1952 Richard Yardley Pictorial Map of the Chesapeake Bay (Maryland)

This is Richard Q. Yardley's charming map of the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is an iconic representation of a region steeped in local and historical character.

A Closer Look

Comprising most of the Maryland portion of the Delmarva Peninsula, the map is oriented to the east and covers, roughly, Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Caroline, Talbot, Dorchester, Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset counties. Areas to the east and west, including Delaware ('Unexplored Territories') and the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay (with the exception of Baltimore and Annapolis), are shaded dark blue. Colorful vignette illustrations with humorous annotations fill the focus area, some lionizing local characters, lifestyle, history, and folklore, others gently poking fun at 'mainlanders.'

As reporter B. Drumond Ayres wrote in the September 12, 1982, New York Times,

The Eastern Shore is a land for all seasons. But none quite compares with early fall, that wonderfully ambivalent time of fullness and decline, when the sea trout are still biting, doves are beginning to fly, a few fat tomatoes still cling to the vine, and the night air, although still alive with the chirp of crickets, provides excuse enough for the season's first wood fire. And this is the bargain season, the two-for-one time.

…

The lay of the land, the language of the people, their food, their homes, their pursuits - these things tend to have a certain distinctiveness not found on the more homogenized mainland lying to the west across the broad marshes and waters of the Chesapeake.

He goes on to describe the independent personality of the region, suggesting it is more akin to an island than a peninsula.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by Baltimore Sun cartoonist Richard Q. Yardley. It was published as a giveaway by the Baltimore Sun to promote subscriptions. While it must have been issued in some quantity, there are few surviving examples. There is one in the David Rumsey collection, but none are identified in the OCLC. At least 4 examples have come to market in the last 10 years.