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.
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…