Delmarva, USA

The Delmarva Peninsula occupies portions of three states with its name being formed from letters from the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

One possible northern boundary for the peninsula could be the the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. This would technically make it an Island, since you can't get on or off of the peninsula without crossing a body of water. However it's still regarded as a peninsula since the canal is man-made.

A canal across the peninsula between the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay was first proposed by Augustine Herman in the mid-1600s. It wasn't until the late 18th century that surveys of possible water routes were made.

In 1802 the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company was incorporated. Construction began in 1814, but due to lack of funds the project was halted in 1816. In 1822 the canal company reorganized and with monetary support from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the Federal Government work began again in April 1824. It was open for business in 1829 at a cost of near 2.5 million dollars.

The canal of 1829 is much different than it is today. In 1829 it was 14 miles long, 10 feet deep, 66 feet wide at the water line and 36 feet at the bottom. Locks existed at Delaware City and St. Georges Delaware as well as two at Chesapeake City Maryland.

In 1919, the Federal Government purchased the canal. In the six years from 1921 to 1927 the Army Corps of Engineers converted it to a sea-level canal, widened it, and removed all the locks. Today the canal is 450 feet wide with a depth of 35 feet. The canal is a modern sea-level commercial waterway that carries about 40 percent of the ship traffic to the Port of Baltimore.

From the C&D canal to the peninsula's southern point at the tip of the Eastern Shore of Virginia it is about 180 miles. At its widest it's about 60 miles, although most of the peninsula is much narrower. The land area is about 5.45 thousand square miles.

The other bodies of waters surrounding the peninsula are to the East - Delaware River, Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean; to the West - The Chesapeake Bay and to the South - the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay as it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

The western or Chesapeake Bay coast is indented and marshy. Most of its western coast is Maryland's Eastern Shore. The rest is the Virginia Eastern Shore west coast. The eastern coast is more regular with sandy beaches, especially along the Atlantic Ocean.

There are 5 bridges over the C&D canal to get onto the peninsula. These are at MD 213, Delaware 896, US 13, Delaware 1 and US 9. There is also a railroad bridge that crosses the canal east of Delaware 896. There are two accesses to the peninsula across the Chesapeake Bay. One is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which crosses the bay near Annapolis Maryland to Kent Island. The other is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which, links Cape Charles, Va., the southern tip of the peninsula, with Norfolk, VA.

Prior to the opening of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Bridge, officially called the William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial Bridge in 1952, the only route across the Chesapeake Bay was through ferries. A parallel structure with three lanes was opened in 1973. These lanes are used for west bound traffic while the original 2 lane span is used for those east bound.

The shore-to-shore length of 4.3 miles makes it a long scenic over-water structure. Since 1975, typically on an early Sunday in May, the east bound span is closed to traffic for use by walkers for a scenic view of the bridge and bay. Although at times the walk has been cancelled due to weather conditions and once for security reasons.

Across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay where it meets the Atlantic Ocean there is The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, officially the Lucius J. Kellam, Jr. Bridge-Tunnel. Its shore-to-shore distance is 17.6 miles and connects the Virgina town of Cape Charles with the city of Norfolk.

The Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964, and consists of more than 12 miles of low trestle bridges, two suspension bridges and two tunnels, each a mile long under the shipping channels. It is considered the largest bridge-tunnel complex in the world.

Nine of Maryland's 23 counties are located on the peninsula. These being the counties of Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset, Worcester and a portion of Cecil County. The Virginia counties of Accomack and Northampton and the Delaware Counties of Kent, Sussex and a portion of New Castle County makes up the rest.

A major part of the Delmarva Peninsula's economy is through agriculture, aquaculture, sports hunting and fishing, and tourism.

At various times in its history residents of the Maryland and Virginia portion of the peninsula have propose that they should secede from their respective states and join Delaware to create a new state called Delmarva.

