Tangier Island (United States)

Tangier Island is located in the Chesapeake Bay and is part of the US state of Virginia. Spanish explorers first noticed the island during the sixteenth century. Then in 1608, Tangier Island was visited by a European when Captain John Smith (1580–1631) arrived and found a string of uninhabited islands that he dubbed the Russels Isles in honor of Dr. Walter Russell, a scientist and an author. Great Britain claimed ownership of the landmass, and sometime later it came to be known as Tangier Island, though the origin of the name is unknown.

The island is low-lying, with structures concentrated on three ridges, which are connected by bridges over marshland. These marshes are notable for their importance to migratory birds and other creatures. Residents have traditionally relied on fishing—in particular soft shell crab during the summer and oysters in the winter—for their livelihoods. However, young adults are increasingly moving to the mainland to pursue other careers.

In the twenty-first century, the island is disappearing. Many previously accessible areas have sunk beneath the surface of the water. Residents do not think that the loss of land is caused by global climate change and rising sea levels, however. They insist that erosion is responsible for the loss of habitable land. In August 2018, the federal and state governments announced a $2.6 million project to build a 494-foot jetty with 80 percent of the funding coming from the federal government.

Background

Tangier Island was a ridge on the mainland tracing the path of the Susquehanna River about eighteen thousand years ago. About ten thousand years ago, the end of the last ice age caused sea levels to rise. This water flooded the Susquehanna River Valley, creating an estuary. The water also flowed around the ridge, cutting it off from the mainland and creating Tangier Island. Sea level about six thousand years ago was about 30 feet (9m) lower than in 2018.

Explorer Captain John Smith arrived in the Chesapeake Bay in 1607. His mission was to explore the region while finding riches for the British crown, as well as finding and documenting a navigable route to the Pacific Ocean. He made maps based on what he personally saw and the local American Indian population told him and claimed land for England.

Smith arrived on Tangier Island in 1608. The island had no source of fresh water and was not regarded as suitable for settlement for many decades. The English and local American Indians were in conflict during the 1640s. English guards used the island as a concentration camp; they carried prisoners to Tangier Island and left them there to fend for themselves. Resources were scarce, and prisoners abandoned there probably died of starvation. The island was commonly used to raise cattle and pigs during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries because using the bay’s waters to contain the animals was cheaper than building fences.

Tangier was the last island in the Chesapeake Bay to be permanently settled because of its lack of fresh drinking water. Groundwater near the surface is salty, so for centuries, most residents trapped rainwater to drink. The first permanent settlers probably arrived in the 1680s. English colonists built permanent settlements in the late eighteenth century. The population was divided between Patriots and Loyalists during the American Revolution (1775–1783).

During the War of 1812 (1812–1815), the British used Tangier Island as a base. Royal Marines built Fort Albion in 1812 and offered American slaves freedom and safety on the island. Many of those former slaves became Royal Marines themselves and eventually moved to British colonies in the Caribbean. The British launched their attack on Washington from Tangier Island.

Overview

Tangier Island is home to fewer than five hundred people. The residents are known for their distinct accent and dialect. Though it has been described as Elizabethan English, local historians credit early settlers from the Cornwall region of southwest England with the accent. The local dialect’s staying power is attributed to the island’s inaccessibility. Even in the twenty-first century, the only year-round access is via three ferries—one of these delivers the mail as well as passengers. A fourth boat operates during the summer tourist season only. The island has one airstrip, which was built in 1969.

As of 2018, Tangier Island was about 1.1 square miles (3 sq km). Very little is habitable land; most is marshland. From the middle of the nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century, the island lost two-thirds of its land to water. Annually about eight acres of the island is lost to erosion. The highest point is just 4 feet (1.2 m) above sea level. Water pushes up through sewers and the ground at high tide, flooding yards and streets.

While the US Geological Service credits the loss of land and flooding to global climate change and a resulting rise in sea level, the residents of Tangier Island largely blame erosion. Local officials have repeatedly requested that the federal government build a wall to protect the island.

The island is in danger from rising sea levels but is also sinking. A number of private wells were dug during the twentieth century to tap into the Potomac Aquifer, which is 800–1,000 feet (243–305m) deep. These wells were consolidated to create a public water system. Removal of groundwater from the aquifer has contributed to subsidence of Tangier Island, however. Other causes of subsidence are glacial rebound—the earth was compacted by the Laurentide Ice Sheet for thousands of years—and the ongoing effects of a meteor or comet impact nearby that created the Chesapeake Bay about 35 million years ago.

Because of the island’s subsidence and rising sea levels, the island will disappear eventually if steps are not taken. Residents advocate for a sea wall. The US Army Corps of Engineers regularly dredges the shipping channel and deposits the silt and sand near Tangier Island to prevent sea water from flowing inland. Another proposal is to establish a dredge spoils storage facility on the island, which over the course of decades would raise it by many feet. While this would require structures on the island to be moved, it would increase the size of the island as well, reclaiming some areas that were previously dry.

Bibliography

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Hausman, Sandy. “Can a Wall Protect Tangier Island from Rising Seas?” Deutsche Welle, 27 Nov. 2018, www.dw.com/en/can-a-wall-protect-tangier-island-from-rising-seas/a-46056726. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

“Smith Maps.” National Park Service, 13 Nov. 2018, www.nps.gov/cajo/learn/smith-maps.htm. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

Swift, Earl. Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island. HarperCollins, 2018.

Swift, Earl. “The Doomed Island That Loves Trump.” Politico, 19 Aug. 2018, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/19/tangier-island-donald-trump-2016-219349. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

"Tangier Island." National Park Service, 15 Feb. 2024, www.nps.gov/places/tangier-island.htm. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

Wernick, Adam. “An Island in Chesapeake Bay Is Disappearing—and So Is a British Dialect and a Piece of History.” PRI: Public Radio International, 20 July 2014, www.pri.org/stories/2014-07-20/island-chesapeake-bay-disappearing-and-so-british-dialect-and-piece-history. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

Worrall, Simon. “Tiny U.S. Island Is Drowning. Residents Deny the Reason.” National Geographic, 7 Sept. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/09/climate-change-rising-seas-tangier-island-chesapeake-book-talk/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.

Yang, John. “Will the Traditions of Tiny Tangier Island Survive or Sink?” PBS, 8 Oct. 2018, www.pbs.org/newshour/show/will-the-traditions-of-tiny-tangier-island-survive-or-sink. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.