I grew up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Our family home was located on a point where the Severn River meets the Bay. My earliest memories are of being around the water. My father taught me to swim on the beach in front of our house and as a young boy I spent hours wading in the shallows, dip-netting for crabs or fishing from my family's boat. By the time I was ten, I had my own boat. It was a double-ended punt with a 7 ½ hp motor. While it wasn't much to look at, it opened up a whole new world for me. A year or so later I learned to sail on Spa Creek. Looking back, I am surprised my parents gave me so much freedom but as my father told me when I was older, he wanted me to learn self-reliance. By high school, I had either sailed or motored over most of the rivers and creeks along both shores of the central part of the Bay. The Annapolis harbor became my gateway to these adventures. When I first conceived the idea of writing a book on the Annapolis waterfront, I wanted to capture a piece of history that was quickly fading from living memory. As a boy, I was lucky enough to witness the last fleeting moments of a maritime history that had lasted for nearly three hundred years. The City Dock still maintained the last vestiges of a working harbor that had once so dominated city life. It was truly a "Working Waterfront" and the economic heart of the town. While this book is primarily focused on Annapolis, it also describes important aspects of the Bay's history, and the men and women who depended upon it for their livelihoods. This book has been a labor of love, combining my personal experiences with my love of history. It was three years in the making and was only realized because of a cadre of dedicated people who share my love of Annapolis, who believed in me, and who supported this endeavor in so many ways