Side Trips

An Excursion to Smith Island

Go for the uniqueness of the place: an island tied to the mainland only by boat, and a people tied together by the seafood industry, hard winters, and church suppers. Go for the food: crabs steamed the minute they land on the dock, homemade ice cream, multilayered Smith Island cake. Go to hear the lyrical twist Smith Islanders put on their English: If you're lucky, you'll hear a story about the good -- or bad -- old days that make this place "an island out of time," as Tom Horton called it in his book.

Located 12 miles west of Crisfield, at the edge of Tangier Sound, Smith Island is a cluster of islands that makes up Maryland's largest inhabited offshore community. Three towns are located here. Ewell and Rhodes Point are on one island; Tylerton is on another; and the Martin National Wildlife Refuge is on the third.

You can't bring a car, though residents have them. There are no bars, as it's a "dry" island. Walking will get you where you need to go, or you can rent a bike or golf cart. Shops are few, but make sure to stop in one for a piece of cake or a jar of preserves made from the island's pomegranate, pear, or fig trees.

Remember to bring your bug repellent and sunscreen -- flies and mosquitoes are sure to plague you, and although the streets are shady, the sun can still be fierce.

One thing's for sure: If you take the ferry for a day trip, you're going to leave wishing you had at least a few more hours here.

Getting There -- The excursion boats come only in summer, but you can catch the mail boat or residents' ferry if you want to visit off season. Passenger ferry boats leave from Crisfield and from Point Lookout State Park on Maryland's Western Shore. Or you can bring your own boat.

From Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield, Smith Island Cruises (tel. 410/425-2771; www.smithislandcruises.com) sails the Captain Tyler at 12:30pm and docks in Ewell about an hour later, returning to Crisfield at 4pm. Service runs daily in summer, weekends only in late May and October. Round-trip fare is $24 for adults and $12 for children 3 to 11.

From Point Lookout, on the Western Shore, the twin-hulled Chelsea Lane Tyler makes the 1 1/2-hour trip across the Chesapeake Bay Wednesday through Sunday in summer, plus weekends in September and mid-October.

Capt. Otis Ray Tyler (tel. 410/968-1118) goes to Smith Island year-round. His Island Belle II is the mail boat; it leaves Crisfield's City Dock at 12:30pm and departs Ewell at 4pm.

To get to Tylerton, call Capts. Terry and Larry Laird (tel. 410/425-5931 or 410/425-4471). Their Captain Jason I and II go to both Ewell and Tylerton from Crisfield's City Dock. They depart Crisfield at 12:30 and 5pm, and leave Smith Island at 7:30am and 4pm (3:30pm in winter).

You can bring your own boat, but check the charts for shallow spots: Smith Island Harbor at Ewell can be 4 1/2 feet at low tide. Water is deeper if you come from Tangier Sound via Big Thorofare. Smith Island Marina is beside the county dock and Bayside Restaurant. The gas dock in Ewell is open Monday through Saturday from 8am to 5pm. (Avoid gassing up in late afternoon, as the watermen use the pumps then.) If you plan to stay, there is some overnight docking. (It is said that Ernest Hemingway once docked his boat here.) Call Ruke's Store (tel. 410/425-2311) or Driftwood General Store (tel. 410/425-2111) for dock rental.

Visitor Information -- Stop at the Crisfield visitor center at Somers Cove Marina, 3 Ninth St. (tel. 410/968-2500; www.crisfieldheritagefoundation.org), or go to www.visitsomerset.com for information that includes a self-guided walking tour.

Once in Ewell, the island's largest town (pop. 100), visit the Smith Island Center, up Smith Island Road from the Bayside Restaurant (tel. 410/425-3351), to get a sense of how the island is laid out, learn a little history, and see exhibits about the island. Admission is $2; from May through October, it's open daily from noon to 4pm.

Visitors can also stop by the Middleton House, on Caleb Road, which serves as an interpretive center for the Martin National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is too fragile for visitors, but the center's exhibits offer a look at the wildlife there.

Getting Around -- No cars are permitted on the island. Everything is within walking distance. You can bring your bike on the ferry or rent one right beside the County Dock. Golf carts can also be rented.

Orientation -- Ewell is the largest of Smith Island's harbor towns. It's where most cruise boats dock and has most of the island's seafood-packing houses. Rhodes Point, about a mile south of Ewell and the island's center for boat repair, used to be called Rogues Point because of the pirates who came here. It's a marshy place, reachable via a wooden bridge from Smith Island or March roads. Tylerton may be the most remote place in Maryland, accessible by only one boat. It was home to the state's last one-room school -- which closed in 1996.

Where to Stay & Dine -- Ewell is home to two restaurants, and each of the ferries sends its passengers to a different one: Bayside Inn (tel. 410/425-2771) and Ruke's Seafood Deck (tel. 410/425-2311). Both are used to the sudden onslaught of hungry visitors. If you don't want to eat with a crowd, bypass the restaurants until later and pop into one of the general stores for a snack. In Tylerton, the only place to eat is the Drum Point Market (tel. 410/425-2108). These places are all open daily, but may close from 3 to 6pm.

There are two places to stay on the island, both B&Bs.