Holland Island located in the Chesapeake Bay was once a thriving Community home to
over 360 residents but as the 20th century progressed the island slowly eroded and its
residents were forced to abandon their homes resulting in this incredibly Eerie image of a
final lone house surrounded by the Sea haunting reminder of the Island's Rich history and the
force of nature that ultimately led to its demise but how did things end up this way
well it's a story I can hardly believe so join me as we discover the rise and fall of
Holland Island I'm your host Ryan silkash and you're watching its history [Music]
Maryland boasts numerous Islands a tribute to its popularity as a tourist destination the
range of which is very impressive from sprawling inhabited ones to tiny remote inlets apparently
this landscape was appreciated as far back as the 1600s when Europeans first arrived
it's historic as well notably the Chesapeake Bay was first explored by Captain John Smith in 1608
who named it and over the next several centuries the bay played a crucial role in the development
of the American colonies and was a major Center for trade Commerce and agriculture during the
American Revolution the Chesapeake Bay was a key Battleground and saw several significant Naval
battles it also played an essential role in the Civil War with several vital battles also taking
place along its Shore then in the 19th and 20th centuries the bay became an essential hub for
fishing oyster harvesting and shipbuilding so what about Holland Island well the Island's founding
dates back to the 17th century and is named after its first owner British colonialist Daniel Holland
according to family records Daniel Holland was born in about 1610 in James City Virginia which
was British colonial America at the time his father Francis Gabriel Holland and mother Mary
Jane Elizabeth pink were only 15 at the time of their son's birth anyhow sources are vague but
we do know that after Daniel Holland acquired the land it remained relatively inactive for
almost two centuries he died on the 17th of May 1672 in Northumberland Virginia at the age of
63 but it wouldn't be until the late 1850s that the island saw a Resurgence in activity due to
increased fishing on February the 2nd 1782 a lease offering described the island as follows Holland
Island situated at Herring Bay is different from this town by about 50 miles by land and from
Annapolis about 20 miles most pleasantly situated on the Bounty by the Bay of Chesapeake and Creeks
all around it contains 800 acres of as rich land as any in the state about 300 acres of which are
clear and under good fence capable of producing all kinds of products suitable to our climate
and the greater Perfection there are but a few houses on this island but they are sufficient for
a tenant to reside in until better and more can be built which I propose doing immediately now this
concept might seem obscure but the Chesapeake Bay is the largest Estuary in the United States and
stretches over 200 miles from its northernmost point to its southern end in Norfolk Virginia
you see over time fishing communities developed on the island by 1850 a group of families who
engaged in fishing and farming had established themselves on the island and 60 years later in
1910 it became home to 360 residents making it one of the most populated islands in the Chesapeake
Bay the Island community was equipped with 70 homes stores and other structures including
its own post office a two-room school with two teachers a church a baseball
team a community center and a doctor's office but how living there well Islanders primarily
sustain themselves through oyster dredging Shad fishing and crabbing according to unknown World
they owned a fleet of 41 Skipjacks 10 Schooners and 36 buggies some of which were constructed
on the island itself indeed it was an unusual place to live resulting in many unique stories
stories such as when a minister crossed the Frozen arm of the bay in the middle of a blizzard
on February the 12th 1905 the pastor of the Methodist Church at Holland Island crossed
the partially frozen Bay with a rowboat with significant ice flows threatening to damage
his vessel at every step of the journey he had all the right motivations though you see the pastor's
wife was on the mainland and fell very ill but due to the weather communication with the island was
cut off entirely hence the pastor was worried sick but fortunately when he reached her after
this arduous Journey she was already well and I imagined Charmed by The Bravery of her husband
by the beginning of the 20th century it had become one of the most densely populated islands in the
area back then there was no concern about the Island's limited space as it thrived economically
crab trapping and oyster dredging were the main drivers of this growth however it wouldn't be
until 1914 that the shoreline loss became apparent and residents and fishermen gradually moved to the
mainland for their own safety those who remained tried to prevent further erosion from these strong
Waves by taking measures such as sinking their boats offshore but as you'll see in the coming
chapter these actions were in vain between 1950 and 2000 Holland Island had shrunk to just 80
acres less than half of its original size it should also be noted here that this wasn't
an isolated issue by the year 2000 more than a third of Maryland's 4 360 miles of Coastline was
losing 260 Acres a year hence Holland Island was due no special treatment and despite the
