Chesapeake Bay Reserve, Maryland

Cultural History

Artifact dating indicates that bands of territorial semi-nomadic people lived in Maryland in the beginning of the Paleoindian Period (11,000-7,500 B.C.). Through the Archaic Period (7,500-1000 B.C.), the people became more sedentary. Populations climbed as food sources increased with the formation of the Chesapeake Bay and general warming of the climate. During the Woodland Period (1000 B.C.-A.D. 1600), people became even more sedentary and living groups changed from temporary habitats to permanent villages.

European settlement marked the beginning of dramatic changes for the Bay area. The first Europeans settled on the Bay at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. In 1634, the first white settlers in Maryland founded St. Mary's City. Tobacco imported from the West Indies flourished in the rich soil of the Bay area and the hope of profit and new life attracted hordes of Europeans. With the creation of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1828, grain was transported to the Bay from the midwest. Shipping, ship building and canning became major industries for the area.