Fun Fact: Did You Know That Some of the Ponds in Caroline County Were Thought to be Created by Stranded Whales?

Question: Did you know that some of the ponds in Caroline County were thought to be created by stranded whales?

It’s true! The property near Denton, named the Eaton Wetlands Preserve, has a series of saucer-shaped ponds called whale-wallows that are flooded seasonally. Some scientists think these watery depressions were created by meteors, but others have hypothesized that they were created thousands of years ago by stranded whales that wallowed to and fro in an effort to free and save themselves created depressions in the earth. The soil in the depressions has very high concentrations of elements consistent with decomposition of animal carcasses. The wallows are home to colonies of green and blue heron, black ducks, mallards, wood ducks and carpenter frogs.

caroline countySource: Robert Willey, Dorchester County & The Baltimore Sun

Do you have a fun fact to share about your county? If so, please send it to Kaley Schultze to be featured in MACo’s weekly Fun Fact on Conduit Street.