Books about the Chesapeake Bay - Suggested Reading

Suggested Reading List About The Chesapeake Bay
from the Chesapeake Bay Program


The following is a list of informative and educational books about the Chesapeake Bay. We've surely missed a few, so please let us know about them.

Bay History - Politics and Political History - Natural History - Bay Restoration

Children's - Lighthouses - Boats and Boating - Photography

Chesapeake Bay History - Books

1812: Rediscovering Chesapeake Bay's Forgotten War by David Healey
Bella Rosa Books, 2005

Baltimore Harbor: A Picture History by Robert Keith
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1991

Bay Plain and Piedmont: A Landscape History of the Chesapeake Heartland from 1.3 Billion Years Ago to 2000 by Robert S. Grumet
National Park Service, Annapolis, Md., 2000

The Bounty of the Chesapeake: Fishing in Colonial Virginia by James Wharton
Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration, Williamsburg, Va., 1957

The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region
Library of Congress General Collection, 1600-1925

Chesapeake: Exploring the Water Trail of Captain John Smith by John Page Williams
National Geographic, 2007

Chesapeake Bay in the Civil War by Eric Mills
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 19986

The Chesapeake in the Seventeenth Century: Essays on Anglo-American Society and Politics by Thad W. Tate and David L. Ammerman
W.W. Norton and Co., New York, N.Y., 1979

Chesapeake Rumrunners of the Roaring Twenties by Eric Mills
Cornell Maritime Press, Centreville, Md., 2000

Chesapeake Bay Voices: Narrative from Four Centuries by Maurice Duke
The Dietz Press, Richmond, Va., 1993

Chesapeake Boyhood by William H. Turner
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1997

Chesapeake by Steamboat by David C. Holly
Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2000

Chesapeake Winds and Tides by Don Parks
Cherokee Books, Dover, Del., 2009

Chesapeake's Western Shore: Vintage Vacationland by Lara Lutz
Arcadia Publishing, Chicago, Ill., 2009

Colonial Virginia by Richard Morton
the University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1960

Dancing with the Tide: Watermen of the Chesapeake by Mick Blackistone
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 2001

A Day on the Bay by Bert and Anthea Smith
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2001

The Discovery of the Chesapeake Bay: An Account of the Explorations of Captain John Smith in the Year 1608 by Frances d'A. Collings
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, Md., 1988.

East of the Chesapeake by William H. Turner
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2000

Elliott's Island: The Land That Time Forgot by A.M. Foley and Freddie T. Waller
Dogwood Ridge Books, Elliott Island, Md., 1999

Environment, Disease, and Mortality in Early Virginia by Carville V. Earle
The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1979

Every Home a Distillery: Alcohol, Gender, and Technology in the Colonial Chesapeake by Sarah Meacham
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2009

The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles by John Smith
London, 1624

Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay: And Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake by Donald Shomette
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1996

Having My Say: Conversations with Chesapeake Bay Waterman Wylie "Gator" Abbott by A.M. Foley
Dogwood Ridge Books, Elliott Island, Md.., 2006

The History and Present State of Virginia by Robert Beverley
London, 1705

A History of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal by David Berry
History Press, Charleston, S.C., 2010

History of the Virginia Company of London by Edward D. Neill
Albany, N.Y., 1869

Indian Land Loss in Virginia: A Prototype of Federal Indian Land Policy by Helen C. Roundtree
The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis., 1973

An Island Out of Time: A Memoir of Smith Island in the Chesapeake by Tom Horton
W. W. Norton and Co., New York, N.Y., 1996

Jamestown Narratives by Edward Wright Haile
Roadhouse Press, Champlain, Va., 1998

Lost Towns of Tidewater Maryland by Donald Shomette
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 2000

Maryland's Eastern Shore: A Journey in Time and Place by John R. Wennersten
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1992

The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay by John R. Wennersten
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1981

Pirates on the Chesapeake: Being a True History of Pirates, Picaroons, and Raiders on Chesapeake Bay, 1610-1807 by Donald Shomette
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1988

The Planter’s Wife: The Experience of White Women in Seventeenth-Century Maryland by Lois Green Carr and Lorena Walsh
William & Mary Quarterly, Williamsburg, Va., 1977

The Powhatan Uprising of 1622: A Historical Study of Ethnocentrism and Cultural Conflict by Frederick J. Fausz
The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Va., 1977

Shipwrecks on the Chesapeake: Maritime Disasters on Chesapeake Bay and its Tributaries, 1608-1978 by Donald Shomette
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1982

Susquehanna, River of Dreams by Susan Q. Stranahan
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1995

