A Rising Tide in the Heart of the Chesapeake Bay

Last house on Holland Island
Photo courtesy of Dave Harp

First organized in 2008 for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, “A Rising Tide in the Heart of the Chesapeake Bay”  features photographs by David Harp and text by Tom Horton.   Learn the stories of Smith and Holland Islands, and their struggle with erosion and rising waters.  According to William Cronin in his 2005 book, “Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake Bay”, when the Bay was settled in the 1600’s colonists recorded names of existing islands.  Today over 400 of those islands in Maryland and Virginia no longer exist.   The fate of Smith and Holland mirrors that of many other islands in the Chesapeake, and anticipates the future as climate change creates ever rising sea levels in the Bay and throughout the world.   

The water theme will continue later in the summer when the Oxford Museum is host to a Smithsonian Museum on Main Street traveling exhibit “Water/Ways”.