Years without budgets, audits or regular financial reports have left the tiny town of Tangier, in the middle of Chesapeake Bay, with unpaid bills and an uncertain future, a state-commissioned report says.
Tangier Island, Va., is losing a battle to rising sea levels and sinking landmass. Photographed Tuesday, August 2, 2011.
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From the Archives: Tangier Island
01-02-1955 (cutline): This generator is one of the few pieces of modern machinery.
01-02-1955 (cutline): Marker lists names of Tangier's war dead.
08-01-1971 (cutline): Women seated at the table inside building pick out crab meat. Company pays them for amount of work they do: 50 cents a pound.
01-11-1955 (cutline): Tangier Islanders leave the Dorelena II for a morning's shopping in Crisfield. The mail boat skipper, Eulice Thomas, watches their departure from the deck above.
01-07-1955 (cutline): Swain Memorial Methodist Church is center of most Tangier Island social as well as religious activities. Islanders (right) shown at song during regular weekly prayer meeting, important in the lives of some.
10-27-1968 (cutline): Unlike others its size, combine school at Tangie is accredited. Five-room addition dedicated recently was built by island.
05-05-1985 (cutline): Six of seven seniors at Tangier Combined School horse around as they line up for a class picture. They are (standing from left) Maria Pruitt, Marty Crockett, Lisa Charnock, Bev Parks, Rose Marshall and Tommy Eskridge (kneeling). The seventh classmate, Laura Parks, was absent on photo day. Enrollment in the school totals 122, K-12th grades.
Year unknown (cutline): About 900 people live on Tangier Island in Chesapeake Ba. Cleanup plans have been delayed by bureaucracy, says Mayor Robert Thorne.
01-02-1955 (cutline): This small car has just enough room to negotiate a bridge.
02-27-1978 (cutline): Sherman Pruitt (right) hands boxes to Jeff Yuhas. Pruitt owns boat that carries groceries.
02-27-1978 (cutline): Night watchman Thomas Bryant observes boat leaving private pier at Reedville. Groceries for Tangier are loaded from wharf owner by New Jersey-based firm.
05-04-1980 (cutline): There may be no palm trees and steel bands, but Tangier attracts tourists. Motorized and manpowered bicycles carry islanders through narrow streets.
02-14-1957 (cutline): The Rev. Oscar J. Rishel seeks equipment for Tangier clinic.
04-22-1979 (cutline): Two residents share transportation. Mopeds, bicycles are common on island.
08-01-1971 (cutline): W. Ray Crockett (left), Marshall Buy Catch; Plant in background. Excess crabs will be taken by boat in the afternoon to Crisfield, Md.
10-27-1968 (cutline): Tangier children on dock watching all the people go by.
06-29-1969 (cutline): This church cemetery on Tangier Island is enclosed by familiar picket fences.
Dave Ress (804) 649-6948
