Parks Marina, Tangier Island, Virginia
We are on Tangier Island, a small island on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay. The island is one mile by three miles, and was first settled in 1686 by John Crockett, followed by the Pruitts and the Parks (still the main names on the island and in the graveyards). There are few cars or trucks on the island, most transportation is by bicycle or golf cart. When I had phoned for reservations, the gentleman who answered had trouble understanding me on the phone, did not take my name or the boat names, just said to come on in, but would we please arrive after he got home from church at 12. We arrived at about 1220, just as he was pulling up on a motor scooter, all dressed up in his suit. Mr. Parks is 80 years old, and had abdominal aneurism surgery 8 weeks ago, and is still pulling boats in to tie them to the dock. After we got docked, he took Jim and Gloria for a tour of the island in his golf cart, then took Wayne and I (three people barely fit). Most of the men on the island work in the fishing or crabbing industry, or something related like working on a tug boat. Mr. Parks told us that about 500 people live here, much fewer than in previous years.
The people who live here have a very distinctive way of speaking, apparently from early Elizabethan era settlers. They do modify how they speak when talking with us, or our communication might be somewhat difficult.
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| the general store |
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| Dinner at Chesapeake House |
We went up to the Chesapeake House, a bed and breakfast, and family style restaurant, for dinner. We had to go early, because everything closes at 5 on Sunday, so we were there before 4 pm. You are seated at a table with whoever is there, tonight it was a couple from California. The ham, potato salad, cabbage salad, beet pickles were already on the table. They brought pound cake, clam fritters, crab cakes and fresh made yeast rolls. Family style, we passed the platters up and down the table. After dinner, we went for a walk around the island. Mr. Parks came along, showed us a crab shedding operation. They keep crabs in the water where the females shed their shells; that is the only time the male crabs can mate with them. Very interesting to hold one of these crabs, with shell and without shell.
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| Mr Parks gave us all a tour in his golf cart |
Monday 23 may, 2011
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| My lunch at Lorraine's, a crab sandwich, several small whole crab deep fried and placed between 2 slices of bread. |
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| At the beach on Tangier Island |
We have stayed over at Tangier island another day; weather forecast for today was for winds and waves, so we stayed put. Rented bicycles this morning; you go up the street past the Chesapeake house, see if the lady in the next house is home, if she is not then you ask at the Chesapeake house. They said that the lady with the bikes was away today, but go ahead up the lane and in the gate by the golf cart, take bicycles and leave your money in the jar – worked quite well. Rode around much of the island with Gloria and Jim, ended up at the beach. One end of the island is a lovely sandy beach, so we walked along much of the beach. Then came back and toured the museum. It has displays about much of the history of the island, including a short film about the way of life here. The island itself is shrinking rapidly; a hundred years ago it was over 2000 acres, now it is less than 800, with only about 68 acres high enough for people to live on. The island consists of 3 ridges (actually just strips of land that are a few feet above sea level at low tide) and the rest is marsh with guts or streams running through them. It is thought that within the next 50 years the island will no longer exist. The man at the museum said that the Army Corps of Engineers and other groups are making plans to stop the erosion of the island, but nothing is being done. As it is, we notice that at high tide, many of the front yards are covered with a shallow sheet of water.
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| With my fancy bike on Tangier Island; this bike has handlebars wrapped in tinfoil, added to the decor |
The crabbers are concerned because new regulations about when they can crab and how many they can catch have severely restricted their ability to make a living. All in all, between flooding and restrictions on crabbing, you wonder how much longer this island and its unique way of life can carry on.
The weather looks good for tomorrow, so we plan to travel to the Solomons if we can.
May24th, 2011
The Solomons,Maryland
Wakened up early this morning by the sound of fire reels, the volunteer fire department were responding to a medical emergency. Then heard the sound of a helicopter. A woman on the island had chest pain, the physician's assistant who lives on the island had seen her and decided that she needed medical care, so she was airlifted to a hospital off the island.
Left Tangier in cloud and waves of 1 to 2 feet on our beam, but the bay soon smoothed out and it was a great day to travel. Arrived at Spring Cove Marina in the Solomons just after lunch. As we travelled, came by a naval base, many planes/jets and helicopters taking off and flying over the boat, quite noisy. Very nice place here. They have a shuttle that takes people to the grocery store, it is a solar powered car, so Gloria and I took advantage of it and stocked up. Nice grocery store, a Food Lion. Then we rented bikes and rode around the area. Lots to see so have decided to stay another day and tour the museum and lighthouse.
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| Garbage cans over all of Tangier Island have this lovely lighthouse top |
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| Sunset over the bay at Tangier Island |
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| Visited a crab shedding operation; this is a shell and the crab that came out of it. After shedding the shell, the crab stretches out, so looks larger than the shell |
Got together with Jim and Gloria tonight for a barbque, beautiful evening. By about 8:40 the bugs chased us in, just like at home.
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