Captain John Smith (c. January 1580–June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was the first English explorer to map the Chesapeake Bay area and New England.
Captain John Smith’s travels and discoveries of 400 years ago inspire conservation and recreational opportunities today
On Dec 18, 2024, a bill to establish The Chesapeake National Recreation Area unanimously passed the United States Senate. A week later it died in Congress on a partisan vote. The bill introduced by Senator Chris Van Hollen recognized the Chesapeake Bay as a national treasure that would have linked natural and historic sites in the bay watershed, even as far away as New York state (the Susquehanna River’s headwaters are in Cooperstown). Bipartisan support for the bay as a national recreation area dates back to the 1980s. Forty-five years later it still remains as an idea.
Joel Dunn, past President of the Chesapeake Conservancy, describes the nation’s largest estuary “as spectacular as the Great Smokies, Yellowstone, and Yosemite, and as grand as the Grand Tetons.” And so, it is. In fact, the Chesapeake Bay includes the designated Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, signed into law by President George W. Bush on Dec 19, 2006, which officially made it part of the National Trails System.
There is quite a story behind that Captain’s name. Our appreciation and knowledge of this precious natural resource dates back centuries to a time of English exploration.
More than four hundred years ago, Captain John Smith—the first leader of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607—explored the breadth of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, navigating 3,000 miles of water by canoe. He was the first Englishman to map the Chesapeake Bay, as well as New England, and was knighted for his service to England.
Vintage engraving of a map of Virginia, 17th century after Captain John Smith.
Baptized in 1580, Smith was apprenticed as a tradesman. For Smith, the life in a counting house was boring and ill-suited to his adventurous spirit. At age 16, he set to sea and served in the Army of Henry IV of France, fighting against the Ottoman Turks. He reportedly killed and beheaded three challengers in single combat duels but was eventually captured and sold at a slave market. He was gifted to a woman in Constantinople. Regularly beaten by his slave master, Smith managed to kill him and escape the Ottoman territory. He returned to England in 1604 and became involved in the quest to colonize Virginia.
Becoming a captain, Smith trained the first settlers in Jamestown to farm and fish, which saved the colony from early devastation. Quoting Thessalonians from the Bible, he declared that “He that will not work, shall not eat.” His leadership is credited with saving Jamestown from harsh winters and his positive relationship with the Powhatan Tribe is recognized as having helped preserve the settlement. He believed the existence and success of the colonies depended on peace with native tribes. He never tried to exterminate them. He was a good friend of John Rolfe, a tobacco planter, who married Pocahontas.
Captain John Smith depicted trading with native tribes. From Barness Primary History of the United States, published in 1885.
The James River flows past the Jamestown settlement and crosses, which mark 30 graves from 1607.
Capt. Smith was described as very straightforward about the dangers and possibilities of life in the Virginia. He asserted that those with a strong work ethic would be able to live and succeed in America in face of great dangers. He is quoted, “Here, every man may be master and owner of his own labour and land…if he have nothing but his hands, he may…by industries quickly grow rich.”
Capt. Smith’s maps and books were instrumental in supporting English colonization in the New World. A master in his chosen field, he believed that maps tamed the unknown and advanced civilization. He left the Virginia colony in 1609 due to a gunpowder accident but produced a compilation of his writings and experiences in 1609–1610. Later, in 1614, he returned to the Americas, exploring and mapping the coasts of present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
The old church tower at Jamestown, VA, built between 1639–1700 still stands at the historic 1607 settlement.
Capt. Smith died in London in 1631 and is buried in Holy Sepulchre London (nee Newgate church), the largest parish church in London, dating back to 1137 AD. He is also commemorated by a stained-glass window there. In 1864, the New Hampshire built a monument to him, recognizing his visit 250 years earlier to Star Island.
Establishing the Chesapeake National Recreation Area could amplify the history and stories of Capt. John Smith and inspire our own recreational exploration of the bay.
Statue of Captain John Smith at Jamestown, Virginia.
Today, the Captain John Smith Chesapeake water trail throughout the bay includes passages up the Susquehanna, Chester, Nanticoke, and James rivers, among others. The very rivers that Smith navigated and mapped.
The effort to establish North America’s largest estuary as a National Recreation Area would not only amplify homage to the spirit of Capt. Smith’s exploration but also ensure public access and broadcast the stories of settlement within the Chesapeake Bay. Perhaps 2025 will be the year when it is finally anointed.
