Onancock and Tangier Island May 13, 2016

When we were visiting art galleries in Cape Charles, one of the artists enthusiastically recommended Onancock as a go-to-town for more arts and crafts. It was not on our original schedule, but here we are! You don’t find yourself in Onancock by accident. It a 5 mile run up the Onancock Creek from The Bay. Being in the birthplace of America... Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg are across on the western shore... many of the homes here date back to the 1600’s. Most have been lovingly tended over the years, so the result is an eye-popping spectacle of architecture. Classic Revival, pedimented Victorian, Federal, Greek Revival-Italiante, Colonial Revival, Qeen Anne Style can all be found downtown within walking distance from the harbor. The Eastern Shore design of big house-little house-colonade-kitchen results in a house that stretches across a very spacious property. Seven churches are active in this town of about 1,300. They each have quite a history and represent Victorian Gothic, Carpenter Gothic, Greek Revival and Gothic Revival architecture.

Tangier Island was on our must-see list, but we passed by it on our way in to Onancock. When Capt. Mark Crockett, a native of the island, offered us seats on his ferry Joyce Marie II, we were delighted. (On the trip out we discovered that his boat was built by Atlantic Boat in Brooklin, Maine. Small world.) Yesterday the 25-seat ferry had been booked by 23 local adults participating in The Academy of Life-long Learning Program. Wally and I got to fill the two remaining seats and join the group in all their planned activities once we reached the island. The story of Tangier Island is one three inter-connected families... the Crocketts, the Pruits and the Parks. Today they are facing a dwindling population and a land mass that is fast disappearing under water. The 2010 census showed 727 residents. By 2014 the number had declined to 470. Not that many years ago Tangier Island had a working waterfront supported by oystering in the winter and crabbing in the summer. Long docks connected fishing shanties and watermen’s boats to one to another for a bustling business. Today half of that is under water. One thing that remains, however, is an unmistakable lilting dialect. The early settlers came from Cornwall, England in the 1600’s. Today Tangier Island’s residents continue to speak with a musical combination of syllables that delights the ear. />