The 14th day of the 12th month of Emergence

MINDING THE ROOTS AT TAVERN CREEK - 14

There was a time when the only way to get around the Chesapeake Bay was by boat.  There was no Bay Bridge at Annapolis or Virginia beach, nor were there mighty railroads that opened the bay's products to the incredible markets of Philadelphia, New York or points west.  A lot of commerce went out of the port Baltimore as shown in this 1908 postcard.

Of course everything was directly related to the waster as shown in this 1920 card depicting a Cutter Drill at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Even vacations were taken via ship to beaches and resorts around the bay, such as in  this Betterton Beach card of 1904.

And in 1905 there was an old wooden bridge spanning the mighty Chester at Chestertown.

All of those places were in the vicinity of the Tavern, but a log ride away in the little 14 footer.  And those scenes were all about fifty years before my time.  But the Eastern shore changes little over time and I guess that is part of the charm.  After growing up on two creeks, the Tavern and Swan, I spent my adult life on the Chester River at Chestertown.  It is a broad slow moving river for the most part.  Still bordered by the old farms and mansions of the south.  Large land holdings have held back the more crass (in my humble opinion) developments of modern life.  There is still too little water in the world and too many people, but that's for another time.

The upper reaches of the Chester is littered with small docks and a variety of boats providing for work or recreation.  Boat traffic is moderate to heavy on weekends and non existent during the week unless you are a waterman (commercial fisherman).

In the upper part of the River there are fewer working fishermen, but the sign is evident from time to time.  Ofter you can see an old flat bottom bateau,  http://fineartamerica.com/featured/bateau-skip-willits.html,  or a deadrise working boat oystering in morning light, http://fineartamerica.com/featured/tongers-sunrise-skip-willits.html, or even my granddaughter's canoe http://fineartamerica.com/featured/elizabeths-canoe-skip-willits.html.

And occasionally you will see a Watermen's toolbox.

Finally

The river widens near it's juncture with the bay proper.  Here the little boat could reach and still have  enough fuel to make the return trip to the Tavern.  Someone once said that most of our world is covered with water.  Well in a little fourteen foot, plywood, boat it certainly seemed so.  I have no idea how many miles we put on with that little boat so many years ago, but I know that the memories of those miles go on forever.