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Estuary in the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia
Photo: United States Coast Guard, PA1 Pete Milnes, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
If traveling from far away, the best way to get in is probably BWI Airport. It is close to the major ports of Baltimore and Annapolis. BWI Airport is served by many major airlines and passenger rail service via Amtrak.
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If you are using the aforementioned wheeled conveyance to visit these sights, there are a fine collection of roads, but only three crossing points in the 120 mile length of the bay.
Itineraries
Choose an airport to see hotels, stations, taxi ranks and car rental desks around it.
Norfolk · International · ORF
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Slices of American history are around every corner in Baltimore. Maryland's largest city is a gritty old seaport town that's perhaps most famous as the site of Fort McHenry, where, at the height of the War of 1812, the sight of a tattered but defiant American flag flying over the harbor, despite a furious British bombardment, inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that was later adapted into the U.S. national anthem "Star-Spangled Banner".
Annapolis is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland. Annapolis was a thriving, wealthy town in the 1600s and 1700s.
Cambridge is a small town of 10,000 on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Cape Charles is a town in Eastern Virginia, at the southern tip of the Delmarva peninsula. It used to be the terminus of the eastern shore railway and still has an operating rail-to-barge ferry terminal with freight service to Norfolk.
Crisfield is a small town in the south of Maryland's Eastern Shore, along the Chesapeake Bay, and is the state's southernmost municipality.
Deltaville is a tiny waterfront community in Eastern Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay, very popular in the summer with boaters.
Norfolk is in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. It is a port city with a large Navy and shipping presence.
For the island chain in the South Pacific, see Solomon Islands. Solomons (Solomons Island) is a resort area in Southern Maryland, near the Patuxent Naval Air Station.
Virginia Beach is a resort city in southeast Virginia on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
Havre de Grace is a small city of approximately 15,000 residents (2020) in northeastern Maryland. Named by General Lafayette, it was attacked by the Royal Navy during the War of 1812.
Chesapeake Beach is in Southern Maryland.
Chesapeake City is a town of 736 people (2020) in the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The town has many old homes from the early 19th century that have been converted into bed and breakfasts, restaurants and the local historical museum.
Chestertown is in Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Easton is a historic town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Rock Hall is a small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Hampton is a city in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia.
Portsmouth is in Virginia, within the United States of America.
one of Maryland's oldest inhabited places, a charming island known for sport fishing, crabbing, and the Hooper's Island Lighthouse
one of the biggest beaches on the bay, right next to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
a tight knit island Methodist community, who speak an isolated dialect reminiscent of Victorian-era England
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