Holland Island (Site 1, Chart 1) was once a thriving watermen’s community at the northern end of the Tangier Sound. Stephen White’s two-story house was still standing on the edge of the badly eroding north point during my first visit during 1999. Back then, a small reconnaissance team from the Maryland Port Administration (MPA) and the Maryland Environmental Service (MES) were evaluating Holland Island for possible restoration.
Since my first visit, I’ve had the opportunity to witness the island’s demise through occasional east side fishing trips. All that’s left at the north end of the island today is a shoal surrounded by submerged rock breakwaters, groins, an excavator, and a sunken barge. All are unintentional artificial reefs—and significant unmarked hazards to navigation.
When we visited Mr. White had founded the Holland Island Preservation Foundation to save the island and was seeking support for shoreline protection structures. White asked the MPA to restore the island in a way similar to what was going on at Poplar Island. He served as our tour guide and our boat, maybe 20’ long, resembled an enclosed milk crate on a rectangular float. As we chugged toward the island a vacuum created by the cabin’s square shape pulled in the outboard’s exhaust and a few seconds inside to get a water bottle prompted a quick exit. A refreshing light breeze (and oxygen) flowed over the bow as I gasped for fresh air. Naval jets soaring over Bloodsworth Island provided entertainment during the remainder of the cruise. Meanwhile White, a retired pastor and former waterman, discussed the island’s history.
The island once hosted a vibrant community with a church, school, post office, and baseball field. Most structures had stood on high ground on a ridge on the west side (Site 2). When a sod bank along the western shoreline eroded away, the sediment behind it quickly succumbed. White, in “Holland Island, Erosion and Effie Lee,” reported that five barge loads of stone were laid along 1.75 miles of shoreline. The stone is still out there but its weight and wave action displaced the underlying substrate. The stone slowly settled below the surface, where today it provides habitat. As the Bay advanced towards the houses, most were dismantled and moved to the mainland. Foundation ruins and fallen trees are still there along the drowned west ridge.
As we approached the island my first impression on seeing White’s house, perched on the eroding edge of an exposed narrow point, was that it was a disaster waiting for a storm. Waves were even then lapping the last few feet of sand near the house’s foundation. A quick visual survey found low elevation and open exposure to the south and west, not encouraging for the island’s long-term survival. Even with substantial shore protection structures, storm surges from tropical systems would cover most of the island—which is exactly what happened.
An old picture shows a dock and breakwater just above the surface on the east side of the house surrounded by large trees. The breakwater was already submerged in 1999. A submerged row of pilings is all that is left of the dock. A rusted excavator White used to reclaim rock from the breakwater is still there, abandoned in place, mostly underwater and now reef structure (Image 2). It was on top of the rocks, but now all that shows is the arm. Tropical Storm Isabel had severely damaged White’s house in 2003, widened the breach between the point and the island, scoured portions of the main island, and destroyed over half of the trees. A series of storms after Isabel destroyed what was left of the house and washed away the point.
An old barge was permanently moored with spuds and sunk in place as a breakwater northwest of the point to protect the house from wind-driven waves. The barge is now submerged most if not all of the time, and some of the deck sheathing is missing. Its west end rests on one of four parallel underwater stone groins that run east-west.
The submerged breakwater is immediately to the east and southeast, marked by the excavator at its northwest end. The reclaimed rock which White had laid alongside the house foundation is scattered around a shoal off the southeast corner of the barge. A small, rusted, half-submerged bulldozer is becoming an island unto itself at the southeast end of the remaining northern islet. The entire area from the barge and excavator south is foul. Take note that existing physical conditions are not charted or marked, and cautious navigation is essential. Image 3 depicts the approximate layout of the ruins.
Another little islet (Site 3) halfway to Adam Island to the north had a small graveyard, long lost to erosion. The tombstones, according to White, are scattered underwater on the west side. To the south a hydraulic dredge is still there in the creek, its hull submerged.
After field assessment, other locations (James and Barren Islands) were eventually selected for the next round of restoration projects. Holland Island was left to the whims of Mother Nature, and today the ruins and shallows around Holland Island are a good place to hunt for speckled trout, redfish, and stripers. In addition to the wrecks and submerged rocks there are sunken foundation ruins offshore on the west and northwest side, and grass beds are on the east side. The west side of the remnant main island has some small points worth checking out. The creek and abandoned dredge are worth a look for speckled sea trout when the tide is right.
At the southwest end of Holland Island Bar stood Holland Island Bar Light (Site 4) on a screw-pile foundation, now a skeletal steel tower, marking the entrance to Kedges Straits. Rock was placed around other light stations following the particularly bad winter ice of 1917-18 and Coast Guard historical pictures show that an icebreaker rockpile, now submerged, was put in here as well.
The light had a perilous history. In one instance the keeper was found deceased under mysterious conditions in 1931. This lighthouse also has the distinction of being mistaken by Navy aviators (flying from New Jersey on a training mission) for the Old Hannibal target ship and was bombed with blank ordnance in 1957.
Anglers should also check the charted oyster sanctuary west of Holland Island (Site 5). This is the location of one of the first field tests of reef balls (see “Bridges Under Troubled Waters”). Although there are only about 25 placed at the site, redfish and stripers are sometimes found there.
- By Wayne Young. As well as being a regular contributor to FishTalk, Wayne Young is the author of multiple books detailing wrecks and fishing reefs in the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and beyond. All are available at Amazon.com, and you can find his Facebook page at “Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reefs.”