QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY. -- Throughout this week, Chopper 16 has given us a unique vantage point of icy waterways across the peninsula. We were back up in the air again on Thursday, this time over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
Much of the ice surrounding the bridge is still hugging the shoreline, but based on what we've seen this week, it seems to be expanding each day.
It's gotten to a point where people are starting to reminisce about the worst freeze they can remember, which took place in late 1976 and stretched into the early months of 1977.
It's been nearly 50 years since, and while the bay is still a long way from freezing over entirely, it's getting there.
"Another week, it might be close enough to do it again," said David Marinik.
Now, you might be asking, do what again? Well, Marinik, a bartender at Libbey's Coastal Kitchen, has fond memories of the winter of '76 and '77.
"We all have a bottle of Jack Daniels, and we just sit out there, drink and skate, have a good time," said Marinik.
He's not the only person who had fun on the frozen bay. Back then, Brent Lewis, a local author, was a teenager, and in his words, not mine, he was a stupid high schooler.
"A friend of mine and I ice skated from Winchester Creek in Grasonville and crossed the Chester River," said Lewis.
Now, there is a serious side to all of this. The months-long freeze in the late 70's was disastrous for the local economy.
"The watermen who had found it impossible to work for weeks on end were going out on the ice and chopping it up with chainsaws to oyster tong," said Lewis. "I think it was estimated that up to 5,000 watermen in Maryland and Virginia were out of work for about nine weeks."
So, while it's fun to look back at a frozen over Chesapeake Bay, there are plenty of people on Delmarva hoping that we're not in for a repeat of 1976.
Maryland's Department of Natural Resources currently has three icebreaking vessels on the bay, one of which is based in Crisfield.
