Reviews for The Waterman of the Chesapeake Bay

The average rating for The Waterman of the Chesapeake Bay based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-01-20 00:00:00 Fred Sanford I wanted to like this book, I truly did. I like to learn about any person who dares to live outside the boundaries of what society considers normal. Here is Cornelia Thurza Crosby, six feet tall in her stockings, a woman who loved to fish and hunt in the masculine days of late 1800's Maine. I thought getting to know about this woman would be fascinating. So what went wrong? For me it was a combination of two things. The main turn-off for me was, I am sorry to say, the writing style. The book reads like a summary of every society page that ever mentioned Crosby: from this date to this date she was here, from that date to that date she was there, in this month there was no mention of her at all, etc. A very little bit of this goes a very long way. Then there were the many times when a piece of Cosby's writing was referred to, but instead of quoting it, the author simply summarized: she said this, that and the other. After a few chapters without much variation from these routines, and without Fly Rod coming to life on the page, I began to skim. My other problem turned out to be with Fly Rod herself. She never believed in voting rights for women, claiming that she "did not want to vote and that when the time came the 'lords of creation' could not run the old ship of state, I did not care a dime, no not a copper, if it went to smash." 'Lords of creation'?! Piffle. I noticed some other odd tidbits about Crosby as well. Mainly that she was supposedly registered as a Maine Guide, but when she set records for catching fish, whether for numbers or for weight, it was always with the help of a guide. If she was a Maine Guide herself, knowledgeable about everything outdoorsy the way they are reputed to be, why did she need help to find the best fish? The second half of the book features photos that were collected in an album belonging to Crosby. Each one is accompanied by a sample of her writing. This part of the book was a bit better (hence the second star), but even Fly Rod could not quite escape the Society Page feel in her work. Who was visiting which camp, which people caught the most fish and how much those fish weighed and other such details, and again I began to skim. She did tell a few funny stories about camp life, but overall I would think the only people who would truly enjoy Crosby's essays and articles would be the other fishermen who spent time in the area and helped to develop Maine into the rich sportsman's getaway it became. Of course those people were her target audience, they and other potential tourists. So maybe I should not complain, right? Oh, and remember, these pictures are of hunting or fishing camps, so they are full of dead animals (deer, caribou, moose, trout, salmon) and the happy amateur outdoorsmen who bagged them all. The landscapes can be impressive, but the photos of the cabins themselves made me feel sad. They are usually built rough (especially in the earlier photos), just logs stacked together, and while they can look charming, on page 134 is a shot captioned 'The Pond Camps', a desolate clearing rimmed with skeletal trees showing behind the cabins, and the center area full of tree stumps. It looks depressed. Which is pretty much the way I felt when I finished this book.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-11-06 00:00:00 Jonathan Whitcombe Wonderful account of life of Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby. She marketed Maine sporting camps and hotels to people in Boston, NY, and Philadelphia. Encouraged Maine tourism to Rangeleys and other areas of Maine. This book is a wonderful account of her life and contributions to Maine tourism. Many incredible photos by E. R. Starbird throughout the book.