Friends of the John Smith Chesapeake Trail
Cape Charles
Two Day Paddles from Cape Charles, VA
The big history around Cape Charles, the charming, old, bayside town on Virginia's lower Eastern Shore, actually predated Captain John Smith, who made landfall here soon after leaving Jamestown in 1608 to explore and map Chesapeake Bay.
This was ground zero for a three-mile wide meteor, sixth largest ever to hit earth. It smacked down 35 million years ago, incinerating all higher life forms within a radius stretching from Boston to Charleston.
It shattered the ground to a depth of 50 miles, the reason that to this day few viable drinking water aquifers exist beneath Virginia's lower Bay region. The energy released here in a matter of seconds was greater than all the planet's nuclear weapons exploding at once.
It's quieter in Cape Charles nowadays, and the old railroad and port town of 1,500 people, with its tree shaded streets stretching down to white sand beach, is the perfect jumping off spot for day paddles north and south to follow the beginnings of John Smith's route.
