A living shoreline uses a gradual transition between the bank and water's edge rather than ending abruptly like a common bulkhead. Typically planted with native trees, shrubs, and grasses, it uses gradual slopes, vegetation, and low rock sills to slow wave energy and create habitat for fish, crabs, and other animals that live along this transitional area. Native trees in the upland buffer provide shoreline stabilization and erosion control, while grasses and shrubs on the bankface add further erosion control and some habitat. In the tidal marsh, wetland plants provide the most habitat for nesting terrapins, horseshoe crabs, and other species, and this area is flooded during high tide. Biologs made of organic material help stabilize the newly created bank, and depending on wave energy and location, rock sills may also be used for added stabilization. Sharptown was a thriving shipbuilding town during most of the 19th century and into the early part of the 20th century. Located on a stretch of high ground where the river runs relatively straight, it became an ideal place for building sailing vessels, and abundant nearby lumber gave shipbuilders easy access to the materials needed to build large, 100ft. schooners that sailed the world.