John Smith was an explorer, adventurer and leader whose stories, maps and detailed descriptions of life in the ‘New World’ helped convince many early immigrants to cross the Atlantic to the colonies. As a young soldier John Smith was held captive by the Turks, as a leader of the first British colony he was captured by the Powhatan, and as an explorer in New England he was held hostage by French pirates. Respectively, he escaped, was saved by Pocahontas (more than once), and negotiated his own release. He learned the local native language, forced upper class colonists to labor for food, and didn’t return to England until after some gunpowder exploded in his canoe.

The affiliated “trail” covers Smith’s detailed exploration of the rivers that flow into the Chesapeake Bay. From Hampton Roads near Fort Monroe where the bay opens to the Atlantic, he went up the James River past Jamestowne, past places that would later be Grant’s HQ in Petersburg, the Confederate Capital of Richmond, and across the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway where the James becomes the Jackson River. Smith explored past Yorktown and up the two rivers that form West Point. He went up the Rappahannock River past Fredericksburg.

Smith also explored the Potomac, past where George Washington would be born, past Piscataway, Fort Washington and Kenilworth parks. He continued up past the Jefferson, Lincoln, LBJ and MLK memorials, past Roosevelt Island, next to the GW Parkway, past Clara Barton’s house up to the Great Falls at the C&O Canal. He went up the Patuxent River and up to Baltimore. He went up the Susquehanna River (both branches) past Steamtown and into Central New York State north of the Upper Delaware River. And he also covered the Del-Mar-Va side of the bay, where Harriet Tubman was born.

Smith also later explored and named much of New England, but this Chesapeake trail alone is certainly worthy of exploration. Someday, I’d like to return and see it by boat! And speaking of hopping around the country, Monday posts are going to cover National Parks on the West Coast, while Thursday posts will range more widely, covering more trails across the country. Enjoy!