“Welcome to Mayberry,” jokes Eddie Somers as our boat docks at Smith Island’s Ewell—his hometown. With a total population of 276 year-round residents, it’s safe to say everybody knows everybody, even when part-timers arrive, swelling the population to upwards of 600.
A Department of Natural Resources hydrographic engineer, Somers serves as my tour guide on this one-day visit. Though he and his wife now live in Crisfield, they plan to retire to their beloved island.
If you have lived in Maryland for any length of time, you have probably heard of Smith Island: a community first charted by Captain John Smith more than 400 years ago.
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If one has yet to visit Smith or Tangiers Island - really need to consider it this SPRING/FALL - leave Summer to the tourists!
ReplyDeleteThat is unless you'd enjoy the tourist "entertainment" factor:
= "OMG, you live on this island all year long?"
= "no cars?"
= "so like after the summer like, you all still fish/crab?"
= "no MAC'DONALDS??"
= "hey man, how's the weed?"
= etc etc
the fact remains, you cannot stop mother nature. This island IS going to erode. not only erode, but it's sinking too. No matter what they try and do it will come to a point where all residents will have to move, probably in about 30 yrs. They should of taken the bailout money after Hurricane Sandy, then they could of at least had something to start out with on the mainland. As it stands now, they will have lost everything once this happens.
ReplyDeleteHow can a Vision Plan not mention "rising sea level". Sounds like the "head in the sand" policy makers in Florida that officially prohibit use of the term, while the water rises around them.
ReplyDelete