Fall 2008 Membership Meeting  

November 8, 2008  
The Commonwealth Club, Richmond, Virginia

On Saturday, November 8, 2008, members and guests met at the Commonwealth Club, 401 West Franklin Street, Richmond, for the Fall Meeting. Council met at 9 AM, followed by a Reception between 11:30 and 12:30, and Luncheon at 12:30 PM in the Ballroom. Those attending the November 8 meeting enjoyed a delicious luncheon featuring either pan-seared salmon or pork scallopini.  New Officers and Members of Council were elected by acclamation by the membership, after their names were presented for nomination. 


Click photos below to enlarge.  

Fall 2008 Meeting Presentation - Captain John Smith's Chesapeake Bay  
by Dr. Kent Mountford

Dr. Kent Mountford, noted author and researcher, presented information on how the Chesapeake Bay region likely appeared to the early English explorers who visited the region in 1607 and 1608. Dr. Mountford is co-author with Helen C. Rountree and Wayne E. Clark of "John Smith's Chesapeake Voyages 1607-1609," published by the University of Virginia Press in 2007, and is the author of "Closed Sea: From the Manasquan to the Mullica." He is Ecologist and Environmental Historian for the Cove Corporation in Lusby, Maryland.

The photos below are from the presentation given by Dr. Mountford, and illustrate the history of the Chesapeake Bay for the last several hundred years, and provide information on the early explorer, Captain John Smith, and on the native population.

Click each image to enlarge.  The captions can be read in the enlarged images or by hovering your mouse over the images.

Many observations were recorded

Illustrations of Capt. John Smith at age 28, and in England at age 36

Outline of the presentation

Interesting question about early map illustration

Shorelines of 1608 are not in existence today due to erosion

Almost all of the Chesapeake Bay watershed was forested

Forests provided different layers of protection and support

The Mantle of Powhatan, in an English museum today, has an interesting detail

The shells sown on the ancient mantle are fossils, secured with deer sinew

The early appearance of buffalo in the region may be verified by the buffalo tail used as ornamentation

Early sample of Tulip Poplar leaves from the region

Oak timbers of large size were useful for shipbuilding

Capt. John Smith noted seeing cypress trees eighteen feet in circumference

Changes in the Bay region cannot be undone without reforestation in large numbers

It is hard to imagine today the clarity of the waters seen by Smith

Water was so clear that the bottom could be seen in all but the Bay's deepest channels

Plankton were not as numerous

Salt-Marsh Periwinkles still populate the region

The destruction of wetlands has removed a valuable environmental filter

Hunting has reduced some species and eliminated others

Bottom-feeding fish were plentiful in colonial times

Atlantic sturgeon fished almost to extinction

Is this an early illustration a menhaden school?

A photo of a menhaden school

An early description of fish so plentiful that catching them with a frying pan was attempted

Are the fish which are closing in on the menhaden bluefish?

Colonial oysters larger, grew faster

An oyster about 20 years old

19th century oystering knew no bounds

Picturesque oyster sloops were prevalent in the 19th century

200,000 bushels of oyster shells near Norfolk

Most of the Bay's oyster population has been lost

Capt. Smith ran aground at what would later be called Stingray Point

A cow-nosed stingray

A school of cow-nosed stingrays

Capt. Smith apparently thought his short sword would suffice to attack even stingrays

Stingrays sport ferocious spines which can inflict fatal wounds

Capt. Smith, although stabbed by a stingray spine, was saved

Although the island which Smith would have seen has disappeared, Stingray Point remains

Last Update:  7 October 2014