undeniable danger in store a few people believed that they could fight Nature's wrath astonishingly
there were holdouts as late as the early 2000s when much of the island had already vanished
and that what remained was already under great danger an article by Anita Hustlin
offers perhaps the most detailed final account of an islander's holdout reading storm clouds
sat across the sky and the wind splits chilling rain in his face but Stefan White is focused on
the waves rolling towards him he straightens his back still strong after 70 years to lift another
50-pound sandbag and wait for his Nemesis to hit the waves slam into the side of his wooden house
pulling away another whitewashed shingle and a few more inches of Earth I'm imagine being alone
on a sinking island and trying desperately to save your home with sandbags sandbags against an entire
Bay Stefan White's attachment to the island went back to his childhood when he frequently visited
in the early 2000s he was astonished at how this once vibrant Town had fallen apart recalling I
looked around and didn't recognize the place a sleepy Village that once existed on the island
was gone most of the buildings washed into the bay in the oyster shell roads overgrown with
cord grasses and water bushes at first he walked around the island trying to orient himself but
the moment he decided to save it seemed somewhat cinematic as white recalled stumbling across a
small graveyard under a huckleberry tree brushing the weeds from The Headstone he read the epithet
for a girl named Effie Lee Wilson born on January the 6th 1880 and passing away on October the 12th
1893 the grave read Forget Me Not is all I ask I could not ask for more than to be cherished by
my friends so loving and dear at that moment white realized that a girl who's been dead for a hundred
years was crying out so he couldn't let the land just disappear white immediately Tracked Down the
Island's owner who was a Virginia businessman who used the area as a Hunting Preserve he explained
the severity of the situation and in 1995 persuaded them to sell the property for seventy
three thousand dollars with payments made over time although the odds were against him he went as
far as forming a non-profit organization to gather donations used for supplies every weekend he took
his aging boat 60 miles south of the Bay Bridge to fill sandbags Mr White had more significant
ideas though as he had requested the Maryland Port administrator operation use the island
as a disposal site for 10 million cubic yards of dredge material from the Bay Channels this indeed
would have been enough to restore the island to its footprint of 100 years prior in parallel
he was working on a 200 000 Grant from the state and federal governments to construct a Breakwater
which would have restored and secured the island entirely now as you might imagine these efforts
fell short entirely so Mr White resorted to piling sandbags next to his house he also purchased a
rusty ramshackled Batman excavator and dredger he planned to fill with sand and sink offshore which
was reasonable as similar Solutions have been known to work a glimmer of hope emerged when the
U.S Army Corps of Engineers planned to undertake a 427 million dollar project to move over 30
million cubic yards of sand soil from the base shipping lanes to create a 1 100 Acre Wildlife
Refuge John Grill the leader of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Services Chesapeake Bay Islands unit
had a special admiration for White's tenacity and offered technical advice and assistance but sadly
couldn't provide the means as it was a private Island Holland Island was reaching the point
of no return only a handful of the 60 structures that were once homes churches grocery stores and
a baseball field even remained most of the graves were already washed beneath the waves a notion to
which Mr White exclaimed quote there comes a time when you have to battle against the forces of
nature if I dwell on the acuteness of the problem it could be so discouraging I couldn't do it so I
focused 90 of my time on the solution and remind myself that if I don't do it no one else will
yet despite Stefan White's best efforts the island would cease to exist just a few decades later when
we look at satellite imagery from 1985 it's clear that the inhabitants have left most buildings were
dismantled you can barely Trace where the roads used to run a lone dock appears to be standing
towards the northernmost point of the island but if you move to images from 1998 you'll see a trace
of that same dock submerged in the ocean with a large portion of the land also underwater by 2006
the imagery becomes more apparent and you can see traces of structures Fading Into Oblivion in other
words Fading Into nothing but water it's hard for me to understand how anyone could believe that
saving a sinking island is even possible still I respect the courageous notion especially as it
was all inspired by the grave of a girl whose only wish was to be remembered today Chesapeake Bay is
a significant tourist destination attracting million of visitors each year who enjoy its
Scenic Beauty Rich history and diverse Wildlife when those visitors admire the beauty of the bay
I somehow suspect that not a single one of them could imagine that beneath it all are
the remains of a lost town and a cemetery with a headstone of a girl terrified of being forgotten
we'll leave it there for today please support the channel by clicking subscribe and if you'd
like to watch these episodes ad free click join until next time this is Ryan sokash signing off