The boundless stories of the Chesapeake
By WP Creative Group
Chesapeake Bay Storytellers give visitors a glimpse of the history, nature, and ecology of one of the world’s most unique waterways, through the eyes of a local.
For Marylanders who live on the Chesapeake, the bay isn’t just a body of water. It’s part of who they are.
At nearly 200 miles long and 30 miles wide in some stretches, the Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, formed more than 10,000 years ago when glaciers melted and flooded the Susquehanna River Valley. Today, the Chesapeake Bay is home to more than 3,000 species of plants, fish and animals.
It’s also home to generations of Americans whose traditions, livelihoods, and culture have been shaped by the sea around them.
“There’s no other body of water like it,” says James Meyer, a writer and editor with the Maryland Department of Commerce. “It features amazing leisure activities, like boating, swimming, and fishing. There are thousands of years of cultural history that’s readily explorable. There are vibrant cities right on the water. There are secluded beaches. It has everything.”
With so much variety, visitors might feel overwhelmed by their options. That’s where the Chesapeake Bay Storytellers come in.
The Storytellers are trained experts who take travelers on unique tours, allowing them to experience the area like a local, with a local — whether sailing on a historic skipjack to learn about the art of oyster dredging or spending a peaceful summer morning kayaking through pristine marshlands.
“For visitors, the Storytellers program offers an opportunity to peek into an entirely different world and experience bay culture,” said Anne Kyle, product development manager for the Maryland Office of Tourism.
Preserving — and sharing — Chesapeake heritage
The Chesapeake Bay Storytellers program was founded with a simple goal: to connect locals who’ve spent their lives on the bay with visitors who are eager to unlock its secrets. Run jointly by the Maryland Department of Commerce Office of Tourism and the National Park Service, the training certifies tour guides as authentic authorities on their area of Bay expertise. But the program also provides structural support and training to local businesses and aims to foster stewardship of the bay among residents and visitors alike.
“The goal of the program is to help the economy for the people who work on the bay, but we also want to provide greater access to the bay,” said Kyle. “And to provide more opportunities for people to get out on it and have a real, authentic tour.”
To date, 40 people, representing 30 different local businesses, have graduated from the Chesapeake Bay Storytellers training program — among them, independent fishers (known locally as “watermen”), educators, museum directors, captains, chefs, and more. And all of them take bay culture very seriously, tending to describe their jobs less as work and more like a calling.
“It’s almost like a sacred site for a sailor,” says Chesapeake Bay Storyteller Captain Thad Kubis in a local guide. Kubis helms the Shardana, a beautiful, custom-built 42-foot sailboat. “When you’re sailing a boat, there’s this feeling of wind on the face, the sound of sails tacking. That’s heightened for me on the Chesapeake.”
Something for everyone
The diversity of the Chesapeake Bay Storytellers, and of the bay itself, means that there is truly a tour for everyone. Though the bay region is close to the Washington D.C. Metro area, visitors will be surprised by just how much an overnight trip to the Chesapeake Bay feels like a true escape.
Storyteller tours offer a variety of options as bountiful as the regions they roam. For foodies, for example, the chance to “hook and cook” a meal with the fishing team from Matchcoat Sojourner or Solomons Island Heritage Tours offers a deeper understanding of local culinary traditions, as well as the hard work and passion that go into them.
“You catch the fish, you clean the fish, you learn how to cook the fish in traditional ways, and maybe pair it with a local wine or beer,” says Meyer. “Once you leave the bay with your bounty, you really immerse yourself in that community.”
For active travelers, a kayak tour through Mallows Bay, located on one of the Chesapeake’s tributaries, is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure — paddling around one of the largest fleets of shipwrecks in North America and exploring the mini-ecosystem that each wreck has become. Local flora and fauna provide an immersive backdrop for any water adventure; nature lovers can watch a Great Blue Heron fish for its dinner or try to spot one of the 350 varieties of fish that live in the bay.
“You find so much authenticity out in the bay region,” says Marci Wolff Ross, senior assistant director for tourism development with the Maryland Office of Tourism. “The wildlife and the water trail system are second to none.”
History buffs, on the other hand, will welcome the chance to take a cruise aboard the Pride of Baltimore II — an authentic reproduction of an early 19th century “Baltimore clipper.” Another option steeped in local history is the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, where visitors can explore the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse, an oyster harvesting skipjack, and more.
There are even tours for would-be paleontologists and archaeologists, who can spend a day hunting for giant fossilized shark teeth and ancient artifacts with the crew from Megalodon Adventures charters.
But those options represent just a small fraction of the many Storyteller tours and outings available, none of which require experience or equipment. Chesapeake Bay Storytellers provide all necessary gear, and they’re eager to welcome anyone to their beloved bay — even if you have never spent time on the water.
For anyone who wants to have an authentic bay adventure, the Chesapeake Bay Storytellers hope to make it as easy as possible — whether you’ve only got 45 minutes for a relaxing water taxi tour, or you’re piecing together a longer vacation through the area’s beautiful historic towns, with plenty of time for rest and adventure built in. Storytellers aren’t just local guides; they’re ambassadors for the bay who are looking to share a bit of themselves and their experiences with the rest of the world.
“They’re talking to you from their home, from their work boats, from where they live and where they raise their children. Where their livelihoods are,” Ross says. “A Chesapeake Bay Storyteller tells a story in a way that nobody else could. Because they live it every day.”
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