The Chesapeake Bay has long served as a maritime highway supporting shipping traffic, commercial fisheries, recreation and tourism, and military logistics. Native American canoes, colonial sailing ships, twentieth-century schooners, and modern cargo ships navigated these waters and helped establish port cities along the coast. From 1949 to 1964, this area was the northern terminus of the Kiptopekke Ferry, which provided passenger service between Cape Charles and Norfolk. With passenger lounges, recreation rooms, and restaurants, the ferry could accommodate 100 cars and 1,200 passengers, operated 24 hours a day in all types of weather, and made the 26-mile one-way trip in nearly two hours. Ferry service ended in 1964 with construction of the 17-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Commercial fishing remains an important economic activity, driven by demand for fresh fish, oysters, lobsters, and blue crab, with methods including pound nets, haul seining, trawling, and bottom dredging.