The "Basin" at Chesapeake City, MD

Historic Chesapeake City, a quaint 19^th century village, is located along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in the northeastern corner of Maryland, within easy reach of Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.. 
In addition to easy access by car, Chesapeake City has a public dock and anchorage frequented by pleasure craft passing through the canal on their travels along the inland waterway. 
Originally known as "The Village of Bohemia", the town was the hub of the construction while the canal was being built. Many of it's buildings date back to early 1800's, including the beautiful Blue Max Inn built in 1854. Today, the town is a lively historic district boasting a broad array of antique shops, gift shops, historical sites and fine dining. Oceangoing vessels change pilots while passing through town (in the canal of course) and  ship watching is a favorite activity.

Schedule of Events:

• Santa arrives / Pet parade Nov. 19th
• Saturday, December 8th, 2007, CANDLELIGHT HOUSE AND WALKING TOUR
  Tickets are available $10.00 in advance, $15.00 at the door
  Please call Mary Ioppolo 443-553-0071 or Christine Mullen 410-885-2781
• Sunday nights in the summer: Summer Music in the park at Pell Gardens.
• See the Cecil County Tourism website for regional events.
• Murder Mystery Weekends - Jan 18 & 19, 2008 and March 7 & 8, 2008.

For more information about Cecil County and regional attractions:

• Chesapeake City website: Current information about Chesapeake City
• Cecil County Tourism web site
• Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area
• Visiting the canal museum This museum is just a short walk from the Blue Max Inn.
• Elk Neck State Park
• Golfing nearby:
  • Chesapeake Bay Golf Club - North East, MD 410-287-0200
  • Bulle Rock - Havre de Grace, MD (Home of the LPGA McDonalds Championship)  410-939-8887
  • Patriots Glen Golf Course - Elkton, MD 410-392-9552
  • Brantwood Golf Course - Elkton, MD 410-398-8848
  • Back Creek Golf Course - Middletown, DE 302-378-6499
• Longwood Gardens and Winterthur Museum
• Brandywine River Museum
• Baltimore Aquarium
• Baltimore Orioles
• Horizon Photography and Gallery - Photography classes and studio.
• Visits to historic Port Deposit, MD and New Castle & Odessa, DE

The C&D canal is the busiest canal in the US and the 3rd busiest in the world, according the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Visualized in the mid 1600's by Augustine Herman as a means to connect the Chesapeake Bay and  Delaware River, construction was started in 1804. Initially, construction was sporadic and involved some 2600 men, digging a "ditch" by hand.  It was finally "open for business" in 1829 and could accommodate mule drawn cargo and passenger barges. 
Today, the canal, with it's 35' deep, 400' wide channel has grown to a modern, electronically controlled commercial waterway that carries 40% of all ship traffic in and out of the port of Baltimore.
The US Army Corps of Engineers maintains a museum in South Chesapeake City with a sampling of the canal's history. Among the exhibits are the 1830 & 1852 steam engines and their 39' diameter water wheel used to pump water to the original locks. The Corps maintains a web site with additional information about the canal. As this is a link to their site for your convenience, please use your browser's BACK button to return to this page.

Town Tour:
We offer two tours of local scenes. One for JAVA enabled browsers and one for JAVA challenged browsers. Try the JAVA enabled one first if you don't know which kind to try. If the tour doesn't operate for you, return here and go to the JAVA challenged tour.

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