This Was Chesapeake Bay by Robert H. Burgess
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1963

This Was Potomac River by Frederick Tilp
Frederick Tilp, Alexandria, Va., 1978

Tidewater Time Capsule: History Beneath the Patuxent by Donald Shomette
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1995

Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era by A. Pierce Middleton and Gregory A. Stiverson
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1994

Watermen by Randall S. Peffer
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1985

The Workboats of Smith Island by Paula J. Johnson
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1997


Chesapeake Bay Politics and Political History - Books

Charles County, Maryland, 1658-1705: A Study of Chesapeake Social and Political Structure by Lorena S. Walsh
University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1978

Chesapeake Bay Blues: Science, Politics, and the Struggle to Save the Bay by Howard Ernst
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2003

Chesapeake Waters: Four Centuries of Controversy, Concern and Legislation by Steven G. Davidson, Jay G. Merwin Jr., John Capper, Garret Power and Frank R. Shivers Jr.
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1997

The Chesapeake Watershed: A Sense of Place and a Call to Action by Ned Tillman
Publishing Concepts, Baltimore, Md., 2009

The Early Relations Between Maryland and Virginia by John Latané
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1895

Sprawl & Politics: The Inside Story of Smart Growth in Maryland by John Frece
State University of New York Press, Albany, N.Y., 2008

Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay by Tom Horton
Island Press, Washington, D.C., 2003



Chesapeake Bay Natural History - Books

Assateague by William H. Wroten
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1986

The Assateague Ponies by Ronald R. Keiper
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1985

The Bay: A Naturalist Discovers a Universe of Life Above and Below the Chesapeake by Gilbert C. Klingel
Dodd, Mead and Co., New York, N.Y., 1951

Bay Country: Reflections on the Chesapeake by Tom Horton
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1987

Bayside Guide to Weather by Mark E. Jacoby
Maryland Sea Grant, College Park, Md., 1984

Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay by William W. Warner
Little Brown and Co., Boston, Mass., 1976

Between Ocean and Bay: A Natural History of Delmarva by Jane Scott
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1991

Birdlife at Chincoteague and the Virginia Barrier Islands by Brooke Meanley
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1981

Birds and Marshes of the Chesapeake Bay Country by Brooke Meanley
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1975

Birds of the Chesapeake Bay by John Taylor
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1992

Chesapeake Almanac: Following the Bay through the Seasons by John P. Williams
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1993

Chesapeake Bay: Nature of the Estuary: A Field Guide by Christopher P. White
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1989

Chesapeake Spring by John Taylor
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1998

Chesapeake Waters by John Capper, Garret Power, Frank Shivers
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1983

A Comprehensive List of Chesapeake Bay Basin Species
Chesapeake Bay Program, Annapolis, Md., 1998

Concepts in Marine Pollution Measurements by Harris H. White
Maryland Sea Grant, College Park, Md., 1984

Discovering the Chesapeake by Philip D. Curtin, Grace S. Brush and George W. Fisher
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2001

Fishes of the Chesapeake Bay by Edward O. Murdy, Ray S. Birdsong and John A. Musick 1997
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., and London, 1997

Life in the Chesapeake Bay. An Illustrated Guide to the Fishes, Invertebrates, Plants, Birds and Other Animals of Bays and Inlets from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras by Alice Jane Lippson and Robert L. Lippson
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1997

The Living Chesapeake by Jerry R. Schubel
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1981

Longstreet Highroad Guide to the Chesapeake Bay by Deane Winegar
Longstreet Press, Athena, Ga., 2000

Oxygen Dynamics in the Chesapeake Bay: A Synthesis of Recent Research by David E. Smith, M. Leffler and G. Mackiernan
Maryland Sea Grant, College Park, Md., 1992

The Oyster by William K. Brooks
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1996

Rivers of the Eastern Shore: Seventeen Maryland Rivers by Hulbert Footner
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1989

Water's Way: Life Along the Chesapeake by David W. Harp and Tom Horton
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2000

Working the Chesapeake: Watermen on the Bay by Mark E. Jacoby
Maryland Sea Grant, College Park, Md., 1991



Chesapeake Bay Restoration - Books

Fight for the Bay: Why a Dark Green Environmental Awakening is Needed to Save the Chesapeake Bay by Howard Ernst
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2009

Large-Scale Ecosystem Restoration: Five Case Studies from the United States by Mary Doyle and Cynthia Drew
Island Press, Washington, D.C., 2008

Saving the Bay. People Working for the Future of the Chesapeake by Anne E. Dorbin
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2001

Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay by Tom Horton and William M. Eichbaum
Island Press, Washington, D.C., 1991



