The Nanticoke: Portrait of a Chesapeake River - Tapa dura

"Harp's photographs... have, I think, finally surpassed the late Aubrey Bodine's famously romantic shots of the Chesapeake."

"Tom Horton has a poet's touch and a realist's frankness as he writes of the delicate ecology of this great aquatic system."

"A paean to this chief river of Delaware and Maryland... Horton and Harp offer an exquisite look at the people, plants and animals living on the river and its marshlands."

"This book matches Harp's stunning nature photography with Horton's shrewd observations and informed analysis."

"Horton mixes poetic sensibiity, profound knowledge and hard-edged realism in his descriptions of one of Chesapeake Country's best-preserved rivers. Harp's photographs make you want to set out in a canoe."

"Like a stroll back hrough time to a peaceful place, the reader will find this book relaxing and enjoyable."

"Dave Harp's photography and Tom Horton's text are nothing short of inspirational."

Once again marrying photography with prose, longtime collaborators David W. Harp and Tom Horton capture the natural beauty and rich history of the Nanticoke River, one of the Chesapeake’s least known waterways.

Despite rampant development and agricultural abuse, the Nanticoke remains one of the most pristine rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, looking much as it did when Captain John Smith first sailed its waters four hundred years ago. While parts of the river drain stormwater off the flat fields of the Delmarva Peninsula, most of the Nanticoke serves no purpose except natural beauty. Its meandering waters and fertile wetlands sustain a remarkable diversity of life. The Nanticoke is home to beavers, otters, woodpeckers, freshwater fish and shellfish, watergrasses, bog orchids, bald cypresses, and the rare Atlantic white cedar.

More than one hundred color photographs reveal unspoiled waters rarely glimpsed other than by Native Americans, tugboat captains, naturalists, and commercial waterman. The Nanticoke makes clear the urgency of preserving this vital but fragile ecosystem.