Rediscovering America_ Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia & Maryland - Bill Burnham [100]
There are three embarkation points to get to Tangier. Ferries depart Crisfield MD, Onancock on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, or Reedville VA, on the “western shore.” Daily excursions start in May and run through mid-October. A ferry operates from Crisfield year-round, but with just one trip a day, you have to stay overnight.
TRIVIA: During the War of 1812, about 1,200 British soldiers camped the island’s beaches in preparation for the attack on Baltimore.
Around Town
If you depart from Onancock or Crisfield, your boat will likely be piloted by a native Tangier waterman, and when you arrive, it will be met by a friendly guide who gives 10-minute walking tours of the island. For $3, you can get a tour by golf cart. From Crisfield, it’ll likely be captain Thomas, and from Onancock, captain Pruitt (you’ll find these surnames, along with Crockett, all over the island). Wallace and Shirley Pruitt own the largest B&B on the island. Now retired, Wallace worked the Chesapeake Bay on tugboats. They, as well as other friendly natives you’ll meet, have an accent notably different from mainland Virginians. It’s said their dialect still retains remnants of Elizabethan English.
Tangier’s surnames go way back. First discovered by Captain John Smith in 1608 and settled in 1686 by the large Crockett family who fished and farmed the three ridges that made up the “Tangier Islands.” The 1800 census of Accomack County showed there were 79 people on the islands, most of them Crocketts or descendants of Crocketts. Joshua Thomas brought religion to the island in 1805 in the form of the Methodist church, which most people still belong to today.
Tangier Island remains much as it’s been for centuries, a lifestyle reliant on the fishing industry, but increasingly, on tourism. Despite the convenience of the modern world, Mother Nature still rules island life to a large extent. Some winters the Chesapeake Bay freezes, making travel to the mainland impossible for a few days. In centuries past, people have been known to walk across the ice to get supplies, but today they can be flown in.
Attractions
A small museum in the back of Sandy’s Gift Shop has artifacts of Tangier life, newspaper clippings, and the names of everyone who’s ever lived or died here. (Main Street, tel. 757-891-2367)
RB’s Island Nature Cruises offer eco-tours, charter fishing, family outings and trips to Smith Island aboard the Elizabeth Thomas, a 46-foot Chesapeake Bay deadrise. They’ll fish out a crab pot for you to see the famous Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab, take you to see soft crab farms, pound net fishing, and the Tangier Light. Wildlife spottings could include pelicans, ospreys, heron, cormorants, eagles, stingrays and egrets. Buy tickets at the Tangier Mailboat Dock. (tel. 757-891-2240)
TRIVIA: Some of the graves in people’s yards date back to the 1866 cholera epidemic. So many people were dying that graves were hastily dug in front yards, often without stones.
Dining
Fisherman’s Corner Restaurant is operated by four islanders who serve up generous portions of seafood and southern hospitality. Open daily May-September, for lunch and early dinners, 11 am- 7 pm, Sundays 12:30-6 pm. (tel. 757-891-2900)
Hilda Crockett’s Chesapeake House is actually two old houses operated now by Hilda’s daughter Betty as a B&B and restaurant (Hilda passed away nearly 30 years ago). Dinner is served family-style from 11:30 am to 6 pm Heaping platters of Virginia baked ham, crab cakes, clam fritters, hot corn puddings, and innumerable vegetables are brought to the tables that seat 12. Open daily from late April to mid-October. (Main Street, tel. 757-891-2331)
The Islander serves up steaming platters of seafood, chicken dinners, sandwiches and chowders daily 9 am-7 pm, May through October. There’s a screened-in deck in addition to the dining room. (Chambers Lane, tel. 757-891-2249)
The Waterfront Restaurant’s name says it all. Located on the docks and open