Steamboats replaced sailing vessels as the principle mode of travel on the Chesapeake Bay and the Choptank River around the time of the Civil War.  By the 1860s, the Individual Enterprise Line’s Highland Light ran all the way to Denton.  Individual Enterprise became the Maryland Steamboat Company in 1868.  It continued to serve the Choptank with elegant steamboats such as the Enoch Pratt, Ida, Avalon, and Joppa. The Maryland Steamboat Company and several others were bought and consolidated into the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway Company (BC&A) in 1894.  BC&A integrated railroad and steamboat service through the early 1900s.  (The BC&A route map below shows river and rail routes crossing at Denton.) But rail and motor transportation soon became more economical and popular than steamboats for regional transportation.  Regular service up the Choptank to Denton ended by 1920.  Bay steamer service between larger cities like Cambridge and Baltimore ended shortly after WWII.



Vestiges of the elegant days of steamboating are still seen along the Choptank River today. This trip invites you to board Cambridge Lady for a 4-hour “Steamboat Reverie” cruise from Cambridge to Denton.  All passengers receive a map to help them follow the trip’s narration, which points out old steamboat landing, wharves, and historic homes.  Enjoy an old fashioned picnic en route, just like onboard the old steamboats.

The cruise leaves Cambridge at 10:30 a.m. and arrives in Denton at 3:00 p.m. Cruise fare is $35 per person. Return to Cambrdige via motorcoach. 

Cambridge Lady also “steams” from Denton to Cambridge. Check the web site or contact her crew for details.

To make reservations for Cambridge Lady’s “Steamboat Reverie” cruise, or for additional information about Cambridge Lady cruises on the Choptank and its tributaries, visit www.cambridgelady.com, email clady@shorenet.net, or call 410-221-0776