Where does the hope lie?     Hope lies in bringing forth the truth about the Chesapeake Bay and placing our awareness right next to the issue, facing it. An answer might not come in this generation, but we must seek it. –Tom Wisner   In Chesapeake Country, we embrace the environment, encourage conservation and fancy ourselves as amateur historians and naturalists. We’re at the right place at the right time.     Green was not...

A couple of hundred years ago, the Congress of the United States of America could get things done. On August 7, 1789, that august body passed an act establishing and supporting lighthouses.     Mariners and their families rejoiced.     Between 1791 and 1910, the dangerous waters at 74 sites on Chesapeake Bay were illuminated by over 100 cottage, tower and screwpile lighthouses.     Moving ice and shifting sands unseated some of those lighthouses...

Before it sat for many years at a gas station near Baltimore ... Before it stood guard in front of an American Legion hall ... Before it was a yard ornament for the inventor of Bromo-Seltzer ... And before it battled 19th century pirates in the Chesapeake, the Dahlgren 12-pound Light Boat Howitzer was born in the heart of Confederacy at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia.     After a circuitous journey lasting 143 years, the cannon came home this year to the...

Quirky. Eccentric. Eclectic. That’s how people describe Scientists’ Cliffs, the private community on Calvert’s famous cliffs. The twisting dead-end lanes and the collection of cabins lining them have been quietly hidden from public view for the last 74 years. All five entrances to the community are labeled private, discouraging sightseers and adding further mystique to the historic neighborhood.     Come May 7, the era of privacy closes, and for that one day,...