6. 
area was used as pasture. No cultivation, burning, or mowing of the 
marshes took place. Since the dairy was abandoned in 1945, it has 
remained unused. No fires or tenant farming disturbed the development 
of the vegetation. A broad spectrum of communities now occurs. 
Portions of Ivy Neck are still under cultivation to corn and 
wheat. One field was abandoned in 1963, but was recultivated in 1967. 
Both Scaffold Peninsula (between Scaffold and Cheston Creeks) and 
Cheston Peninsula (between Cheston Creek and Rhode River) were entirely 
cultivated until about 1900. The present deciduous forest on Scaffold 
Peninsula has apparently developed naturally since the abandonment of 
agriculture there. It was lumbered about 1942. The loblolly pine 
stand on Cheston Peninsula was planted in 1933 and has been left 
undisturbed. 
Present Vegetation Types 
The present vegetation of the Chesapeake Bay Center falls into 
six major categories: hardwood forest, coniferous forest, cultivated 
field, formerly cultivated field, freshwater marsh, and salt marsh. 
Within each category variations occur in the composition of the 
vegetation. These variations usually take the form of patterns of 
plant communities, referred to here as vegetation types. The 
boundaries of the types are not always sharply distinctive, especially 
where the vegetation is immature, but they form a mosaic within the 
hardwood forest and other main categories. 
