns and dispersed settlements on both sides of the Bay when the Virginia colonists set up James Fort in 1607. Smith identified more than 200 native communities on his map, although many more existed than Smith encountered. The region included Indian groups of different sizes, each with their own identities. Some of these groups also paid tribute to a powerful leader, known as Powhatan, who lived at Werowocomoco on what is now the York River in Virginia. The Atlantic short-nosed sturgeon was plentiful when John Smith sailed across the Chesapeake Bay. The simple wooden boat that carried Smith and his crew had both oars and a sail. It was ideal for moving through shallow waters, but it was also an open boat, exposing the men to heat"and storms. At times the \\'aters they traveled were teeming with fish. Smith reported "fish lying so thick with their heads above the water as for want of nets (our barge driving amongst them) we attempted to catch them with a frying pan." The crew struggled in the summer heat, and many men fell ill. One man, Richard Featherstone, died along the Rappahannock River. His funeral took place at a site that Smith called Featherstone

Chesapeake Bay Office National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior A BOATER’S GUIDE TO THE CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH CHESAPEAKE NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL BY JOHN PAGE WILLIAMS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY and the CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PROJECT PARTNERS NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CHESAPEAKE BAY OFFICE National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office (CHBA) leads National Park Service efforts to connect people to the natural and cultural heritage of the Chesapeake region. CHBA administers the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, and the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. CHBA is a federal partner in the multistate and federal Chesapeake Bay Program and has a leadership role in the federal coordinated Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, in response to Executive Order 13508, issued in 2009. To learn more about National Park Service initiatives for the Chesapeake Bay and the best places to experience the authentic Chesapeake, start with online visits to the following websites: Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network www.baygateways.net Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail www.smithtrail.net Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail www.nps.gov/stsp CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY The Chesapeake Conservancy is dedicated to ensuring conservation, stewardship and access for the Chesapeake Bay, its lands and rivers. The Conservancy was created out of a merger between the Friends of the John Smith Chesapeake Trail and Friends of Chesapeake Gateways. The Chesapeake Conservancy works toward three strategic goals: • To realize the full potential of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, and coordinate with other Chesapeake Bay trails to promote recreation and tourism along with education about the Bay and its waterways • To generate and direct public and private financial and technical resources to conserve the Bay’s significant landscapes and expand public access • To advance the establishment of new conservation, recreation and public access corridor designations on the Chesapeake. To learn more about the Chesapeake Conservancy’s programs, visit www.chesapeakeconservancy.org, contact info@chesapeakeconservancy.org, or call 443-321-3610. CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) was one of the founding supporters for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. CBF is the largest privately funded, nonprofit organization dedicated solely to protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay. The Foundation offers a wide range of educational, advocacy, and stewardship programs. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has adopted Captain John Smith’s descriptions of the Chesapeake in the early 1600s as a baseline for measuring a rich and balanced Bay. CBF provides an annual State of the Bay report comparing the current health of the Bay to that baseline. Contact the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at webadmin@cbf.org or 410-268-8816. Visit the foundation online at www.cbf.org. i About the Guide A Boater’s Guide to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail is a joint project of the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office, the Chesapeake Conservancy, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. As the first guide to America’s first national water trail, this publication introduces paddlers and boaters to the best places to access the trail. Author John Page Williams expertly weaves practical information for today’s boaters with the historical context of the Chesapeake’s waters explored by Captain John Smith four centuries ago. The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail was designated as part of the National Trails System in 2006. The National Park Service completed a comprehensive management plan in 2011 for the development of the trail. While this Boater’s Guide describes many places where boaters can access and explore the trail now, many more access areas and facilities will be added as trail development continues. For this reason, the Boater’s Guide is an online publication, designed to be updated as new information becomes available. The National Park Service acknowledges with appreciation the contributions of the Chesapeake Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as partners in creating this first Boater’s Guide to the Smith trail. We appreciate also the reviewers who gave feedback to improve the Guide. While we have endeavored to provide accurate current information at the time of publication, trailhead details, in particular, are subject to change. We encourage users of this Guide to verify contact information as they prepare for their travels along the trail. We also invite users of the Guide to notify the author of changes and new information to be considered for future editions. He can be reached by e-mail at jpwilliams@cbf.org.