The Nanticoke: Portrait of a Chesapeake River

Once again marrying photography with prose, longtime collaborators David W. Harp and Tom Horton capture the natural beauty and rich history of the Nanticoke River, one of the Chesapeake’s least known waterways.

Despite rampant development and agricultural abuse, the Nanticoke remains one of the most pristine rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, looking much as it did when Captain John Smith first sailed its waters four hundred years ago. While parts of the river drain stormwater off the flat fields of the Delmarva Peninsula, most of the Nanticoke serves no purpose except natural beauty. Its meandering waters and fertile wetlands sustain a remarkable diversity of life. The Nanticoke is home to beavers, otters, woodpeckers, freshwater fish and shellfish, watergrasses, bog orchids, bald cypresses, and the rare Atlantic white cedar.

More than one hundred color photographs reveal unspoiled waters rarely glimpsed other than by Native Americans, tugboat captains, naturalists, and commercial waterman. The Nanticoke makes clear the urgency of preserving this vital but fragile ecosystem.