Sailing on the Chesapeake Bay’s myriad inlets in summer, it is hard to imagine that, come January, icebreakers may be plowing the waters you cruised in July. When portions of the Great Shellfish Bay iced up, the flow of commerce was seriously impeded. At the turn of the nineteenth century, with the center of the new nation’s government establishing its arms, a frozen Bay meant that the United States’ emergence to a status on par with the world’s foremost nations might be painfully slow. James Foster’s book, Icy Winters on the Chesapeake, chronicles the disasters and pitfalls, large and small, that come with the coldest of winters.
Learn more about the harrowing history of the Chesapeake Bay and winter’s impact on our shores at this virtual presentation at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, January 14.