A Cool Thought On A Hot Midsummer Day: When The Chesapeake Bay Froze Over

SOLOMONS, Md. — After some very hot days, midsummer seems like an appropriate time to reminisce about colder times.

The Chesapeake Bay has seen some extraordinary winters over the centuries. Perhaps the most extreme was the winter of 1779-1780 during the Revolutionary War. It was one of the coldest winters the Chesapeake Bay region has ever experienced.

Waterways from Canada to North Carolina froze solid, including large portions of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. There were only a few days when the temperature rose above freezing that winter. With at least six blizzards that year, it was also one of the snowiest.

Military communication was impacted as ink froze in quill pens. George Washington himself remarked, “The oldest people now living in this Country do not remember so hard a winter as the one we are now emerging from. In a word the severity of the frost exceeded anything of the kind that had ever been experience in this climate before.”

Nearly a century later, another remarkable freeze struck the Bay. In her true crime book, “The Farmer’s Wife,” local author Carol Booker recounts the bitter winter of 1876-1877, which served as the backdrop for a shocking murder along the Calvert and Anne Arundel county line.

Much of the Bay froze over, creating ice floes that ripped apart docks, boats and even lighthouses. Watermen whose vessels became trapped in the ice would make the desperate attempt to walk from their prized vessels to safety and warmth off the ice.

Booker reports that the St. Mary’s Beacon ran a story about the first person to cross the Patuxent River on ice skates that winter. A young woman successfully skated from Trent Creek in St. Mary’s County to Buzzard Point in Calvert County and back. Her friend, a man, also attempted the crossing but fell through the ice and had to be rescued.

Almost exactly 100 years later came the winter of 1976-1977, another freeze many Marylanders still remember. People reported walking and skating on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as on the Patuxent River.

In January 1977, Naugle Dare and Charles Zandarski made the walk across the Patuxent River. The crossing was not without danger, as portions of the river remained open and sections were still liquid.

That same winter, Edgar Woodburn attempted to drive his delivery wagon across the Patuxent. Let’s just say it did not end quite as he had hoped, much to the amusement of Solomons Island residents.

While Southern Maryland still has several months of heat and humidity ahead, it is worth remembering that the Chesapeake Bay region is a place of remarkable extremes. Some years challenge the region with oppressive summer heat. Others bring winters so severe that rivers become roads of ice.

But always, stories of these extremes are created that people remember for generations.

To discover more local legends, maritime history and fascinating tales from the region’s past, visit Spooky Solomons Tours at SpookySolomons.com

About The BayNet Expert Series
This article is part of The BayNet Expert Series, which highlights local professionals, historians, nonprofits and community leaders who share their knowledge and expertise with Southern Maryland readers.

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