Chesapeake Bay

Lat/Long: 37.0000, -76.0000

Maritime inlet of the Atlantic Ocean stretching 193 miles from Norfolk, Virginia to Baltimore, Maryland. Water flows into the bay from the Susquehanna River in the north, the Patuxent and Potomac rivers on the west, the Chester, Choptank, and Nanticoke rivers on the east, and the Rappahannock, York, and James rivers on the southwest. During the War of 1812, the British entered and traveled up the bay to capture and burn Washington, DC .

Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 250; Courtlandt Canby, The Encyclopedia of Historic Places (New York: Facts on File, 1984), 1:179.