When I visited Janes Island State Park in the first part of October I had planned to visit Tangier Island on the last day of the trip nas I had heard for years just how charming and quaint the island remains despite its proximity to the Washington - Baltimore area. I also remember the controversy when one of the major motion picture studios wanted to film a movie there and was rejected.

The island is about eleven miles away from Crisfield in Maryland, about 40 minutes by boat. There are other ferries from Virginia, one on the Eastern Shore and the other in Northern Neck. There were less than a dozen people on the ferry on the way out and the understanding was that there were more to come back as many had gone out Saturday and stayed at bed and breakfasts on the island. Twelve people surely would not have covered the expenses of taking the boat out and back.

The island is its own government complete with mayor, city council and a lone policeman. Until recently it generated its own electricity, it has its own telephone company and its own kindergarten. The only transportation is either by water or by air, there are few vehicles on the island and golf carts are the preferred mode of transportation. There are 700 hundred people permanently on the island remaining somewhat constant despite the declining crabbing and fishing industries.

There are other smaller islands in the immediate area, now in the hands of Nature Conservancy which will keep them away from development fortunately. Building space on Tangier is at a premium as much is swamp land so the lots are usually quite small and the houses sized accordingly. Just about every crabber has built his own little island on stilts where he can produce the soft shell crabs in season. This of course requires that a smaller boat be used to reach the artificial island where his crab pots are stored, load his larger work boat and go about his business. These island are electrified so there are overhead wires leading in all directions.

The island is fairly low with not much protection against storm surge. Ast one time it was thought that a storm surge of just two feet would inundate the island so all graves were covered with a very heavy concrete slab. This inundation has never occurred to any local records however or at least not during recorded history maintained by the state. The island was settled in the late 17^th Century and has always maintained significant autonomy over the years.

The tourist aspect of the island pretty much closes down starting in November while it is still possible to get back and forth by the mail boat which runs daily taking the school kids over in the morning and returning them in the evening. There was only one small sandwich shop still open serving the last few remaining tourists and the locals. There aren’t any fast food places at all. I couldn’t even get a cup of coffee. All of the curio shops were closed which was a disappointment for many of the women but I fear that it didn’t bother me that much at all.

Most people have at least one car on the mainland and make almost weekly trips for shopping and other purposes. As the one waitress stated living on the island does require a little more planning than elsewhere. It sometimes is difcficult when one's car is at least an hour away. That is almost as bad as the Pentagon parking lot.There is a small grocery store on the island for some things but it is much more expensive. I did notice a boat in Crisfield loading up with firewood as people prepare for the winter. I didn’t really pay much attention but I suspect propane is the fuel of choice in the town.

There were a few clusters of reclaimed land that had very nice houses built on them. Access to the houses is either by boat or a golf cart ride on a narrow causeway through the swamps. It is possible to walk the entire circumference of the island in less than an hour and pat of that is along the air strip that was built during WW II. One has to be careful not get run over by a golf cart, fortunately the few scooters make enough noise that they are`easy to avoid. Alcohol is not sold or dispensed on the island, I didn’t out if this was the doings of the two churches or if there was a bootlegger out there.

It was a pleasant little diversion, I will stay at Janes Island State Park again just for the one night and head out for Kiptopeke (Kip-o-kee) State Park later in the morning. The forecast is for rain which I am not looking forward to. Route 13 is a heavily traveled road, many truckers use it as a short cut traveling from NYC to Norfolk and it not fun to be behind a string of trucks and all the spray they create. I hope some of these rain is going to fall at home, it is still desperately dry. The land in this area is mostly sand so run off is not a problem.