Elegant Living Magazine : Frederick County Maryland at its Finest

ROAD TRIP: Tangier Island - Paradise in the middle of the bay (continued ...)
Susan Guynn
Photography by Travis S. Pratt
Spring 2008 Issue

Since the town of Tangier occupies .2 square miles, bikes are a common form of transportation on Tangier Island.

Providing activities for teens is a concern of the islanders. Illegal drugs are accessible and a problem, according to James "Ooker" Eskridge, the former vice mayor who became mayor last year when the sitting mayor resigned. He's a waterman, the son of a waterman and the father of a waterman. His wife co-owns the Fisherman's Corner Restaurant.

Eskridge said the island used to have a ballfield and teams would play teams from nearby Smith Island "and even go to Richmond." The new Tangier Combined School stands where the ballfield used to be. Last year, there were 99 students. Five of the eight 2007 graduates headed off to college, including two of Eskridge's daughters. Jobs are scarce on the island and many who leave don't return to island life, often finding work in nearby Salisbury, Md.

"Things are changing. They're not like they used to be," said Eskridge, who grew up on the island.

Mayor Eskridge had his own list of needs to talk to the governor about. The number one problem for islanders is erosion. "It's as much as 15 to 20 feet a year in some places," said Eskridge. Ernesto, "the hurricane that wasn't a hurricane," hit the island's open harbor with sustained winds of 80 to 90 mph. The water in the streets was knee deep.

"We need a jetty, a stone wall to slow (erosion) down, but at this point, we'll take anything," he said. A jetty built about 20 years ago has slowed erosion on the western side of the island. Eskridge says funds are also needed to upgrade the water and sewer plant, pave the airport runway, build a visitor's center and for new bridges over the marsh. "All these things are wonderful, but we need protection from the Chesapeake Bay," he said.

When he's not mayoring, Eskridge is on the water crabbing for soft shells or helping his son with hard-shell crabbing. Occasionally he'll go off to the mainland and "stock up at Wal-mart. If they don't have it, I don't need it," he said.

Winter on the island can be boring and cold, said Eskridge and sometimes residents get iced in on the island and Coast Guard cutters have to break through. "We actually had our biggest snow of winter - 2 or 3 inches - on the first of April" one year, he said.

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