ROAD TRIP:
Tangier Island - Paradise in the middle of the bay (continued ...)
Susan Guynn
Photography by Travis S. Pratt
Spring 2008 Issue
"It's a relaxed life, but we work hard," said Trudy Crockett, 52, a waitress at Chesapeake House for 23 years. The inn is famous for its nightly family-style buffet of Virginia ham, unlimited crab cakes, clam fritters, cole slaw, potato salad, corn pudding, sliced ham, applesauce, beets and bread.
Chesapeake House was opened by Hilda Crockett in 1939 and offers eight rooms in two houses across the street from each other on the Main Ridge. One also houses the restaurant. Rooms are cozy and furnished with eclectic antiques. It's like going to grandma's for a visit. Some rooms have a private bath; others a shared bathroom. The first floor is the restaurant in one house, a living room in the other. Large screened porches offer a shady respite from the day's heat. A stay here includes breakfast and lunch or dinner at the restaurant.
Shirley's Bay View Inn has a "motel atmosphere" with a series of cottages and manicured topiary grounds. It's located near the airport runway and overlooks the bay. Sunset Inn Bed and Breakfast is also on the west side, near the small public beach. There are a number of restaurants where seafood is the specialty. At the Waterfront Restaurant, on the dock, you can sit outside at picnic tables. The menu features crab cakes and soft crabs, sandwiches, burgers and subs.
Houses crowd the street. Most are white and well kept. Some are perched on jacks, as they await masons to add extra courses of block. Residents hope the extra 18 to 24 inches of foundation height will keep flood waters out of their homes. A few new houses have been built on the island. Most are occupied by year-round residents, but a few are vacation homes.
In front yards you'll find a plethora of blooming flowers, U.S. flags waving in the breeze and concrete slabs and headstones marking the resting places of kinfolk. The water table is too high on most of the island for traditional burial, so some are done at the surface of the ground. The front walk of one home is lined by gravesites. There is a cemetery on the island.
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