We all hear people from San Francisco say they are from the “Bay Area”, but with more than three dozen bays in the United States, one may wonder why only one bears this nickname. Although San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary on the West Coast, several facts place our Chesapeake as being much higher than that of California.
Chesapeake Bay
, the largest and once the most productive estuary in the United States, and the third largest in the world, is an integral part of our natural and national history. The Chesapeake Bay Basin, home to more than 18 million people and 3,600 species of plants and animals, is a truly extraordinary place.The Bay Watershed, which spans six states and the District of Columbia, never ceases to amaze with its rich history, vital economic importance and astounding beauty. Below is just a sample of some of the impressive facts and figures about our wonderful watershed. Do you want more? Discover 10 things you didn't know about Chesapeake Bay. Visit our map portal to view a variety of interactive maps about the bay, its geography, land cover and local watershed.
The State of the Bay report makes it clear that the bay needs our support now more than ever. Your gift helps the Chesapeake Bay Foundation maintain our momentum toward restoring the bay, rivers and streams for today and for generations to come. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501 (c) () of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
More than 100 of these bodies of water are found along the coast of the United States. Some famous American estuaries include New York Harbor, San Francisco Bay, and Puget Sound. The largest estuary in the United States is Chesapeake Bay, which is 200 miles long and contains more than 18 trillion gallons of water. The difference between a bay and a gulf is not clearly defined, but the term bay usually refers to a body of water slightly smaller than a gulf.
Some may not even have their own boats, let alone win regattas, but they are inexorably drawn to Chesapeake Bay. Starting in 1978, numerous expeditions were launched in the hope of successfully discovering what was left of the Chesapeake Bay flotilla. On average, the depth of the bay is 21 feet (6.4 m), including tributaries; more than 24 percent of the bay is less than 6 feet (2 m) deep. I planned to spend my days sailing, eating as many blue crabs from Chesapeake Bay as possible and studying a little about the inhabitants of the East Coast.
The arrival of the English colonists Sir Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert in the late 16th century to found a colony, which was later established on Roanoke Island (off the current coast of North Carolina) for the Virginia Company, marked the first time that the English approached the gates of Chesapeake Bay, between the capes of Cape Charles and Cape Henry. That same year, it sank in the Potomac River, off Chesapeake Bay, after a high-power test organized by the United States. Over time, communities around Chesapeake Bay formed confederations such as the Powhatan, Piscataway and Nanticoke. The northern end of the Oligohaline Zone is north of Baltimore and the southern end is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
In the 1970s, Chesapeake Bay was discovered to contain one of the first identified marine dead zones on the planet, where the waters were so depleted of oxygen that they could not support life, causing the massive death of fish. The coastline, from Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi Bay, is made up of large bays and estuaries to which rivers supply fresh water, but as you move south along the Texas coast, there is less and less freshwater influx. What happens to the tides in Galveston Bay at any time will be very different from what happens in Corpus Christi Bay. In September 1781, during the War of Independence, the British sank more than a dozen ships in the York River, near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.
