It's more than crabcakes and fried chicken...

When Captain John Smith sailed into the Chesapeake Bay in 1608, he noted in his diary, "heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation…truly a delightsome land." The Baltimore Sunpapers' famous sage, H.L. Mencken, went one step further and described the Chesapeake as "an immense protein factory…the world's largest bowl of oyster stew." This is still an apt description of Chesapeake Country, nearly 400 years later. This great inland sea offers endless sailing opportunities, fishing, year round recreation and a 5,600 mile shoreline that, if straightened, would reach from Baltimore to Honolulu with a few hundred miles to spare.

The word Chesapeake is derived from the Native Americans who lived along her shores. They called her K'tchisipik, "Great Water."

By all accounts, Italian Giovanni Verrazano was the first white man to set foot on Maryland's Eastern Shore, in 1524. Sir Walter Raleigh came along in 1585.

The Chesapeake Bay separates the state of Maryland physically and culturally, just as some invisible marker divides the radically diverse cultures of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Eastern Shoremen are a breed apart and fiercely maintain their waterborne lifestyles, even to the point of dredging oysters by sail power and with tongs just as the Native Americans did centuries ago. The Chesapeake is home to America's only working sailboat fleet. Chesapeake Bay "Skipjacks" patterned after the original native craft still "dredge" oysters from the soft muddy bottom. Around 1900, there were some 1500 "arshter drudge" boats plying The Bay. Today, there are less than 30. But, those remaining are still hard at work, beginning late fall each year, scraping the bay bottom with dredges and nets. Except for two days each week, they must traverse the oyster beds while under sail power. A few of the distinctively styled raked mast Skipjacks are handbuilt each year by small shipyards that still line The Bay: mostly for the sake of tradition and pleasure.

When you visit Maryland's Eastern Shore, you'll feel that time hasn't stopped here, but it surely has slowed down several ticks. Many of the towns and villages that line its shores, and those of its tributaries, are well suited to making films of the twenties and thirties with but a few changes of the storefront signage. If your taste buds don't yearn for fresh crabs, Maryland crabcakes, oysters and rockfish and locally grown farm corn, tomatoes and cantaloupes, you might as well stay home. Well, I should take that back; Maryland's fried chicken has found its way onto gourmet menus around the world

If you enjoy sailing, you can spend at least a year visiting a different port every weekend. You'll spend another year trying to decide which was your favorite.

There are few bodies of water more fascinating than the Chesapeake Bay. First, the sailor who journeys the channel north from the mouth at the Atlantic Ocean to it's headwaters, about 160 miles, needs never to vary his compass more than 2 degrees from true north.

At its widest point, the Chesapeake is nearly ten feet higher in the middle than on either side, due to the curvature of the earth. A large freighter requires at least one foot less of water at the mouth of the Chesapeake than in Baltimore due to the salinity and buoyancy of the water. Because of the earth's rotation, water on the Eastern Shore is saltier than on the Western Shore. There are 48 rivers and more than 100 branches and tributaries flowing into The Chesapeake; they're navigable for at least 1750 miles.

The entire Eastern Shore is also known as the DelMarVa Peninsula as the entirety of Delaware is situated here, and a small Atlantic portion of Virginia rests below the Maryland border.

Near the top of The Bay is Baltimore, America's "renaissance city of the 80's" re-birthing herself at the water's edge from which she came originally. In addition to the nationally famous Harborplace marketplace, the waterfront is alive night and day.

The National Aquarium in Baltimore, the USF Constellation, Mt. Vernon Place and the first formal monument to George Washington, the Maryland Science Center and many other museums, clubs, attractions and eateries line the harbor. Just around the bend, Fort McHenry, birthplace of the National Anthem, is a star shaped fort that repelled the British waterborne invasion during the War of 1812.

Baltimore was the birthplace of the railroad in America and the B&O Railroad Museum is one of the worlds finest. Edgar Allan Poe lived, died, and is buried here in the city where so many of his significant works were written. Baltimore is a wonderfully rich city with great ethnic neighborhoods, fine dining and museums usually found in much larger cities. Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a stadium complex that will fascinate every true baseball fan. It’s located just a few blocks from the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum.

