Bay Ridge on the Chesapeake

Against a backdrop of the bay’s rich heritage, Bay Ridge on the Chesapeake tells the story of one small tidewater community. With careful research and perceptive insights Carol Cushard Patterson and Jane Wilson McWilliams have traced the evolution of Bay Ridge from colonial farm to Victorian resort to summer haven to modern suburb. The story they tell is fascinating; the visual record they have assembled is stunning. Nearly 225 photographs and illustrations enrich and enhance the text with the reality of the past – of vacationers in bustles and stiff collars, of steamboats and trains, of Tin Lizzies, flappers, and family days at the beach. The authors have balanced a lifelong personal interest in their subject with a historian’s perspective in order to place Bay Ridge within the pattern of the nation’s social history without sacrificing the excitement and wonder of the events they describe. Nostalgic, informative, captivating, Bay Ridge on the Chesapeake is a book to be treasur