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Port Republic, Maryland on Chesapeake Bay Vacation Rentals by Owner Condos, Cottages, and Houses.

Beautiful sunrises and panoramic bay views. That is Port Republic, Maryland vacation rentals by owner cottages, houses, and condos on Chesapeake Bay. Located on Maryland's Western shore, Port Republic, Maryland vacation rentals by owner cottages, houses, and condos are only 45 minutes from Washington, DC. The area is rich not only in colonial history, but also in fossils from the Miocene era. Enjoy miles of sandy shoreline, a 2-mile nature trail thru deep woods, an open recreational field, a playground and plenty of fabulous seafood restaurants.

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Virginia and Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay's watershed covers 64,299 mi (166 534 km) in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. More than 150 rivers and streams drain into the Bay.

The main stem of the Bay itself is 189 miles (304 km) long, from the Susquehanna River in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south. At its narrowest point near Annapolis, Maryland, the Bay is 4 miles (6.4 km) wide; at its widest point, near the mouth of the Potomac River, it is 30 miles (50 km) wide. Total shoreline for the Bay is 11,684 miles (18 804 km), and the surface area of the Bay and its major tributaries is 4,479 m² (11 600 km).

The narrowest point of the Bay is spanned by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel spans a 23 mile (37 km) section of the Bay at near its mouth.

The Chesapeake Bay was first explored and mapped by Captain John Smith during his explorations between 1607 and 1609. As of July 2006, two bills are circulating in the U.S. Congress to establish a Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.

 
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge.The Chesapeake Bay was the site of the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781, during which the French fleet defeated the Royal Navy in the decisive naval battle of the American Revolutionary War.

Today, the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant uses water from the Bay to cool its reactor.

The bay is also known for the Chesapeake Bay Retriever, a dog breed developed in this area.

The word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word meaning "Great Shellfish Bay." The Bay was once known for its great seafood production, especially blue crabs, clams and oysters. The plentiful oyster harvests led to the development of the Skipjack, the State Boat of Maryland, which is the only remaining working boat type in the United States still under sail power. Today, the body of water is less productive than it used to be, because of runoff from urban areas (mostly on the western shore) and farms (especially on the eastern shore), overharvesting, and invasion of foreign species. The bay though, still yields more fish and shellfish (about 45,000 short tons or 40 000 tonnes yearly) than any other estuary in the United States.

The Bay is famous for its rockfish, also known as striped bass. Once on the verge of extinction, rockfish have made a significant comeback and are now able to be fished in strictly controlled and limited quantities.

The Bay serves as the predominate source of eel in the United States.

In 2005, local governments began debate on the introduction to certain parts of the Bay of a species of asian oyster, to revive the lagging shellfish industry.

Source: Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia.