There is an island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, barely three square miles of marsh grass and oyster shell, where the watermen still work the same grounds their great-grandfathers worked and speak with an accent that linguists trace back to the early English settlers of the 1600s. That island is Tangier, Virginia, and it is unlike anywhere else in America.
Getting There
There's no bridge to Tangier. You get there by ferry out of Crisfield, Maryland — a ninety-minute ride that takes you across open Bay water, past crab pot buoys stretching to the horizon, until the low profile of the island appears. In season, the ferry runs twice daily. Off season, you charter or you don't go. That's part of what makes it what it is.
The island has no cars to speak of. Golf carts and bicycles get you around. The main road runs the length of the island in about ten minutes. The houses are small and close together, built tight against the marsh. There is one restaurant, Lorraine's, that serves the best crab cakes you'll find anywhere on the Bay.
A Life Built on the Water
The men of Tangier have been crabbing and oystering the Chesapeake for over three hundred years. Most of the working watermen are up before four in the morning and on the water by five. By noon they're back at the docks culling their catch. By evening they're maintaining gear for the next day. It's a hard life by any measure, and a proud one.
“My grandfather worked this water. My father worked this water. I work this water. My son works this water. That's just who we are.”
— Tangier Island crabber
A Place at Risk
Tangier is sinking. Sea levels are rising and the island is losing land at a rate that genuinely threatens its long-term existence. Scientists estimate that without significant intervention, the island could be uninhabitable within twenty-five years. The people of Tangier know this. They talk about it. And most of them intend to stay as long as they can.
There's something deeply American about that. A community that built itself on one of the hardest pieces of land you can find, sustained itself for centuries through nothing but work and pride, and refuses to walk away from it on principle. Go see Tangier while it's still there. Eat at Lorraine's. Talk to the watermen at the docks. It's worth every minute of that ferry ride.
