Maryland’s Smith Island
In the heart of the Chesapeake
Located 8.6 miles offshore in the Chesapeake Bay, Smith Island is Maryland’s only inhabited offshore island. Surrounded by thick underwater meadows, the island is renowned for its vast, shallow marshes threaded with narrow channels and creeks. The high part of the island is home to three small villages—Ewell, Tylerton, and Rhodes Point—that have sheltered generations of hardy islanders who rely on the seasonal bounty of the Bay. Culturally and environmentally vibrant, Smith Island’s communities and traditions reflect a strong connection to the waterways and wetlands around them.
Smith Island’s communities
Long a waypoint for Native Americans, Smith Island first settled by English colonists. The 19th century brought a boom in Chesapeake fisheries transformed the island’s economy and swelled its population. In particular, oysters and blue crabs became mainstays of the harvest. As the island’s villages prospered, cornerstones of the community were established—churches, schools, stores and baseball fields. The island’s waterways served as “streets,” with regular ferries to the mainland, workboats, docks and watermen’s shanties teeming around the busy maritime hubs.
The towns of Ewell, Rhodes Point and Tylerton were closely-knit communities where watermen’s families worked, played, and worshiped alongside each other. Methodism was—and remains—a central element of island life, with islanders supporting each other in spirit of faith and fellowship. The island’s economy reflected the islanders’ deep connection to the Bay, with fishing gear and custom built boats designed for the winter harvest of oysters and the summertime softshell crab and blue crab fisheries.
Today, Smith Island retains its unique—and for many visitors—refreshingly traditional community values and its core ethic of hard work and service to others. Other beloved customs, like Smith Island cake, have also stood the test of time as they’ve been passed down through the generations. The villages themselves have been carefully maintained, with many homes still owned by desendents of their original builders. With wide views across the Bay and marshes, tidy streets, and elegant churches, Smith Island embodies classic, cheerful Americana.