Children's Books about the Chesapeake Bay

Awesome Chesapeake: A Kid's Guide to the Bay by David O. Bell
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1994

Chadwick and the Garplegrungen by Priscilla Cummings
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1987

The Chadwick Coloring Book by Priscilla Cummings
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1988

Chadwick Forever by Priscilla Cummings
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1993

Chadwick the Crab by Priscilla Cummings
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1988

Chadwick's Wedding by Priscilla Cummings
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1989

Chesapeake: Fact, Fiction and Fun by Frederick and Fay Tilp
Heritage Books, Bowie, Md., 1998

Chesapeake ABC by Priscilla Cummings
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 2000

Chesapeake Bay (Rookie Read-About Geography) by Kelly Bennett
Children's Press, Danbury, Conn., 2006

Chesapeake Bay Walk by David O. Bell
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1998

Chesapeake Kaleidoscope by Anne M. Hays and Harriet R. Hazleton
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1975

Finding Birds in the Chesapeake Marsh: A Child's First Look by Zora Aiken
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 2001

Meet Chadwick and his Chesapeake Bay Friends by Priscilla Cummings
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1999

Oscar and Olive Osprey: A Family Takes Flight by Janie Suss
Synergy Books, Austin, Texas, 2009

Sam: The Tale of a Chesapeake Bay Rockfish by Kristina Henry
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1998

Where Did All the Water Go? by Carolyn Stearns
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1998


Chesapeake Bay Lighthouses - Books

Bay Beacons: Lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay by Linda Turbyville
Eastwind Publishing, Trappe, Md., 1996

The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake by Robert De Gast
Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 1993

Lighting the Bay: Tales of Chesapeake Lighthouses by Pat Vojtech
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1997

Lightships of the United States of America, Volume II - Southeast by Thomas Schoenewolff
RoseDog Books, Pittsburgh, Pa., 2010

Maryland's Lighthouses by Cathy Taylor
Arcadia Publishing, Chicago, Ill., 2008


Chesapeake Bay Boats and Boating - Books

Chesapeake Bay Buyboats by Larry Chowning
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 2007

Chesapeake Bay Log Canoes and Bugeyes by M.V. Brewington
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1963

The Chesapeake Bay of Yore: Mainly About the Rowing and Sailing Craft by Frederick Tilp
Frederick Tilp, Alexandria, Va., 1982

Chesapeake Bay Schooners by Ann Jensen and Quentin Snediker
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1997

Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks by Pat Vojtech
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1993

Chesapeake Sails: A History of Yachting on the Bay by Richard Hendsen
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1999

Chesapeake Steamboats: Vanished Fleet by David C. Holly
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1994

Cruising the Chesapeake: A Gunkholer's Guide by William Shellenberger
McGraw-Hill, Blacklick, Ohio, 2001

Exploring the Chesapeake in Small Boats by John P. Williams
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1992

Guide to Cruising Chesapeake Bay (2010 Edition) by Chesapeake Bay Magazine
Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Annapolis, Md., 2010

Maryland Workboats (Then and Now) by Byshe Hicks
Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S.C., 2009

Maryland's Skipjacks by David Berry
Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S.C., 2008

Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen by Christopher White
St. Martin’s Press, New York, N.Y., 2009

Slow Motion: The Log of a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack by M. Kei
Modern English Tanka Press, Baltimore, Md., 2008

Tidewater by Steamboat: A Saga of the Chesapeake by David C. Holly
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2000

Tidewater Triumph: The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner by Geoffrey Footner
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 1998



Chesapeake Bay Photography - Books

Bodine's Chesapeake Bay Country by A. Aubrey Bodine
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Md., 2005

Between Ocean and Bay: A Celebration of the Eastern Shore by Jim Clark
Mountain Trail Press, Johnson City, Tenn., 2008

Chesapeake: Bay of Light: An Exploration of the Chesapeake Bay's Wild and Forgotten Places by Ian Plant and Tom Horton
Mountain Trail Press, Johnson City, Tenn., 2007

Flying Above Chesapeake Bay by Jake McGuire
Twin Lights Publishers, Rockport, Mass., 2008

Maryland: Wonder and Light by Ian Plant
Mountain Trail Press, Johnson City, Tenn., 2006

Virginia: Wonder and Light by Ian Plant and Jerry Greer
Mountain Trail Press, Johnson City, Tenn., 2005

The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay by John Whitehead
Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, Pa., 1987

Water's Way: Life Along the Chesapeake by David Harp and Tom Horton
The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2000



The list of suggested reading books about the Chesapeake Bay came from the Chesapeake Bay Program found online at www.chesapeakebay.net