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1903 Map of Bloodsworth Island

Name: 1903 Topographic Map of Bloodsworth Island
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1945
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1945

About this map

The labyrinthine wetlands and tidal marshes of Dorchester and Somerset counties define this coastal survey, where land and water merge across the Chesapeake Bay. Small fishing settlements like Applegarth on Hooper Island and Crocheron at the edge of Fishing Bay represent the human footprint in an environment governed by the tides. Navigation is critical in these shallow reaches, marked by the Hooper Strait L.H. and Holland Island Bar L.H., which guide vessels through the treacherous channels of the Hooper Strait and Holland Straits.

The map reveals the extensive geography of Bloodsworth Island and Holland Island, the latter showing a complex network of creeks like Spring Cr before significant twentieth-century erosion changed the shoreline. To the south, the northern reaches of Smith Island appear near Fog Point, while the Boundary Line splits the waters between Tangier Sound and the open bay. This record captures a maritime landscape of remote islands and workboat harbors such as Sheepshead Harbor at a time when these isolated communities were deeply tied to the bay's oyster and crab fisheries.