About the Trail

Captain John Smith Fall Festival
October 18 at the Marshy Point Nature Center Fall Festival. More info

Make Your Voice Heard
(09.24.08) This week, the National Park Service begins holding workshops to engage the public in planning the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. The workshops will be held during the next three weeks in locations throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. We need your help in advocating for conservation and access on the trail.

Now is the time to make known your thoughts on the trail. The park service calls this a "scoping process" and you can participate at the workshops, by mailing in your comments, or by going to the National Park Service's website and entering your comments there. The goal of this process is to capture the many different ways the public envisions the trail.

To guide the process the park service is asking questions, such as "How should people be able to experience the trail?" and "What resources are most important to this trail?"

Your support and enthusiasm helped convince Congress to establish the trail.

Now help the park service shape it. Please engage in this process to help realize the dream of a National Park for the Chesapeake Bay.

The trail can play an important role in conservation. Please let the park service know you support the need to protect significant landscapes along the trail and the natural, historic, and cultural resources that make the Chesapeake and the trail, so special. These include sites John Smith visited on his journeys, native American sites, and island, beaches, and marshes along the trail.

Access is critical for the trail's success. Did you know that only 2% of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline is publicly accessible. The trail can improve public access. You can help by advocating for increased access points along the John Smith Trail for boaters, kayakers, canoeists, and others. Please let the park service know you support increased access, including more launching and landing sites for canoes, kayaks and small boats, more camping areas along the trail, more swimming and fishing beaches, and expanded connections to hiking and biking trails.

Here's how to submit your comments online:

1. Click here to get to the Park Service Web site;
2. Go to the "Open For Public Comment" link (the fifth entry in the left hand column);
3. click to be directed to the Public Open House Questionnaire.
4. When you click on this link you will get a page of instruction on how to fill out the form.
5. You get the form by clicking on the link "Comment on document" found in the left hand column.

The information you provide will help shape the trail and improve access and conservation around the bay.

If you can, please attend a meeting in your area. You'll learn about the planning process, and meet park staff and Friends of the John Smith Trail partners.

Meetings will be held:

Want to know where the best fishing is?
Find out from John Page Williams--angler, author, and naturalist. More >>

Photo exhibit showcases the trail
The Barrier Islands Center in Machipongo, VA, has announced an upcoming photographic exhibition showcasing the same view sheds and landscapes that John Smith saw on his voyages of discovery in June of 1608.  More>>

New book out for trail travelers
Edward Wright Haile has written a detailed and entertaining guide to Capt. John Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake Bay. Titled John Smith in the Chesapeake, Haile's book is an invaluable companion to a person interested in the region's history and in traveling along the new Capt. John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. Printed on waterproof paper, it makes a great cockpit companion! Find out more about the book and how you can get a copy >>

More Trail Updates & Events

Maryland state government is looking at expanding and publicizing water access points as part of the Capt. John Smith National Historic Water Trail. An upcoming report by the Dept. of Natural Resources should pave the way for future improvements to help people get on the water to follow the Smith trail.

New buoy launched September 13
NOAA launched another buoy in Havre de Grace, Md. at the head of the Chesapeake on Saturday, September 13. Read what Senator Barbara Mikulski had to say about it.

Join the Adventure

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Photo credits: Bill Portlock, Ian Plant