Tangier, Virginia

This article is about the town in the US state of Virginia. For the city in Morocco which the town is named after, see Tangier. For other uses, see Tangier (disambiguation).
Tangier Island, Virginia
Town
Tangier Combined School and the Tangier water tower, two landmarks on the island
Tangier Combined School and the Tangier water tower, two landmarks on the island
Flag of Tangier Island, Virginia
Flag
Tangier is located in Virginia
Tangier
Tangier
Tangier is located in the United States
Tangier
Tangier
Coordinates: 37°49′33″N 75°59′32″W / 37.82583°N 75.99222°W / 37.82583; -75.99222
CountryUnited States
StateVirginia
CountyAccomack
Government
 • MayorJames Eskridge
Area
[1]
 • Total0.54 sq mi (1.40 km2)
 • Land0.54 sq mi (1.40 km2)
 • Water0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation
[2]
3 ft (0.9 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total436
 • Density805.9/sq mi (311.42/km2)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
23440
Area code(s)757, 948
FIPS code51-77520[3]
GNIS feature ID1500206[2]

Tangier is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, United States, on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. The population was 436 at the 2020 census.[4] Since 1850, the island's landmass has been reduced by 67%. Under the mid-range sea level rise scenario, much of the remaining landmass is expected to be lost in the next 50 years and the town will likely need to be abandoned.[5]

The people who came to permanently settle the island arrived in the 1770s, and were farmers. In the late 19th century, the islanders began to become more dependent on harvesting crabs and oysters from the Chesapeake Bay.[6] As the waterman livelihood became more important and more lucrative, there were often conflicts among the oyster dredgers and oyster tongers in the bay, and between those living in Maryland and those living in Virginia.[7]

Many people who live on Tangier speak a distinctive dialect of Southern American English.[8][9] Scholars have disputed how much of the dialect is derived from British English lexicon and phonetics, particularly from Cornish. Linguist David Shores has argued that there is little evidence for this claim and, while the Tangier dialect is distinctive, it is more likely a mixture of several regional dialects on the Eastern Seaboard.[10] The persistence of this dialectal variety is often attributed to the geographic isolation of the population from the mainland. Tangier Island is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[11]

  1. ^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  2. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Tangier, Virginia
  3. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Census2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Schulte, David M.; Dridge, Karin M.; Hudgins, Mark H. (December 10, 2015). "Climate Change and the Evolution and Fate of the Tangier Islands of Chesapeake Bay, USA". Scientific Reports. 5 (1): 17890. Bibcode:2015NatSR...517890S. doi:10.1038/srep17890. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 4675185. PMID 26657975.
  6. ^ Mariner (1999), p. 79.
  7. ^ Botwick and McClane (2005). "Landscapes of resistance: a view of the nineteenth-century Chesapeake Bay oyster fishery". Historical Archaeology. 39 (3): 94–112. doi:10.1007/bf03376696. S2CID 159782897.
  8. ^ People Like Us – The CNAM Channel (February 22, 2008), The odd accent of Tangier VA – American Tongues episode #3, archived from the original on December 11, 2021, retrieved July 20, 2017
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference PRI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Shores (2000), pp. 55, 171-172.
  11. ^ "Tangier Island Historic District". National Park Service.