On September 20, 1901, Paul Laurence Dunbar in Washington, D. C., told a friend that he had enjoyed fishing that summer in the Chesapeake Bay to the east of the city. Paul was 29 years old and living in Washington with his wife Alice and mother Matilda.
I have been fishing down on the Chesapeake at intervals this summer and have caught many fish and much malaria, the quality of both being above reproach.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Dr. F., September 20, 1901. "Unpublished Letters of Paul Laurence Dunbar to a Friend." The Crisis (New York, New York). June 1920. Page 74.
Years later, Alice recalled Paul's affection for the area and his love of fishing. She said that Paul's dialect poem "To the Eastern Shore" was written in the city during winter, but it looked back to summer on the Chesapeake.
When he went down to Arundel-on-the-Bay -- picturesque name of a picturesque place -- he was thrilled as though stepping on hallowed ground. This was the Eastern Shore that gave birth to Douglass, the idol of his youthful dreams, the true friend of his enthusiastic youth. The place was wild after the fashion of the shore of the Chesapeake; it seemed almost home to him -- and the fishing was excellent. He enshrined it in his memory, and later came the poem "The Eastern Shore." It was written months after the lure of the bay had been forgotten when the skies swirled snow down on a shivering city, and the mind warmed the body as it harked back to the hot days of July under the burning skies and over the clean-washed sands of the Chesapeake Bay.
"The Poet and His Song," by Alice Moore Dunbar. Published by Reverdy C. Ransom, reprinted from The A. M. E. Church Review (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). October 1914. Pages 13 - 14.
I's feelin' kin' o' lonesome in my little room to-night,
An' my min's done los' de minutes an' de miles,
Wile it teks me back a-flyin' to de country of delight,
Whaih de Chesapeake goes grumblin' er wid smiles.
I know de moon is shinin' down erpon de Eastern sho',
An' de bay's a-sayin' "Howdy" to de lan';
An' de folks is all a-settin' out erroun' de cabin do',
Wid dey feet a-restin' in de silvah san';I's tiahed of de city, tek me back to Sandy Side,
Whaih de po'est ones kin live an' play an' eat;
Whaih we draws a simple livin' f'om de fo'est an' de tide,
An' de days ah faih, an' evah night is sweet.Excerpt from "To the Eastern Shore," by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Published in Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1903).
Paul with fishermen. Courtesy of the Ohio History Connection. Paul Laurence Dunbar Collection, P 70; Box 1, Folder 2. Image AL05266.tif.
In letters to friends and family, Paul often mentioned how much he loved fishing and being close to nature. He seemed to judge the worth of a place by the quality of its fishing.
There is so much I should like to write to you tonight if I had time, but I haven't. I must to work. Is there anything more discouraging than an attempt to work on a hot night, when the crickets are singing and you can almost hear the swish of the river nearby and you know that the new moon is shining on it and that the fish are leaping -- and all -- all tempts you out -- out with your soul, and the night and God.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, June 25, 1895. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
I just drop you a line from one of the sweetest spots in the world to waft to you some of the delicious glory of lake breeze that I am now enjoying. The Western Association of Writers is meeting here and although I am the only colored member, I am not allowed to feel it. It is boating, fishing, music, poetry and general literature in pleasantly varied layers.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, July 9, 1895. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
The reading in Toledo was a wonderful success and I spoke altogether about one hour and a quarter and was very tired, but Dr. Tobey took good care of me. I fished at the asylum lakes and got eleven one day and sixteen the next: cod fish, perch and goggle-eyes.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Matilda Dunbar, May 18, 1900. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 2).
Paul fishing at the Toledo State Hospital. Courtesy of the Ohio History Connection. Paul Laurence Dunbar Collection, P 70; Box 1, Folder 2. Image AL05263.tif.
Alice once invited Paul to visit her family's home in the Boston area, suggesting that he explore its literary history and go fishing with her brother-in-law James Young. Paul seemed much more interested in fishing than history.
The only way to see Boston in order to appreciate its ugliness, quaintness and general oldness is to see it under a good hard rain. I do hope it will be raining when you get here, you'll love it so. James is as crazy as ever. He has been fishing in all the lakes and ponds about here with bad results. He told me to say to you that when you come he's going to take you up to Concord where there's excellent fishing, and then you'll see Emerson's home too.
Alice Moore Dunbar to Paul Laurence Dunbar, August 6, 1898. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
I want you to thank Mr. Young for offering to take me to Concord. I may perhaps think of more fishing there than of seeing the home of any dead and gone author.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Moore Dunbar, August 9, 1898. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
Historic spots and monuments and powder mills of Revolutionary fame and battlefields meant little after a while to the poet. Middlesex county abounds in rivers -- were they fishable? Fishing was his one pastime, which he loved ardently, passionately, with the devotion of the true fisherman. Was there a river? Then the next question, How is the fishing? What though Longfellow had enshrined the Mystic in the Hall of Fame by the lines of Paul Revere's Ride? That was no matter. Anything as brown and dimpled and slow as that river must be fishable.
"The Poet and His Song," by Alice Moore Dunbar. Published by Reverdy C. Ransom, reprinted from The A. M. E. Church Review (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). October 1914. Page 11.
As Paul recovered from a severe case of pneumonia, he and Alice left Washington for the Catskill Mountains because his doctor believed the air would be good for him. That summer, Paul spent a lot of time hiking and fishing.
I am feeling first rate today although we are again shut in by rain. My trip yesterday was very jolly and I caught five fish, Alice one and Bud Burns two. We had them for breakfast this morning. I walked five miles in the morning and five in the evening day before yesterday. It is cool up here and we are entirely surrounded by higher mountains.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Matilda Dunbar, June 25, 1899. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 2).
So the streams in the Catskills were deliciously suggestive of mountain trout, and even native indolence and poor health did not prevent him from arising one Fourth of July morning at three o’clock, and taking with him all the valiant souls who would go, to hie them to an over-fished stream, where the most carefully chosen flies only made the trout sniff and flirt themselves arrogantly.
"The Poet and His Song," by Alice Moore Dunbar. Published by Reverdy C. Ransom, reprinted from The A. M. E. Church Review (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). October 1914. Pages 11 - 12.