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Choptank River Trip - Joppa Overnight Run |
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Joppa was one of two steamboats that ran between Denton and Baltimore from the 1880s to about 1920. The other steamer was the Avalon. Other vessels ran up the Choptank before and after these. But old timers along the Choptank River still have fond memories of Joppa and Avalon steaming into West Denton and other landings along the river. As early as the 1860s, the Individual Enterprise Line was serving Denton with its side-wheeler Highland Light. The company became the Maryland Steamboat Company in 1868 and replaced the Highland Light with the new Enoch Pratt for the Choptank run in 1878. Between 1881 and 1885, Maryland Steamboat Company built three sister ships - Ida, Avalon, and Joppa. Ida and Joppa operated on the Choptank. While filling in on a different run, Joppa collided with the yacht Gleam in 1888 and sank the yacht with her owner aboard. Avalon burned at Freeport, Virginia, in 1887. A new Avalon was built in 1888. Maryland Steamboat Company and several others were bought and consolidated into the Baltimore, Chesapeake, and Atlantic Railway Company (BC&A) in 1894. At this time, both Joppa and Avalon were moved to the Choptank River route. Both Joppa and Avalon and their crews played notable roles in the steamboat captains and mates strike of June 1906. While freight piled up on Baltimore and river wharves, the master of the Joppa, James R. Corkrin,
crossed the strike line by taking the Love Point to the Eastern Shore several times. He later joined his colleagues in the strike. The Choptank River was one of
only four routes on the bay that remained in operation during the strike, served by Captain Ben Thomas commanding Avalon.
By 1912, Joppa and Avalon were still two of the fastest steamers serving the Eastern Shore. However, that year, the BC&A replaced them on the Choptank River run with the steamers Talbot and Dorchester. These vessels were too large to pass through Dover Bridge and ran up the Choptank only as far as Windy Hill. As passenger and freight business declined after 1917, the older Joppa was returned to the Choptank route. By 1919, Joppa was still visiting Denton three times a week. Avalon was running up the Nanticoke river three times a week. Joppa was again removed from the Choptank route in 1921, and the steamboat service again ran only to Windy Hill. Joppa was moved to the Wicomico River route. But the Wicomico route was abandoned in 1929, two years after the BC&A went bankrupt. |
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Take an Imaginary 1880s Trip to Baltimore |
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