John Smith's Voyages Pt. 1

Today I went into Chestertown for a workshop at Project Sultana. The topic of the workshop is John Smith's 1608 Voyages up the Chesapeake Bay. There were 8 other teachers there and the workshop was led by Chris Cerino.

I really enjoyed the topic! Considering my slight obsession with Roanoke and the Lost Colony, it was exciting to see another part of the pre-colonial puzzle of early America. We discussed Smith's voyages (two in the summer of 1608), what he saw and the location of the mysterious Tockwagh village. No one is 100% certain where this village was located. But beyond this mystery, his map (especially of the western side) is surprising accurate, given the lack of technology available in his time!

Things that amazed me from today's discussions:

*the 1000 year old bald cypress trees he encountered and very large other trees: walnuts, chestnuts, oaks

*the 12 ft. sturgeons

*the Menhaden they tried to catch with frying pans

*the fact that in those days it would take only 3 days for the oysters to fully filter the bay

*the trees in those days protected the landscape and prevented erosion, keeping the salinity in the bay "up", which created a more widespread habitat for oysters (runoff of rain today affects the bay and makes some areas inhospitable to oysters-- too much freshwater)

Tomorrow we will paddle the Sassafras River! I am so excited!!!!

***Here is a good link I found:

http://johnsmith.psu.edu/home.aspx