CSF Educational Topics

Interesting facts about the Chesapeake Bay and her maritime history

Meet the Chesapeake Bay

Aerial view of the Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay was formed at the end of the Ice Ages, when sea levels rose and flooded the canyon of the Susquehanna River.

The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary, a body of water where fresh and salt water mix. It is the largest of 130 estuaries in the United States.The Atlantic Ocean provides half of the water volume in the bay, while half of the rmaining fresh water comes from the Susquehanna River.

The Bay is about 200 miles long and ranges from 3.5 miles to 35 miles wide. Its average depth is 21 feet. While there are a few troughs that are more than 170 feet deep, more than 700,000 acres are shallower than 6 feet.The shoreline of the Bay and its tributaries is almost 12,000 miles long. The total surface area of the Bay and its tributaries is 4,480 square miles.There are about 150 major rivers and streams in the watershed.

Chesapeake Bay is a translation of the Powhatan Indian word "chesepiooc" which means "great shellfish bays." At the time of the first European settlement, the Tidewater area was inhabited by an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 Powhatan Indians.

The Chesapeake is ideally suited for commerce. It is surrounded by land that is ideal for produce and grain production. The waters support over 300 species of fish and 173 species of shellfish and produce 500 million pounds of seafood each year. Norfolk and Baltimore are two of the 5 largest port facilities in the country, and they offer the shortest trade routes to the Ohio Valley.

The first permanent English settlement in the U.S. was established in 1607 at Jamestown on the James River - part of the Bay's river system.

Educational Topics

As an educational organization, the Colonial Seaport Foundation is dedicated to disseminating any and all information regarding the Chesapeake Bay and her maritime history. It is our intention to use this section of the web site to post informational articles that serve that purpose. We hope you find it useful, and if you have any suggestions for a topic we should cover here please contact us.

Click on the links below to visit our educational articles.

Meet the Chesapeake Bay

Colonial Sailing Ships: the Sloop

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