Hard Travel

In June 1608, John Smith and his crew reached this area after passing several shallow creeks and entering the deep waters of the Patapsco River, hoping to find exportable metals, a passage to the Pacific Ocean, and friendly Indians who might share food, since they had only rotted bread on board. Finding no one to help them, they grew discouraged, and hungry, cramped by their small vessel, and weary from rowing, they begged Smith to return them to Jamestown. Smith rallied them with a rousing speech, but after a sudden storm made several men ill, they headed downriver when the weather cleared. The explorers called the Patapsco River “Bolus Flu” after red clay along its banks that they believed was bole armoniac, a substance thought to have medicinal properties.

Edgemere, Maryland · United States