Mapping the Nation’s First All-Water Historic Trail
In 1612, Captain John Smith wrote of the Chesapeake Bay: "Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation..." Smith’s monumental voyages of exploration throughout the bay and his contacts with Native Americans in the region helped ensure the survival of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Smith’s maps of the region included ecological and cultural information that are valuable today.
In 2006, to commemorate these voyages and celebrate the Chesapeake, the Fund and its partners worked with Congress to create the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. The nation’s first all-water National Historic Trail, the John Smith Trail has opened up new opportunities for heritage tourism, public recreation and landscape-scale conservation. The Trail, accessible through hundreds of points in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, has become a key element of President Obama’s recent Executive Order to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay.
Photo and map courtesy of National Park Service and www.smithtrail.net