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Delaware is named after the Delaware Bay and River, which were named for Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr who lived from 1577 to 1618 and was the second Royal Governor of Virginia.

At one time Delaware was part of the claim of the Maryland colony of Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. However the Dutch first settled in Southern Delaware near Lewes in 1631. All members of that colony were killed by the natives.
James, the Duke York, removed a Swedish colony near present day Wilmington in 1663, even though they had been there since 1638. After winning the claim over the protest of Calvert, James sold his claim to William Penn in 1682 making the area part of Pennsylvania. By 1705, the land now known as Delaware had its own separate assembly from Pennsylvania, even though they had a common Royal Governor. It wasn't until 1776 that the colony took the name Delaware.

The famous surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as a resolution of border dispute of British colony between 1763 and 1767 charted the borders of the Province of Pennsylvania, the Province of Maryland, Delaware Colony and parts of Colony and Old Dominion of Virginia.

With the population center of the state being near the town of Townsend, which is only around ten miles south of the C&D Canal, only a little over half of the 843.5 thousand people live in Delmarva as defined.

Delaware south of the canal has a more rural way of life with agricultural output of poultry, nursery stock, soybeans, dairy products and corn. Southern Delaware is where the deer run wild, the beaches are hot and the farmers take life slow and easy with no worries. Many residents of the area call it Slower Lower.

Although Delaware doesn't have any national parks, national seashores, national historic sites, national battlefields or national monuments it is loaded with places of interest. There are museum, wildlife refuges, parks, historic houses, lighthouses and a national history. Delaware was the first state to adopt the Constitution of the United States earning it the nickname 'The First State'.

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The nine county of Maryland's Eastern Shore that makes up the Maryland portion of Delmarva is more than a third of Maryland's land area. Its 2004 census population of nearly 491 thousand is only about 8% of Maryland population.

Maryland was named in the honor of Henriette Maria, Queen Consort of Charles I. A charter for the "Maryland Colony" was granted to Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore, on June 20, 1632.

In 1631 with permission from the Virginia Governor, William Claiborne established a trading post on a island in the Chesapeake he named Kent Island after his home, Kent England.

The historic towns, meandering creeks and wonderful nature areas characterize the area. Each of the nine Maryland counties has their own special history.

There is plenty to do and see. There are Museums in every county and many of the towns. Golfers are never far from a scenic golf course. The sunsets and rises are breathtaking and many of the restaurants features views like few others.

It's a slower way of life surrounded by water. A place where people wave and say hello as they pass.

The main economic activities are vegetable and grain farming, seafood harvesting as well as a large-scale chicken breeding on the lower shore. The Perdue Company began in Salisbury. Tourism activities abound with its most visited destination being the Atlantic Ocean bordered Ocean City.

With the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the area has changed, especially Queen Anne's and Talbot counties, which have become home to many working on the western shore. But despite this the region still holds its charm, maintaining a unique rural quality and independence from a helter skelter way of life.

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The Eastern Shore of Virginia is a 70 miles long strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. It's a small portion of Virginia with a population of a little over 50 thousand and forms the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula.

The land border between Virginia and Maryland starts on the west side of the peninsula roughly level with the Maryland-Virginia border of the Potomac River on the western shores of the Chesapeake Bay. The line sits near the 38th Parallel and runs roughly eastwards until it meets the Atlantic Ocean.

It's an area where old world accents are spoken and a place to shop at roadside stands and crab from a pier. Similar to the rest of the peninsula it's a place to slow down and enjoy the small towns, beaches and wildlife preserves.

The first landing was made in 1603 with a permanent settlement established in 1614. This would make the Virginia's Eastern Shore as having the oldest modern settlement on the peninsula.

The two counties of Virginia's Eastern Shore have the two oldest U.S. repositories of continuous court records with Northampton's dating back to 1632.

The area enjoys a moderate climate with Barrier Island protection from storms and abundant wildlife. Most of the citizens still work in agriculture or aquaculture today.

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