About 35 miles to the south of Baltimore lies "The Venice of America", Annapolis, home of the United States Naval Academy and more sailboats than one can tie-up for miles around on summer weekends. This Colonial Capital of America is also Maryland's State Capital. Here, George Washington resigned his commission, and history is thicker than the humidity in August. Quaint colonial homes line small brick streets that curve up the hill to the wooden domed state capitol, the oldest statehouse in continuous use. There are also Colonial mansions built by Maryland's signers of the Declaration of Independence and other significant personages of the period. It's a wonderful place to re-live history that's been re-modeled not rebuilt from the ground up.

From Annapolis, you're just about 35 miles east of Washington DC; it would be a shame to be so close and not take at least 2-3 days to explore the various government buildings, national galleries, museums and of course, The Smithsonian museums can easily occupy a week of your time

From Washington or Annapolis, you'll head east and cross the 7+ mile long twin-spanned Chesapeake Bay Bridge on to the flat stretches that typify Eastern Shore topography. You're never more than a few feet above sea level, and a marble placed on the highest mound here would roll but a few feet before coming to a stop. That's how flat it is! Needless to say, it's a great spot for bikers.

Take a few minutes and stop at Wye Mills for some freshly ground flour. The old mill still grinds wheat, oats, rye and barley for visitors, just as it ground them for George Washington's troops at Valley Forge. Nearby, the Old Wye Church still exhibits the original box pews and silver communion service presented by English King What's His Name. The Eastern Shore is also "Michener" country. James Michener's book Chesapeake was researched and written in this neck of the woods.

Your first stop should be Easton, a wonderful small town that is old and quaint; you'll keep looking for Jimmy Stewart to come out of his gingerbread house calling for his son, probably portrayed by a young Mickey Rooney. While you're in the area, take a circle tour of the small towns around the rivers and bay.

Heading south, St. Michaels is known as "the town that fooled the British." During the War of 1812, after the British had burned Washington DC, their fleet sailed down the Potomac River to the Chesapeake Bay, heading for Baltimore. They intended to get rid of this "nest of pirates" who had built the famous Baltimore Clipper ships that had blockaded British commercial shipping to the West Indies. When the fleet reached the vicinity, citizens of St. Michaels expected a British bombardment, so they simply hung their lanterns in the trees outside of town. Sure enough, the British warships sent their cannonballs into the trees beyond the town. St. Michaels is a wonderful little sailing town and home of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. If you venture onto the peninsula, an additional 12 or so miles to Tilghman Island, you'll meet Maryland's true "watermen" who make their year round livelihoods from the water. Be certain to take the famous Bellevue-Oxford Ferry across the small channel to Oxford, home of the Robert Morris Inn. This is a former hangout of movie "bad boy" Robert Mitchum, TV's Galloping Gourmet Graham Kerr, and in later years, James Michener. The inn is an excellent spot to spend at least one night.

Further south on Maryland's Route 50 you'll pass Cambridge, original home of Annie Oakley. Outside of town, the old Spocott Windmill is quite a sight to see. At one time, there were dozens of them dotting the landscape, turning in the wind, grinding grain into flour. Another 20 minute drive and you're in the heart of DelMarVa peninsula's chicken headquarters. Millions upon millions of chickens are raised here each year, most of whom never touch the ground or see real sunlight. The Ward Brothers Museum of Wildfowl Art is located here as well. If you think you've seen great decoys or carved wildfowl, stop, for you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Just another 45 minutes due east and you're ready for a plunge into the Atlantic Ocean at Maryland's greatest oceanside family resort, Ocean City. There are miles and miles of motels, hotels, RV parks and places where Baltimoreans and Washingtonians head to escape the summer when temperatures and humidity both approach the 100 mark. On a busy weekend, more than 300,000 visitors will crowd the wide sandy beaches to sleep away the previous nights' party.

Also on the ocean is one of my favorite places, Assateague Island. It's a National Seashore and home of the famous wild ponies (remember the movie and book Misty of Chincoteague?) that reputedly swam ashore more than 450 years ago when a Spanish galleon was wrecked during a storm.

Finally, if you want to capture the "National Geographic" view of Chesapeake Country, drive another 45 minutes west to Crisfield and take a tour boat out to Smith Island Maryland (named after the good captain himself) and Tangier Island Virginia. The islands are situated in the middle of The Bay and are so close to sea level that the dead are buried above ground. The original Eastern Shore dialect "sing-song cockney" is spoken here and you may have trouble recognizing anything they say…but the hospitality's genuine.

All told, you've traveled about 275 miles from Baltimore to Crisfield, enjoyed nearly 400 years of history and captured lots of "memories made in Maryland."