The sea reaches inland almost to the northeast corner of the state of Maryland. This long, wide arm of the ocean receives many rivers and is known as Chesapeake bay. Near its north end is Baltimore, one of the four great cities of our Atlantic coast. It is one hundred and fifty miles from the open sea. If, instead of sailing up the bay, we should turn toward the west, we could go up the Potomac river, which is deep and wide. On our way we should pass Washington’s estates at Mount Vernon, the old city of Alexandria, and the national capital, Washington. We could not sail much farther because there are falls in the Potomac which ships cannot pass. The Potomac runs so close to Chesapeake bay that it is only forty miles from Washington across to Baltimore. Chesapeake bay is much like Delaware bay and the tidal Hudson river, only it is larger than either. Baltimore is at a greater distance from the open sea than Philadelphia is, and Philadelphia is farther inland than New York, but each of these cities tried to get as much of the western trade as it could. The natural way for the men of Baltimore and Alexandria to go across to the west was up the Potomac river and through its passes in the mountains. But before they tried this they had settled much of the low, flat land along the Potomac and about the Chesapeake in Virginia and Maryland. This was often called “tide-water country,” because the beds of the rivers are below sea level, and the streams are deep enough for boats of some size. [Illustration: FIG. 33. TOLLHOUSE WEST OF BROWNSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA] When the land was first settled and the colonists found that they could go almost everywhere by boat, they paid small heed to making roads. They could visit their neighbors on other plantations and they could load their tobacco and take it to market by the rivers. Many plantations were beside rivers of such great depth that sailing vessels bound for London could come up to the farmer’s wharf and get his crop of tobacco. In early days the members of the legislature were not always given so much per mile to pay the stage fares between their homes and the capital, but they were allowed the cost of hiring boats instead. Many ferries were needed, and laws about them were made before rules were laid down for bridges and roads. Several lawmakers at one time would have been fined for their absence from the legislature of the colony had they not been excused because there was no ferry to carry them over the river which they would have had to cross. Around Annapolis “rolling roads” were made. These were wide paths made as smooth as possible, in order that large hogsheads of tobacco might be rolled, each by two men, to the market in that old town.