Skiffin’ Down to Nottingham on Mattaponi Creek

This boating trip on the water trail is surrounded by wildlife sanctuaries.

F Delventhal

Summary

Launch at Patuxent River Park via Jackson's Landing or Selby’s Landing. Travel downriver and turn right into Mattaponi Creek after about a quarter-mile. An easy two-way boating trip, about 12 miles.

Trip Details & History

If you’re running a 14-20’ skiff or runabout equipped with a pushpole, you can take a trip along Mattaponi Creek, though you may not make it past White Oak Landing unless the tide is well up (and mind that this is not a good place to be marooned by a falling tide). The speed of a skiff is useful, though, for getting a broader view of the river. Launch at either Jackson’s Landing (by the Patuxent River Park Office) or at Selby’s Landing. 

Travelling easy at 15-20 mph, you can make it downriver to the seventeenth-century colonial tobacco port of Nottingham and back, with time out for a picnic. Going downriver, you’ll skirt the whole of the Merkle/ Mattapanient marsh, go through Deep Turn (the lower landing for Mattapanient), and run down the reach to the curve at Nottingham. 

If you’ve equipped your boat with a depth sounder, notice the depths at the landings, several of which are over 40’. You’ll also notice swirling eddies on the surface in those spots if the tide is running strongly. 

Captain John Smith mapped the Native town of Wasameus at the site of Nottingham when he visited, but the location had become an important colonial tobacco port by the mid-seventeenth century, when mariners taking the leaf back to England were still navigating the Patuxent with Smith’s map. 

The town remained a tobacco port into the nineteenth century. It figured in the Patuxent Campaign of the War of 1812. After the Civil War, it became a landing for the steamboats that connected communities along the Patuxent with Baltimore. As you sit in your skiff, try to imagine what this place looked like in Smith’s time and through all of the succeeding four-hundred years. Today Nottingham holds the headquarters of the Patuxent Riverkeeper Program. By all means, contact Fred Tutman, the long-time Riverkeeper, about visiting. 

On the way back upriver, pay close attention to the marked channel going through Jug Bay. It’ll give you 4-6’ of depth, but the flats immediately outside it are shallow and soft, very difficult to pole away from if you go aground with the wind against you. Be courteous of anglers and boats as you enter the narrows by Jackson’s Landing. 

Details

Activity

Boating

Pets Allowed

Yes

Leashed while inside the park. 

Activity Fee

Yes

Permits are available on an annual or daily basis.
Boat trailer permits may be purchased online or in-person at the Visitor Center.
Patuxent River Park - Park and Recreation - Prince Georges County MD (pgparks.com)

Location

Patuxent River Park Boat Launches

Jackson’s Landing
16000 Croom Airport Rd, Upper Marlboro MD, 20772
Located at Jug Bay Natural Area. Follow park road past Visitors’ Center to the bottom of the hell. Parking limitation – 10 vehicles with trailers; 8 additional vehicles. Personal watercraft (jet skis) are not permitted. Access to the launch is available during normal park hours, 8:00 am – close (seasonal).

Selby’s Landing
17272 Croom Airport Rd, Upper Marlboro MD, 20772
Located at Jug Bay Natural Area. Follow Croom Airport Road (past park entrance road) to a dead end, turn left and follow the road to the designated area. Parking limitation – 25 vehicles with trailers. Personal watercraft (jet skis) are not permitted. Access to the launch is available during normal park hours, 8:00 am – close (seasonal).

Reservations

No

Season

Year Round

Hours may change seasonally. Check the park's website for more information: Patuxent River Park - Park and Recreation - Prince Georges County MD (pgparks.com)

Time of Day

Day

Accessibility Information

Call the park office at [phone] if you have specific questions.