Our Bay:A portal to the past

Have you ever thought about what the Chesapeake Bay was like, well, before there actually was a Chesapeake Bay?

Millions of years ago, much of what are now coastal areas around the bay were under a vast, warm sea teeming with creatures including sharks and whales.

And though much of the former sea floor has been covered for ages with trees and farms and towns, a stunning window into the past stretches along the bay shoreline not far from Annapolis.

Steep cliffs rise along the bay shore from Chesapeake Beach along the coast of Calvert County, displaying the ancient layers of sediment and holding fragments of the past in...