| A Tangier Homecoming by John
R. Somers, Sr.
I remember one time when I was a small boy,
my brother Arthur Hance "Aus" (Somers) found $1.60 in
Crisfield. Money was scarce, and being the good son that he was, he
brought it home to my mother (Alma). My uncle, Clarence
"Bus" Evans had the boat "Doris R.," a big draketail, and
he was taking his wife Lela and some other people to the Tangier
Homecoming the following day. Ma decided that we would go with
them. She tried to get Dad (Arthur) to go with us but he had to
work on his terrapin pound, which was in the pond at the back of
our house. He had a lot of terrapins in the pound an they were
beginning to dig themselves out and escape.
She was a little disappointed Dad couldn’t
go but she told us to go and have a good time, which we did, financed
by the $1.60 Aus had found. Dad stayed behind and worked in the
mud all day on his terrapin pound. At that time Tangier held
a homecoming every year and people came from far and near to
attend. Most of the activities were centered on their beautiful
beach, which extended quite a long way out from the south side
of the island toward the light house. Visitors would come to the
beach in their boats and anchor as close in as possible, jump
overboard and wade ashore. Boats would be lined up the length
of the white sand beach, a lovely sight to see. People used to
say that the water was cold on the Chesapeake Bay side of the
beach and warm on the Tangier Sound side. The beach would erode
and replenish itself and then erode again. This went on continuously
until finally in the 1940s it disappeared altogether.
Anyway, we arrived at Tangier Island and
although I wasn’t quite six years old, I still remember the
crowds of people, the sandwich tent (actually a boat sail),
the umbrellas, and the three flavor ice cream blocks. The ice
cream was kept in insulated bags, in corrugated boxes with plenty
of dry ice. I didn’t have a bathing suit, but my brother, "Messer"
didn’t go so I wore his. Of course he was nearly 20 years old
at the time, so his was a little large. The suit was in the style
of the day, that was it covered the chest and had arm holes and
shoulder straps. Many of you will remember that most suits of
this type also had holes under the armholes, on the sides. Ma
put my arms through the lower holes in order to take up the bathing
suit a little. I don’t remember what she did with the straps that
belonged on the shoulders.
I think we all had a little sunburn by the
time we started for home, but with exception of eating watermelon,
the trip home was pretty uneventful. Not so a few days later,
for then came 'the August storm.' Dad’s terrapin pound and
all that he had worked for in the mud was gone. Of course, you
all remember or have heard of the other damage that resulted from
this storm, but that is another story.
(c) 1999 John R. Somers, Sr.
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