MARYLAND - If you look at a map of the Chesapeake Bay from 1900, you will see a thriving community called Holland Island. It sits in the middle of the bay, south of Bloodsworth Island, boasting 360 residents, a school, a Church, and even a baseball team that played against neighboring Smith Island.
The Peak: A Watermen's Paradise
In 1910, Holland Island was the envy of the Chesapeake. It was five miles long and prosperous. The watermen who lived there harvested oysters and crabs, building sturdy Victorian homes on the "ridge" of the island.
It wasn't a primitive outpost. It had a post office, a doctor, and a two-room schoolhouse. It was a self-sufficient world where children ran through the marsh, and families watched the sunset from wrap-around porches.
The Slow Sinking
The problem wasn't a sudden tsunami; it was geology. The land in the Chesapeake Bay is naturally sinking (subsidence) at the same time sea levels are rising. Holland Island was made of silt and clay, not rock, making it an easy target for erosion.
By 1914, the water was claiming the western shore. Residents watched as their yards disappeared inch by inch. Desperate to save their homes, some families dismantled their houses board by board and floated them on barges to the mainland (Crisfield) or nearby Smith Island.
By 1922, the school closed. The last family packed up and left, leaving the island to the birds.
The Last Stand of the "White House"
For decades, the island was a ghost town, slowly dissolving into the bay. But one house refused to fall.
Built in 1888, this two-story Victorian home became famous as "The Last House on Holland Island." As the other structures collapsed or washed away, this house stood defiant. By the 2000s, the land around it had completely eroded, leaving the house sitting directly in the waves at high tide, surrounded by water but still standing upright.
It became a photographer's obsession—a haunting image of a beautiful white house floating in the ocean.
A former waterman and minister,d Stephen Whit,e bought the island for $70,000 in the 1990s. He spent years and a fortune trying to save it, building makeshift seawalls and planting grass, but the bay was relentless.
The End of the Story
In October 2010, after a severe storm, the "Last House" finally surrendered. It collapsed into a pile of rubble in the Chesapeake. Today, nothing remains of Holland Island but submerged bricks and a few marshy patches that appear only at low tide.
Why It Matters Today
Holland Island is widely considered "Ground Zero" for sea-level rise in the Chesapeake. It serves as a grim preview for Smith Island and Tangier Island, two remaining inhabited islands that are currently facing the same erosion that claimed Holland.
Next Steps:
- Visit the Crisfield Heritage Museum to see artifacts from Holland Island and learn about the families who moved there after the evacuation.
- Take a Ferry to Smith Island: GSeethe last inhabited island culture in Maryland while it is still there. The famous "Smith Island Cake" tastes better when you understand the resilience of the people baking it.
Maryland’s Lost Atlantis: The Rise and Fall of the Island That Vanished Beneath the Bay
Maryland’s Lost Atlantis
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MARYLAND - If you look at a map of the Chesapeake Bay from 1900, you will see a thriving community called Holland Island. It sits in the middle of the bay, south of Bloodsworth Island, boasting 360 residents, a school, a Church, and even a baseball team that played against neighboring Smith Island.
If you look at a map today, Holland Island is gone. This isn't a myth or a legend. It is the true, heartbreaking story of a Maryland community erased by the sea—and a warning for the islands that remain.